Fertility and religion

Fertility was often mentioned in many mythological tales. In mythology, fertility deities exist in different belief systems or religions.

A fertility deity is a god or goddess in mythology associated with fertility, pregnancy, and birth. In some cases these deities are directly associated with sex, and in others they simply embody related attributes.

Fertility rites are religious rituals that renact sexual acts actually or symbolically. They may include sacrifices of animals and at times humans.

Demeter was the central deity in fertility rites held in classical Greece. Her rites included celebrating the change of seasons. Most women's festivals related in some way to woman's proper function as a fertile being (believed to allow women to promote the fertility of crops). Because of his link to the grape harvest, however, it is not surprising to see Dionysus associated with Demeter and Kore in the Eleusinian Mysteries.

In Ancient Phoenicia, a special sacrifice was conducted in the harvest season to reawaken the spirit of the vine; while another winter fertility rite was performed to restore the spirit of the withering vine. The sacrifice included cooking a kid in the milk of its mother, a Canaanite custom which Mosaic law condemned and formally forbade.

According to Ibn Ishaq, the Kaaba was foremerly worshipped as a female deity. Circumambulation was often performed naked by male and sometimes female pilgrims, and worship associated with fertility goddesses. Some have noted the apparent similarity of the Black Stone and its silver frame to the external female genitalia.

Fertility symbols were generally considered to have been used since Prehistoric times for encouraging fertility in women, although it is also used to show creation in some cultures.

Wedding cakes are a form of fertility symbols. In Ancient Rome, the custom was for the groom to break a cakes over the bride’s head to symbolize the end of the bride’s virginal state, ensure fertility, and the beginning of her husband’s power over her.

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