barrenness

83:4.4Child­less­ness was greatly dreaded, and since bar­ren­ness was at­tributed to spirit machi­na­tions, ef­forts to in­sure fe­cun­dity also led to the as­so­ci­a­tion of mar­riage with cer­tain mag­i­cal or re­li­gious cer­e­mo­ni­als. And in this ef­fort to in­sure a happy and fer­tile mar­riage, many charms were em­ployed; even the as­trologers were con­sulted to as­cer­tain the birth stars of the con­tract­ing par­ties. At one time the hu­man sac­ri­fice was a reg­u­lar fea­ture of all wed­dings among well-to-do peo­ple.

83:7.2Among prim­i­tive peo­ples only about one half the mar­riages proved sat­is­fac­tory. The most fre­quent cause for sep­a­ra­tion was bar­ren­ness, which was al­ways blamed on the wife; and child­less wives were be­lieved to be­come snakes in the spirit world. Un­der the more prim­i­tive mores, di­vorce was had at the op­tion of the man alone, and these stan­dards have per­sisted to the twen­ti­eth cen­tury among some peo­ples.

88:6.4Ges­ture, be­ing older than speech, was the more holy and mag­i­cal, and mimicry was be­lieved to have strong mag­i­cal power. The red men of­ten staged a buf­falo dance in which one of their num­ber would play the part of a buf­falo and, in be­ing caught, would in­sure the suc­cess of the im­pend­ing hunt. The sex fes­tiv­i­ties of May Day were sim­ply im­i­ta­tive magic, a sug­ges­tive ap­peal to the sex pas­sions of the plant world. The doll was first em­ployed as a magic tal­is­man by the bar­ren wife.