History Mystery: Sex And The Religions Part.XII

 Religious Dances of Ancient times


In ancient times the dances were of religious or the ceremonial importance. Most of the ancient religious system of temples had female slaves to perform such sacred dances. The religious dances of all most heathen temples were tried to replicate and applaud sexual delights and fantasy since all the early religions were based on sex worship. In those days in and around Egypt the females were trained as musicians and they were expert in them. Throughout their life time went naked and the nudeness in public while doing performance was not embraced them. Note: Most of the Psalms of David emblazoned to the Chief of the Chorus. Hence there is a probability that the leader and the team of musicians were nude.

Not only the Musicians the Dancers also performed by the undressed girls. It is similar to that of the dances performed by the Egyptian dancers named “Ferida “of these days. The dancers otherwise called Awalim also have singers in their troupe. The Orgy was a particular rite in worship of the Greek god Dionysus the god of wine. Those rites were celebrated only by the women and they assembled at the temples in the woods in nude or in brown skins. And they allowed their hair to hang loosely and had a stick in their hand to symbolically represent the sacred scepter of the wine god Dionysus. They danced and danced till their excitement subsides.

During the rituals at nights they sacrificed the scared bull. But in the early period Greeks sacrificed man but not the animal and in both cases the important aspect of the orgy was the respect given with high regard to the Penis or the Phallus of the sacrificed bull or the man. These represent the procreative god and their rituals were called as maenads (bacchantes). In Phrygia the dancers who were dancers of the goddess Rhea Cybele were called as Corybantes. The priests of the Goddess have castrated or remove their testicle of their own and entered into orgy dances with blood oozing out from their mutilated penis. All most all the dances including Greek had phallus as the sexual importance to symbolize the relationship of sexes. When Maenads danced it produces excitement that approached convulsions. Similar is in the religious dances to honor Bacchus. It can be understood that the Jews of those days also danced religious dances.

''Let Israel rejoice in him that made him; let the children of Zion be joyful to their king. Let them praise his name in the dance; let them sing praises unto him with the timbrel and harp." (Ps, CXLIX, 2, 3)

"But when Herod's birthday was kept, the daughter of Herodias danced before them, and pleased Herod” (Matt, xiv, 6). In the early Christian churches the choir danced while they sung.

The painting Borgia amusing himself painted by Grainier displays the form of entertainment in dancing by the nude girls of those days. There was a shameful understanding about the nudeness and the dances danced by the naked girls. In Ancient Rome Caracalla gave lavish entertainments in the Capri islands were the dancers were the beautiful dancing girls. Once the appreciation for their dances recedes then the dancing girls will be thrown in to the sea over the cliffs. Even now in Rural Spain there is a popular dance performed by both male and female during the dance the dancers throw off their garments one by one until the absolute nudity.