Menses and Menstruation
At a glance:
- Series: American Indians Ready Reference
- Categories: Social Science, Medical and Health Issues
- Subcategories: Native Americans, American Indians, Gender Issues, Sexism, Ceremonies, Rites, Rituals
- Curriculum: American Indian History
- Geographical Location: Canada, California
Article abstract: Indigenous tribal peoples have viewed menstruation as an important phenomenon, meriting ritual treatment
Menstruation occasioned widely varied responses and rituals by indigenous tribal peoples. Older women in Mesoamerican groups tried to keep a girl’s first menstruation secret from the men in the tribe, but tribes in the intermountain basin, the Yukon, and Canadian Subarctic regions treated the girl as dangerous to the welfare of herself and the group and constructed elaborate rules she had to follow to prevent contaminating others. Other...
[The entire page is 425 words long]
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