Creencias, actitudes y vivencias mágicas alrededor de la menstruación entre las mujeres de Bucaramanga, Colombia

Abstract

En este estudio mostramos el resultado de la entrevista a 1.207 mujeres sobre su percepción de los malestares más frecuentes asociados a la menstruación, las prohibiciones relacionadas con este fenómeno fisiológico, y exponemos la vigencia de las creencias mágicas positivas (poderes curativos) y negativas (efectos nocivos) en cada persona que recibe sangre menstrual untada o tomada.

Menstruation in history.

“…For example, according to the Talmud if a woman starting her cycle passed between two men, one of them was being condemned to die; if, on the contrary, the woman was ending the menstrual cycle both men would end up quarreling. 8 Besides this, in some cultures it was believed that, outside of this mystical component, menstruation contained poisonous and harmful substances for living beings and things. On the one hand, Pliny the Elder in his Naturalis Historia listed the 'dangers' of menstruating women: "[…] can turn wine into vinegar, break mirrors, ruin iron and leather, darken the skies, make the fields sterile, make fruit fall from trees, kill bees, and make animals abort".…”

“…10 The Koran defines menstruation as an evil that must be banished to reach purity, thereby, placing it in the field of impurity and disease. 8 In other cultures, menstrual blood is interpreted as a symbol of weakness and malignancy. In some tribes it is believed that because of it menstruating women can diminish the tribe's collective strength, which is why they are judged as temporary enemies of the clan and, fearing their presence, are subjected to different types of isolation and confinement, reaching quite varied reclusion mechanisms and periods.…”

“…Aristotle, for example, considered that it was during menstruation when the semen acted to bring on fertilization as a result. 8 This idea was kept for a long time; it was modified during the Medieval period, given that during said period it was felt that menstruation was a clear signal of fertilizing capacity. 8 Another indication of rationalization is present in the Salerno school, which proposed that the menstrual flow generated regulation of the female mood, while men did so through the sweating caused by physical labor; besides, it was thought that women were weak with respect to men, specially against disease, given that their bodies did not assimilate all foods and evacuated excesses by menstruating.…”