matriarchy & religion

[Cypress]

Here is a comparison between matriarchal/patriarchal points of view.​

Which spiritual traditions are most in agreement with matriarchal world-view?

I would say Taoism & Shaktism.
The ideas of Tao, wu wei (natural action), and pu (simplicity) perhaps come from China’s matriarchal past.
Shaktism today is a branch of Hinduism and focuses on worship of the Great Goddess.​

But society is patriarchal both in China and India.​

What societies are matriarchal even today?
Do such societies even exist nowadays and if they do, did their religious traditions survive?​

　
　
　
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[bp789]

Not all of India is patriarchal. Kerala has historically had a matrilineal culture, which is why women currently have a high status in Kerala.

The people of Meghalaya also follow a matrilineal culture. The people of Meghalaya do not care about having a male child. Meghalaya is still matrilineal even though 70% are Christian because of missionaries, but there are large Animist and Hindu minorities.

 

[Antibush5]

Matriachal religions, you know those mother goddess kinda ones, always make me feel demasuclated. I prefer a more genderless religion. Here is an idea, instead of calling it god, call the Brahman the Divine. Thats kinda gender nuetral.

 

[Cypress]

Not all of India is patriarchal. Kerala has historically had a matrilineal culture, which is why women currently have a high status in Kerala.

The people of Meghalaya also follow a matrilineal culture. The people of Meghalaya do not care about having a male child. Meghalaya is still matrilineal even though 70% are Christian because of missionaries, but there are large Animist and Hindu minorities.

I did a search on web and found out that people of Medhalaya worship goddess Ka Blei Synshar.
The Nongkrem dance festival is dedicated to her.

As I found out eople of Kerala do worship Bhadrakali, but I remember to have read somewhere there is a form of Devi with the head of a lion who is popular in Kerala.
Unfortunatelly I have forgotten the name of this goddess, but I remember it startet with "p".

 

[Cypress]

Ha, found the site again: Pratyangira Home

 

[wmjbyatt]

I'm going to have to contest the idea of Taoism as matriarchal. A lot of Taoist text appears to be matriarchal, but it's also responding heavily to the patriarchy of the Confucian order. Taoism is, quite definitely, neutral. That's kinda one of the points--a balance between yin and yang, male and female, there and not there.

Also, I have to say that the chart that you presented is incredibly biased. It conveys patriarchy as an inherently depressing thing, and I find that to be... gauche, at best.

 

[Cypress]

Also, I have to say that the chart that you presented is incredibly biased. It conveys patriarchy as an inherently depressing thing, and I find that to be... gauche, at best.

Not all characteristics listed in that chart are present in every patriarchal society.
For instance the understanding of time as lineal is typical for the West, in the East time was always seen as cyclic in spite of the patriarchal structures of Eastern societies.

 

[ByeRaagi Rayaprolu]

Matriachal religions, you know those mother goddess kinda ones, always make me feel demasuclated.

:yes: that's also what they are for..to demasculate chauvinistic men ( not u, of course) and keep up the balance of Yin & Yang.

On the perceived correlation between matriarchal/matrilinial and The Mother-Worshipping :
i believe that the choice a tribe makes between matri&patriarchies(and also between God&Goddess, if it has any correlation with their choice of '-archy') depends on factors like historical, cultural n demographic situations...i.e.,eg.. what happened to the previuos generations or other tribes who chose contrarily or similarly...the kind of value a tribe associates, in general, with their females' (re)productivity/beauty/intuition/co-operation/will-ful submission etc...the pressing need for multiplying numbers after a gr8 calamity/epidemic/genocide..any of these may influence the shaping of a matriarchal soceity..not necessarily being mother-worshippers...of course we may find that most of the matriarchal/matrilinear societies predominantly worship Goddesses...but this may be so only coz humans tend to form n reform their religion so that it suits their contemporary society. so, now matriarchal, then patriarchal...we all have changed our societies either ways so many times, i believe.

AntiBush wrote : instead of calling it God [ or Goddess], call the Brahman the Divine..

Dear AntiBush, i wonder whether is it really all just about how we call It or name It..??
Can u believe that the so Absolute and All knowing Brahman would have missed out all the fun and d bliss in a perfect Man-Woman relation..?? To me, bro, there's no Brahman apart from or beyond the ever-inalienable Union of The Perfect God and The Perfect Goddess..now, we can think of how to call or name this primordial Parents..Mind &its Light ??, Shiva & His Shakti ??, Allah & His Noor/Al-Uzza ?? Shri Mat+NaaraayaNa & His Adi Mahaa Lakshmi ??,The Father and the Holy Ghost ?? Yin & Yang ??..

Is Brahman worthy of common man's Veneration ? Does It respond to the needy recluses' SOS ? i think It indeed does all these, but only in its manifest form of Mahesvara (the Lord) and Mahesvari (the 1st Lady of the Cosmos), as one Cosmic Mind...so, there's no call to 'Worship'( praise/extoll/thanks-giving/fasting-for etc..) Brahman as devoid of any quality or internal difference but only to 'realize' and to 'BE' in Brahman ("The Multiplying/Evolving One"), the One-ness underlying all the apparent multiplicity and flux...and meanwhile worshipping The Supreme Lord and/or The Supreme Mother and/or Their Beloved Sons(/Prophets) will surely shorten our journey b4 we reach them to live in their eternal Union, which is none other than the Brahman Itself...
[i think the sanskrit word 'Upaasana' ('worship') means "approaching and living nearer to'..]

thank u for thought provoking thread and replies there of..sorry if i'm presenting absurd n wrong views.., plz lemme know Comrades..

 

[Cypress]

sorry if i'm presenting absurd n wrong views.., plz lemme know Comrades..

Your views are neighter absurd nor wrong, they very welcome and much appreciated. :namaste

 

[Cypress]

Does someone know anything about the Daba tradition of the Mosuo (China) or the name of their goddess?