As women raised up in religious, patriarchal and misogynistic societies, we are taught our bodies are shameful, we are the center of sin, we are “unclean.” Our “moon time” or menstrual period are to be hidden. We are ashamed, embarrassed… Such a potentially spiritual time is degraded.
There was a time when a woman’s moon time was celebrated. The blood isn’t brought about through violence - peaceful blood - so it is holy. It is different.
Female blood has a remarkable potency in the ritual imagination of Africans. For example, among many people, the menstrual blood of a woman is considered sacred and has the power to ward off evil spirits. Some view the ability to shed blood as an example of the unique fertility of a woman. There are others who see the divinity in the special powers of women. In African religion, each sex can operate as the vessel of the spirits and there are both priests and priestesses who serve at their shires or temples. However, the sex of the minister is not an indication of the sex of the divinity (Kwabena Faheem Ashanti in the Encyclopedia of African Religion, Volume I).
