Gender-variant identities worldwide: Difference between revisions
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===Several world regions=== <!--T:57--> | ===Several world regions=== <!--T:57--> | ||
====Gallae==== <!--T:58--> | |||
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[[File: | [[File:Statue of Gallus priest.jpg|thumb|left|150px|<translate> <!--T:59--> Statue of a galla priest in feminine clothing, 2nd century, Capitoline Museum. </translate>]] | ||
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A significant portion of the ancient priests of the goddess Cybele and her consort Attis were '''Gallae'''. This tradition began in Phygia (where Turkey is today, part of Asia Minor), 2,300 years ago.<ref name="kaldera 174">Raven Kaldera. ''Hermaphrodeities: The Transgender Spirituality Workbook.'' Hubbardston, Massachusetts: Asphodel Press, 2008. P. 174-179.</ref> After 205 BCE, it spread throughout the Roman Empire, as far north as London.<ref name="kaldera 174" /> The Gallae were AMAB eunuchs. They wore bright-colored feminine sacerdotal clothing, hairstyles or wigs, makeup, and jewelry, and used feminine mannerisms in their speech. Contemporaries who were not Gallae called them by masculine words, Galloi or Galli (plural), or Gallus (singular). Some historians interpret the Gallae as transgender, and think they would have called themselves by the feminine Gallae (plural) and Galla (singular).<ref>Kirsten Cronn-Mills, ''Transgender Lives: Complex Stories, Complex Voices'' (2014, {{ISBN|0761390227}}), page 39</ref><ref>Teresa Hornsby, Deryn Guest, ''Transgender, Intersex and Biblical Interpretation'' (2016, {{ISBN|0884141551}}), page 47</ref><ref name="seabrook gallae about">Laura Anne Seabrook, "About this comic." ''Tales of the Gallae.'' http://totg-mirror.thecomicseries.com/about/</ref> The Roman poet Ovid (43 BC – 17 AD) says their name comes from the Gallus river in Phrygia;<ref>Maarten J. Vermaseren, ''Cybele and Attis: the myth and the cult'', translated by A. M. H. Lemmers, London: Thames and Hudson, 1977, p.85, referencing Ovid, ''Fasti'' IV.9</ref> "gallus" itself means chicken or rooster. There were other priests and priestesses of Cybele who were not eunuchs, but ordinary men, and other priestesses who were cisgender or transmasculine Amazonian warrior women.<ref name="kaldera 174" /> Due to the Gallae's practice of castration, many historians have been confused about how to categorize Gallae in modern frameworks of sex, gender, and religion. The Gallae were not ascetic but hedonistic, so castration was not about stopping sexual desires. Some Gallae would marry men, and others would marry women, so castration was not about being a gay man. Their ways were more consistent with transgender people who had suffered gender dysphoria, which they relieved by castration, as the available form of [[bottom surgery|sex reassignment surgery]].<ref name="kaldera 174" /> | |||
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The Gallae lived together in the ''metro'on'' temple compounds, which they tended, and cared for the statue of Cybele. They called one another by familial titles like Mother and Sister. They spent much of their time traveling in order to beg for charity, in exchange for which they told fortunes and blessed homes.<ref name="Maarten J. Vermaseren 1977, p.97">Maarten J. Vermaseren, ''Cybele and Attis: the myth and the cult'', translated by A. M. H. Lemmers, London: Thames and Hudson, 1977, p.97.</ref><ref name="kaldera 174" /> They were believed to have spiritual powers: that they could bring rain, and exorcise evil spirits. The Roman public viewed them with a mixture of awe and contempt, seeing them as practicing shocking foreign customs, so they were just as often honored as they were harassed and politically persecuted. They were not allowed to be Roman citizens, and vice versa. | |||
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The Gallae practiced annual celebrations representing the death and rebirth of the god Attis. Their best-known holiday was the Day of Blood (''Dies Sanguinis'') on March 24, in which the Gallae would dance around a felled and decorated pine tree. The Gallae were known for wild dancing, during which they whipped themselves and one another until they reached an altered state of consciousness. They were also known for playing loud music with drums, flutes, and cymbals. (One possible origin of the word "cymbal" is that it comes from their goddess Cybele.) Then their initiates would publicly, ritually castrate themselves on the temple steps, by means of potsherds in their own hands. This was to show that their castration was voluntary. They would throw the severed genitals into the cheering crowd, which were good luck to catch. Whatever family caught them would return thanks for the blessing by caring for the initiate while she healed.<ref name="kaldera 174" /> Afterward, the initiate's lower belly was tattooed, and the healed wound dressed with gold leaf.<ref name="seabrook gallae about" /> | |||
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Due to being criminalized, persecuted, and exterminated by the Christians, the Gallae were gone by the 6th century CE. Today, some trans women and worshipers of Cybele call themselves Gallae, and [http://gallae.com one of their modern temples is in New York]. Laura Anne Seabrook, a trans woman and follower of Cybele who considers herself a modern gallae, created an educational web-comic, [http://totg-mirror.thecomicseries.com/about/ Tales of the Galli]. Her comic is a work of historical fiction about Gallae in ancient Rome, based on her extensive historical research.</translate> | |||
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==See also== <!--T: | ==See also== <!--T:63--> | ||
*[[Nonbinary gender outside of the transgender community]] | *[[Nonbinary gender outside of the transgender community]] | ||
*[[List of nonbinary identities]] | *[[List of nonbinary identities]] | ||
*[[Gender variance in spirituality]] | *[[Gender variance in spirituality]] | ||
==External links== <!--T: | ==External links== <!--T:64--> | ||
* [http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/two-spirits/map.html PBS: A Map of Gender-Diverse Cultures]. This is an interactive world map showing the locations of dozens of cultures that recognize nonbinary genders. | * [http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/two-spirits/map.html PBS: A Map of Gender-Diverse Cultures]. This is an interactive world map showing the locations of dozens of cultures that recognize nonbinary genders. | ||
* [[Wikipedia:Third gender|Wikipedia's Third gender article]] | * [[Wikipedia:Third gender|Wikipedia's Third gender article]] | ||
==Further reading== <!--T: | ==Further reading== <!--T:65--> | ||
* Herdt, Gilbert H. ''Third Sex, Third Gender: Beyond Sexual Dimorphism in Culture and History''. New York: Zone Books, 1994. Print. | * Herdt, Gilbert H. ''Third Sex, Third Gender: Beyond Sexual Dimorphism in Culture and History''. New York: Zone Books, 1994. Print. | ||
* Nanda, Serena. ''Gender Diversity: Crosscultural Variations''. Prospect Heights, Ill: Waveland Press, 2000. Print. | * Nanda, Serena. ''Gender Diversity: Crosscultural Variations''. Prospect Heights, Ill: Waveland Press, 2000. Print. | ||
==References== <!--T: | ==References== <!--T:66--> | ||
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[[Category:Gender-variant identities worldwide]][[Category:Spirituality]] | [[Category:Gender-variant identities worldwide]][[Category:Spirituality]] | ||