The Women Who Make Vine Trees Cry: Transfer of Evil in Menopause Transition Ritual

Abstract

Human life is surrounded by periods that represent the transitions from one human state to another and the traditions that accompany these periods. Transition periods are physiological, mental, emotional and social milestones of life. Human are tent to be vulnerable, and fragile in all aspects of their existence on the verge of these transition periods. That is why they often design some traditions and rituals to get all social support and supernatural blessing that they can get. The dramatic performance of these designs in the social environment is in the nature of defining and approving the new duties and responsibilities required by the new status. In a way, the social dimension of rites of passage is also an indication that this transition took place in the presence of the witnesses and with their approval as well. Limiting the rights and responsibilities of the individual, transitional rituals may also offer privileges in particular cases. In this study, the structure and function of the making vine trees my (tr. asma aglatma) ritual which both is both invented and inspired from an old tradition is depicted. Considering that a third of a woman's life passes in the post-menopause phase, the making vine trees cry is a ritual invented recently as the menopause transition period. The tears of the vine tree represent the transfer of the diseases in the fragile and sensitive body of the woman entering the menopause, and all the troubles that may cause her upset in the future. In the post-menopause phase, also known as the second spring, the woman makes a ritualistic entrance to her second spring with this very ritual she performs, leaving the past behind with all its abstract and concrete wounds.