From Jill Hammer and Holly Shere's forthcoming book, The Hebrew Priestess:
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| "The Fool", Pat B. Allen |
One role of the sacred fool is to bring sexuality into the public sphere—to name that area of life and make it visible. At the ancient celebration of the Eleusinian mysteries, women celebrated Demeter and Persephone by telling bawdy jokes and stories. In Japan, the goddess Uzume lured the sulking sun goddess Amaterasu out of her cave by telling bawdy jokes and dancing lasciviously—thus saving the world from chaos and darkness. In sixteenth century Europe, Jewish women would tell bawdy jokes to the bride on the night before her wedding. The bride would sit with a bowl in her lap, and as her hair was braided, people would throw money and presents into the bowl. Women would sit around the bride, “chatting with her to make her merry, and telling her about naughty things to make her laugh.” This ritual would have defused the bride’s fear and tension, and perhaps
