Re: Pam's Pelorians

From: David Weihe <weihe_at_eagle.danet.com>
Date: Thu, 29 Jul 1999 17:36:37 EDT

> From: "Nick Brooke" <Nick_Brooke_at_csi.com>
> Pam writes, perceptively:
> > According to Pelandan mythology, we have pre-solar Peloria cooking along,
> > with priestesses whacking male gods over the head every year to make the
> > crops grow better.
>
> Another explanation of some of those myths (especially the Naveria story) is
> that they show usurpation of female rule by males (and/or of male rule by
> females) as distinct threads in history rather than as cyclical annual
> events.

I would have to agree with that. The only fertility rite that I remember from the Entekosiad involved burying a fairly large group of people, equally split between men and woman. Given that the early Pelandan society tended to view males so poorly, it would be rather unwise to sacrifice them, almost like Hebrews sacrificing pigs and vultures in the Temple of Jerusalem. Further, the Sun was never a god, but just a temporary structure (destroyed each day, maybe, when it set?), so again, it would not be sufficiently valued to be useful as a sacrifice.

Presumably, in that early rite, the men went along as companions of the women involved, much as a slave girl and his favorite dogs were killed in the classic Viking funeral.

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