Phallic processions

Phallic processions

Phallic processions, or Penis Parade, originally called "phallika" in the Ancient Greece, were a common feature of Dionysiac celebrations; they were ceremonial group walkings that advanced to a cult center, and were characterized by obscenities and verbal abuse. [http://depthome.brooklyn.cuny.edu/classics/links.html Dunkle, Roger] " [http://depthome.brooklyn.cuny.edu/classics/dunkle/comedy/komos.htm The origins of comedy] " in "Introduction to Greek and Roman Comedy"] Among the "obscenities", a common one was the display of the fetishized phallus". [Pickard-Cambridge 1962, 144-62] [Reckford 1987, 443-67]

Aristotle, in a famous passage of the "Poetics", formulated the hypothesis that comedy originated from "those who lead off the phallic processions", which were still common in many towns at his time. ["Poetics", 1449a-b ] [Mastromarco, Giuseppe: (1994) "Introduzione a Aristofane" (Sesta edizione: Roma-Bari 2004). ISBN 8842044482 p.3]

This sacred religious ceremonies and cults, are instead categorized as profane by the monotheistic religions' worldview. In August 2000, to promote a representation of Aristophanes' The Clouds, a traditional Greek phallic procession had been organized, with a convert|25|ft|m|sing=on long phallus paraded by the cast with the accompaniment of Balkan music; the phallic device was banned by the staff of the Edinburgh Festival.Tim Younger [http://www.kingmixers.com/TimonClouds.html THE PENIS PARADE or A TALE OF A TAIL] ]

Similar parades of Shinto origin have long been carried out in Japan. Although the practice has been mostly eradicated in Japan through the urgings of Western values, a few phallic parades continue to this day.

Notes

References

*Richardson, N. J., "The Homeric Hymn to Demeter". Oxford, 1974, pp. 214-15
*O’Higgins, Laurie, "Women and Humor in Classical Greece." Cambridge, 2003. p. 57
*For the outrageous practice of "abuse from the wagons" see Fluck, H., "Skurrile Riten in griechischen Kulten." Diss. Freiburg. Endingen, 1931., pp. 34-51
*Pickard-Cambridge, Arthur, Dithyramb, Tragedy, and Comedy. 2nd edition, rev. by T.B.L. Webster. Cambridge, 1962.
*Reckford, Kenneth, Aristophanes’ Old-and-New Comedy. Chapel Hill, 1987. pp.463-65
* [Ralph M. Rosen] (2006) " [http://repository.upenn.edu/classics_papers/29/ Comic Aischrology and the Urbanization of Agroikia] ", pages 219-238
*" [http://phoenixandturtle.net/excerptmill/cornford.htm The Problem of Origins] " in Cornford, F. M. the Origin of Attic Comedy. Ed. T. H. Gaster. Intro Jeffrey Henderson. Ann Arbor: U of MI P, 1993.
*Eric Csapo " [http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0031-8299(199723%2F24)51%3A3%2F4%3C253%3ARTPFDI%3E2.0.CO%3B2-J Riding the Phallus for Dionysus: Iconology, Ritual, and Gender-Role De/Construction] " Phoenix, Vol. 51, No. 3/4 (Autumn - Winter, 1997), pp. 253-295 doi:10.2307/1192539
* [http://www.cs.utk.edu/~mclennan/BA/JO-RD.html THE RURAL DIONYSIA] of Apollonius Sophistes
* [http://www.kingmixers.com/Clouds.html ARISTOPHANES CLOUDS]


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужна курсовая?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Comedy — This article is about a genre of dramatic works. For other uses, see Comedy (disambiguation). For the popular meaning of the term comedy , see Humour. Thalia, muse of comedy, holding a comic mask detail of “Muses Sarcophagus”, the nine Muses and… …   Wikipedia

  • Procession — A procession (French procession via Middle English, derived from Latin, processio, from procedere, to go forth, advance, proceed) is an organized body of people advancing in a formal or ceremonial manner. Funeral Procession, illustrated in a… …   Wikipedia

  • comedy — comedial /keuh mee dee euhl/, adj. /kom i dee/, n., pl. comedies. 1. a play, movie, etc., of light and humorous character with a happy or cheerful ending; a dramatic work in which the central motif is the triumph over adverse circumstance,… …   Universalium

  • Poetics (Aristotle) — Aristotle s Poetics (Greek: Ποιητικός , c. 335 BCE)Dukore (1974, 31).] aims to give an account of what he calls poetry (for him, the term includes the lyric, the epos, and the drama). Aristotle attempts to explain poetry through first principles… …   Wikipedia

  • Dithyramb — Attic relief (4th century BCE) depicting an aulos player and his family standing before Dionysos and a female consort, with theatrical masks displayed above. The dithyramb (διθύραμβος – dithurambos) was an ancient Greek hymn sung and danced in… …   Wikipedia

  • Ancient Greek comedy — Detail, side A from a Silician red figured calyx krater (c. 350 BC–340 BC). Ancient Greek comedy was one of the final three principal dramatic forms in the theatre of classical Greece (the others being tragedy and the satyr play). Athenian comedy …   Wikipedia

  • Cult of Dionysus — The Cult of Dionysus is strongly associated with satyrs, centaurs, and sileni, and its characteristic symbols are the bull, the serpent, the ivy, and the wine. The Dionysia and Lenaia festivals in Athens were dedicated to Dionysus, as well as the …   Wikipedia

  • Hinduism — /hin dooh iz euhm/, n. the common religion of India, based upon the religion of the original Aryan settlers as expounded and evolved in the Vedas, the Upanishads, the Bhagavad Gita, etc., having an extremely diversified character with many… …   Universalium

  • theatre, Western — ▪ art Introduction       history of the Western theatre from its origins in pre Classical antiquity to the present.       For a discussion of drama as a literary form, see dramatic literature and the articles on individual national literatures.… …   Universalium

  • folk art — folk art, adj. folk artist. artistic works, as paintings, sculpture, basketry, and utensils, produced typically in cultural isolation by untrained often anonymous artists or by artisans of varying degrees of skill and marked by such attributes as …   Universalium

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”