28 November 2024

Thursday, 11:42

HER ELEVEN GIFTS

Dedicated to all women of the world ahead of International Women's Day – 8 March

Author:

01.03.2010

The most common "argument" in favour of male supremacy still goes like this: women have done nothing great in history to affect the fate of mankind. Of course, today's scientific achievements in the field of history, culture, archaeology, ethnography, social psychology and folklore easily refute this baseless "argument". Taking just a small excursion into the history of humanity, we see that participants in the eternal act of creation, our ancestors, both men and women, believed that the great mysteries of life are secrets of transformation: how does one thing become another and how do things grow and die, how are they reborn? Perhaps the most vivid of all such transformations, which occur before our eyes, are the transformations that happen to woman.

The central position of women at the dawn of humanity is in no doubt. Only she has the ability to give and sustain life, and the natural emergence of a new human life is impossible without her. It was not superstition or fantasy that forced ancient scholars to draw attention to the commonality of women and nature - after all, both fulfil the great role of motherhood, and this is a biological fact. It is difficult to overestimate the role of women in developing and maintaining knowledge about the processes and phenomena of the world obtained in the practice of primitive groups. Like many other ancient inhabitants of the earth, the primitive people who inhabited ancient Azerbaijan worshipped woman.

 

Motherhood

It must be noted that the earliest works of art depicting humans are devoted to motherhood. These works were created tens of thousands of years BC, and are defined by archaeologists as "figurines of Venus". Such figures of mature women in the last months of pregnancy have been found in large quantities by our Azerbaijani archaeologists. Such a wealth of archaeological, historical and anthropological evidence (statues of goddesses unearthed by archaeologists in Mesolithic, Neolithic and Eneolithic settlements in Qobustan, Qarqalartapasi etc.; funeral rituals - the dead were buried in the foetal position, their bodies were painted with red ochre, emblematic of the fact that the dead returned to the bosom of the earth covered in the mother's blood; the rock carvings of women giving birth, which depict infants still connected to their mothers by the umbilical cord, have been found in various parts of Azerbaijan: in a number of burial mounds in Abseron near the village of Turkan, on the upper terrace of Mount Boyukdas in Qobustan, in the village of Molla-Isakli in Ismayilli District, in the village of Nuran in the mountainous part of Sirvan's Agsu District and many others) allows us to express our absolute conviction that our ancestors understood the close relationship between the strength of the woman and the power of the earth. Identifying woman with earth and earth with divine power, our ancestors had every reason to suppose that the Creator was a woman. But let's leave these theories to the specialists, as science will establish how historically justified they are. And for now, in our opinion, we must try to extinguish the fire of "war" between the two halves of humanity. Today we should be talking not about the superiority of one sex over the other, but about their harmonious co-existence.

 

Keeper of the hearth

Entering into the lobby of a modern house, no-one remembers that it was a special entrance dedicated to the goddess Anahit - the goddess of sacred waters and the hearth in ancient Atropatena. In temples to this goddess there was a sacred fire - a gift from the gods to people. The priestess - the keeper of the fire - took care of it for the city. Such a hearth was available in every house and it was kept by the lady of the house as the priestess of the family.

The cult of the family hearth played a major role in the spiritual life of the ancient inhabitants of Azerbaijan long before the adoption of Zoroastrianism. This is clearly proved by five hearths belonging to different periods found in the Azix cave - an ancient settlement of primitive man - where a women's stalactite statue of 1.8 m occupied a special position among various artefacts. It is a woman wrapped in a blanket. Perhaps she is a deity - the patroness of women and the hearth and - perhaps - the keeper of the family. These two ancient cults - the cult of fire and the cult of woman - are most clearly seen in the cave settlement. The cult of fire was directly connected with the cult of woman. The woman was the guardian of fire, protecting it day and night, cooking food for her relatives and turning to it with magic spells when preparing sacrificial drinks. In this way, women connected the life and being of the family, state and religion.

I think that today, mothers and wives - those who prepare food for the family, protect warmth and create comfort in the home - also connect life and existence. At the same time, they are engaged in science, work in various fields of activity and social life and participate actively in building a democratic state. But whatever a woman does, she must first begin with the construction of her own home, every day and every hour making a contribution to this difficult job.

In doing so, apart from feelings and spiritual impulses, she receives assistance from something that has not yet been studied and not even named, but which certainly exists and may be defined as women's culture. This extensive variety of specific knowledge answers burning and urgent questions: how to cure her child's cough, which the doctors cannot cope with, how to receive guests, reconcile her niece and her husband or her daughter and her friend, cheer up her neighbour... And the woman can give accurate answers to these and many other questions, because she is the bearer of a special culture. Her main features can be described as gifts.

 

Women's culture

Her first - most important and precious - gift is to take care of everyone around her, to love and understand her loved ones and to be their warm hearth which never cools. In my subjective opinion, only woman can love and share her energy and warmth selflessly. Only she has the ability to wholly and completely devote her dearest possessions to someone who is sick, maimed or who needs love and care.

Her second gift is to be a wife. Marriage is a distinct sphere of human relationships, in which the fundamental role is played by the woman. The spirit of marriage is a kind of spirit of mutual respect, kindness, love, understanding, cooperation, mutual concession and compromise, in other words, a harmonious relationship. In the person of her husband, the wife has a friend and partner who shares her life and care, cherishes and protects her, helps her to be the lady of the house, which would be difficult, if not impossible, to do independently; in the person of his wife, the man has a friend and assistant providing him with peace and comfort in the family and home. Here, the woman manifests her special gift - to create a warm atmosphere in the house and help her husband in the struggle with the vicissitudes of life in our vain world. Her third gift is motherhood. What explanation do we need here? The natural need of woman to extend her family is determined by an innate instinct and seems simple and self-evident. A mother is much more closely connected with her child than a father. Contact between the mother and the child, symbiotic from the very beginning, starts in the prenatal phase of development and strengthens with time. According to psychiatrist Erich Fromm, a child has to earn his father's love, usually through obedience and conformity. A mother's love is unselfish, and so it awakens only good feelings. Motherhood, as a rule, suggests not only conception and birth, but also feeding and bringing up a child. Her fourth gift is to be the lady of the house, its builder and compiler. In this regard, it would be appropriate to recall the popular saying: a house is not a home until a woman makes it a home. Her fifth gift is to feed everyone, to stand by the fire and cook food. As ethnographers say, people differ from each other most of all in just two traditions - cooking and bringing up children. So people's origins, national ceremonies and traditions are often preserved by women.

Her sixth gift is to take care of her appearance and to be attractive. "The appearance of a human is his best letter of recommendation," said the Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius, nearly two millennia ago. However, long before this statement, archaeologists discovered a lipstick-like cosmetic in Ice Age caves. The art of beauty and makeup is five thousand years old. Since that distant time, fragrances, facial paints, many recipes for ointments and cosmetic procedures have become part of social life. Women's efforts to look attractive embody their special gift. Her seventh gift is needlework - this is a primordial element of female creativity: to sew, knit, embroider and weave carpets. Scientists have deciphered the language of symbols in traditional women's embroidery. For the people living in Azerbaijan, they date back to antiquity. These letters reveal the mystery of the origin and movement of people.

Her eighth gift is to treat her children and loved ones with herbs, food, diet and tenderness. These arts were mastered perfectly by ancient female priestesses and healers. Woman's love for medicine affects her choice of profession. According to statistics, the vast majority of those working in health care, i.e. 68.9 per cent, are women. Her ninth gift is the special gift of preserving relations, her ability to listen to the mysterious causes in the past and to regard them without bias.

Her tenth gift is to nurture and direct people skilfully. No wonder they say that a good education is the best legacy. And woman copes with this problem at the appropriate level. As noted above, children's upbringing is also part of women's natural needs and is a characteristic of motherhood.

Her eleventh gift is to manage and lead. The process of democratization creates the prerequisites for the growth and activity of women in political life and for their participation in the adoption of important decisions at state level. In recent years, the number of women actively involved, not only in science, medicine and pedagogy, but also in purely men's business - politics - has been growing throughout the civilized world. And, today, women are increasingly turning from being keepers of the hearth into an effective factor in economic, political and social life.

Not every woman can be a bearer of all the gifts included above in the definition of women's culture. However, they do exist and we must say with some relief that there are many of them. Perhaps these eleven gifts are relative. Everyone can add their own, as well as list them in any other sequence. There are countless variations. Of course, this list of women's culture does not include humanitarian interests that are common to all... Women's culture is something that helps women to carry out the great creation of life. Its distinctive features are a deep interest in the affairs of society and the family, the ability to sympathize and to be concerned about events taking place in the country and abroad.


RECOMMEND:

577