Pygmania

The following item appeared on the "20s and 30s at the JCC" email newsletter [that I'm still subscribed to for whatever reason]: It reminded me immediately of excellent ~content~ we had posted here many moons ago, so I came here to post about it and keep the thread going. I typed out the post title, "of moons and menses," pasted the screenshot above and then went digging for the cross reference. And here's what I found: So yeah, I already made a post with the same title 3 years and 1 month ago. It's always nice to know that one has not evolved, that creativity travels in cycles rather than lines, that cognition is prone to eclipse. Right?

Last night I caught part of a Seinfeld episode that I had never seen before. TBS was airing "The Apology" and specifically I turned it on at the segment where Jerry and George are in the coffee shop and Elaine enters... and out of nowhere come the highlighted lines below. Elaine's delivery is magnificent, and copypasta doesn't do it justice, but here you go anyways (plus prior scenes for context): Melissa, [naked on the couch]: "What are you doing?" Jerry, [naked, carrying a belt sander]: "I found a rough spot on the kitchen floor, I thought I'd polish it up with this belt sander I have here." Melissa: "No, not that. Why are you naked?" Jerry: "I thought naked is good." Melissa, [eyeing him]: "This isn't good naked." Sponsor, [seeing George at the meeting]: "George, here, have a seat." George, [sitting down]: "Where's Hanke?" Sponsor, [motioning to the leader]: "Shhhhh." ...

It began innocently enough. I'd wanted to download a decent Android app for logging my monthly cycle, on account of that shit don't belong in gcal no more. Can you guess what    ± 0   is code for? The app I picked turned out to be a super deluxe period tracker extraordinaire complete with a tumblr presence ( blog.glowing.com ; teh lulz) and infographics  delusions of grandeur: Dear app that tracks the whereabouts of my uterine lining: please, take yourself less seriously. You have my permission. This post is part of a series on menarche and ritualisms and more ™  (oh, my!) See the first installment, conveniently titled Menarche: Archaisms and More!

menarche (n.) 1896, from German menarche (1895), from Greek men (genitive menos ) "month" (see moon (n.)) + arkhe "beginning" (see archon ).   That is to say, the time of a woman's first menstruation. Please, let Wikipedia educate you: When a Japanese girl has her first period, the family sometimes celebrates by eating red-colored rice and beans ( sekihan ) . The color of blood and the red of sekihan are not related*. All the rice of ancient times of Japan was red. Since rice was precious in ancient Japan (usually, millet was eaten), it was eaten only during the celebration. Sekihan is the tradition of an ancient custom. The celebration is kept a secret from extended family until the rice is served.  In Australia , the Aborigines treat a girl to "love magic". She is taught the ways of womanhood by the other women in her tribe. Her mother builds her a hut to which she confines herself for the remainder of her menses. The hut ...