Title : History of Sexual Rites - Jacques Marcireau - Book
Summary :
Sexual rites of prehistoric origin had never been the subject of a comprehensive study or any attempt at interpretation. People did not dare to look them in the face. This book finally dares to do so and provides the most extraordinary documentation ever gathered on this subject. Sacred prostitution, the right of the first night, the cult of the lingam and the yoni, and circumcision are the best-known vestiges of these mysterious practices, the spread of which was universal and whose role in the formation of religions and societies was crucial. A careful examination of the oldest of these rites, bestial coupling (Eve and the serpent), reveals a surprising hypothesis on the origins of humanity. Ritual coupling, no longer between an animal and a woman, but between a priest and a priestess (as well as between the faithful) was such a widespread practice that, in the time of Herodotus, “except the Greeks and the Egyptians, all peoples made love in the temples.” In 1877, the Orthodox clergy still tolerated – once a year – couplings of the faithful in a Christian church… Sexual rites are inseparable from the rites of Death and the rites of Emasculation. By explaining them, we finally understand a host of beliefs, superstitions, social or religious customs, the nature of religious and other ceremonies, the origin of festivals, etc.
