Phallic processions

Phallic processions, or Penis Parade, originally called "phallika" in the Ancient Greece, were a common feature of Dionysiac celebrations; they were ceremonial group walkings that advanced to a cult center, and were characterized by obscenities and verbal abuse. [http://depthome.brooklyn.cuny.edu/classics/links.html Dunkle, Roger] " [http://depthome.brooklyn.cuny.edu/classics/dunkle/comedy/komos.htm The origins of comedy] " in "Introduction to Greek and Roman Comedy"] Among the "obscenities", a common one was the display of the fetishized phallus". [Pickard-Cambridge 1962, 144-62] [Reckford 1987, 443-67]

Aristotle, in a famous passage of the "Poetics", formulated the hypothesis that comedy originated from "those who lead off the phallic processions", which were still common in many towns at his time. ["Poetics", 1449a-b ] [Mastromarco, Giuseppe: (1994) "Introduzione a Aristofane" (Sesta edizione: Roma-Bari 2004). ISBN 8842044482 p.3]

This sacred religious ceremonies and cults, are instead categorized as profane by the monotheistic religions' worldview. In August 2000, to promote a representation of Aristophanes' The Clouds, a traditional Greek phallic procession had been organized, with a convert|25|ft|m|sing=on long phallus paraded by the cast with the accompaniment of Balkan music; the phallic device was banned by the staff of the Edinburgh Festival.Tim Younger [http://www.kingmixers.com/TimonClouds.html THE PENIS PARADE or A TALE OF A TAIL] ]

Similar parades of Shinto origin have long been carried out in Japan. Although the practice has been mostly eradicated in Japan through the urgings of Western values, a few phallic parades continue to this day.

Notes

References

*Richardson, N. J., "The Homeric Hymn to Demeter". Oxford, 1974, pp. 214-15
*O’Higgins, Laurie, "Women and Humor in Classical Greece." Cambridge, 2003. p. 57
*For the outrageous practice of "abuse from the wagons" see Fluck, H., "Skurrile Riten in griechischen Kulten." Diss. Freiburg. Endingen, 1931., pp. 34-51
*Pickard-Cambridge, Arthur, Dithyramb, Tragedy, and Comedy. 2nd edition, rev. by T.B.L. Webster. Cambridge, 1962.
*Reckford, Kenneth, Aristophanes’ Old-and-New Comedy. Chapel Hill, 1987. pp.463-65
* [Ralph M. Rosen] (2006) " [http://repository.upenn.edu/classics_papers/29/ Comic Aischrology and the Urbanization of Agroikia] ", pages 219-238
*" [http://phoenixandturtle.net/excerptmill/cornford.htm The Problem of Origins] " in Cornford, F. M. the Origin of Attic Comedy. Ed. T. H. Gaster. Intro Jeffrey Henderson. Ann Arbor: U of MI P, 1993.
*Eric Csapo " [http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0031-8299(199723%2F24)51%3A3%2F4%3C253%3ARTPFDI%3E2.0.CO%3B2-J Riding the Phallus for Dionysus: Iconology, Ritual, and Gender-Role De/Construction] " Phoenix, Vol. 51, No. 3/4 (Autumn - Winter, 1997), pp. 253-295 doi:10.2307/1192539
* [http://www.cs.utk.edu/~mclennan/BA/JO-RD.html THE RURAL DIONYSIA] of Apollonius Sophistes
* [http://www.kingmixers.com/Clouds.html ARISTOPHANES CLOUDS]