Define 'Fertility Cult'

[TYRRHENUS]

Hello all! I need your input on this. I know what the words "fertility" and "cult" mean, but what of "fertility cult?" Thanks.
This is what I have come up with:

A fertility cult is a term applied to the religious beliefs of primitive peoples who believed the fruitfulness of crops was dependent on the religious devotion and magical acts of its followers. Fertility cults were replaced at different places and at different times by scientific knowledge. Specifically in the advancement of agricultural sciences.

[DebLipp]

Hello all! I need your input on this. I know what the words "fertility" and "cult" mean, but what of "fertility cult?" Thanks.

Bit of a bugaboo, actually. You see, when the paleolithic figurines such as those commonly known as "Venus figures" (like Willendorf) were uncovered by male archeologists back in the day, they were called "fetish objects" of "fertility cults." Basically, demeaning language was used to belittle the importance of these figures, even though they were incredibly widespread. The thrust of the phraseology was that they weren't goddesses and their worship wasn't important, that they were only worshipped within the very confined area of fertility.

Neither these chauvanistic men nor later revisionist feminists were willing to look at the evidence with an unbiased eye. There is strong support for believing that the fertility aspects of these figures was important, but it's rather a stretch to assume they were merely a part of a minor cult rather than playing a central part in the lives of the people who created so many of them.

So, "fertility cult" is a high-sounding way of being dismissive of people who seem primitive, magical, or female-focused, and has little objective academic meaning.

[TYRRHENUS]

Wow DebLipp! You sure pack a lot of content into few words.
Anyway... I have no problem with the word "primitive" as you have enlightened me to the fact that these beliefs took place in the paleolithic era. But I agree that many earlier archaeologists used this word in a derrogatory fashion.

I am interested in a historical rule-of-thumb on when these 'fertility religions' died out. Why? What were they replaced with? Would this be the 'Bronze Age'?

I really want to know because I have encountered this author/lecturer/coven leader who throws around the words "fertility cult" quite a lot. He's the kind of guy that 30 years ago would have said to any woman within hearing range something like, "You know... I supported the E.R.A., (wink, wink)." And I think he's doing it just to get in their pants... so I want as much info as possible on the now defunct term "fertility cults" or 'fertility religions' so as to debunk him. :hehehehe: Thanks.

[Ben Gruagach]

If a "fertility cult" is a religious group that has at least some emphasis on procreation, then I don't think they've died out at all.

There are plenty of elements within Christianity that push the idea of human procreation in particular. It might not be the central point of their philosophy, but the way some groups focus their energy it sure comes across as a major thing for at least some of them.

If you read some of the books out on folklore and religious practices such as Ronald Hutton's "Stations of the Sun" or Brian Day's "Chronicle of Celtic Folk Customs" (just as two examples I happen to have on my bookshelf nearby) there are also lots of examples of Christian festivals and practices conducted not so long ago, and some even still practiced, by rural people in the UK very much as a way of ensuring fertility of the crops and farm animals. So I'm not convinced that "fertility cults" are necessarily something that is long extinct by any means.

[Ben Gruagach]

I thought I'd suggest too that if you're looking specifically for "sacred sexuality" information there is a lot of public domain material at http://www.sacred-texts.com/sex/index.htm

It's just one section of the site http://www.sacred-texts.com/index.htm which has a lot of really good source material for religious, folklore, and magickal studies.

[DebLipp]

What I was getting at, in a somewhat snide way ;) is that the term "fertility cult" is really outmoded now. At least, as far as I know, not being an academic, it has lost its cachet of respectability in academia.

You see, anything can be re-framed as a fertility cult, as Ben Gruagach just cleverly did with Christianity. A fertility cult is any religion with a focus on reproduction, and every human religion has had that focus to a greater or lesser degree. Saying "fertility cult" is a way of offhandedly insulting a religion, because it implies that if there is a great emphasis on fertility, then there is no sophistication of philosophy or theology.

The ancient fertility cults, in terms of Venus figurines, are traced back as far as 40,000 years ago, and as recent as 5,000 years ago. But fertility cults haven't disappeared, as Ben says.