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Belly Dance and Women's Spirituality: Some
Background
By Barbara Brandt. 1992.
Long before
people thought of God as a man, God was a woman – the Great Goddess, she who
created the heavens, the earth, and all the people who live on it; she who
controls the cycles of life, birth and death, of day and night and the seasons;
out of whose body the sun is born each morning and to whom it returns each
night; from whose body seeds grow into plants, then die back and are reborn the
following year; and in whose image women bring forth both male and female
children and provide them with their first food. The Great Goddess was also
honored as giver of civilization, since women developed most of the
early-civilized arts, such as agriculture, textile and pottery, healing, etc.
Although many peoples throughout the world
(including the primitive tribes of Europe) worshipped the Great Goddess over
thousands of years, some of the greatest centers of her worship were in the
highly developed agricultural cities and towns of the ancient Middle East –
Babylon, Mesopotamia, and early Egypt. From this part of the world also, emerged
the art we call “belly dance”. It is still practiced today as both a folk art
and a form of entertainment in countries of the Middle East, Asia Minor and
North Africa. (We now think of this area as the heart of patriarchal Islam, but
that came much, much later.)
Over the centuries, as patriarchal cultures and
civilizations displaced the worship of the Great Goddess and overthrew the
correspondingly powerful position of women in those early civilizations, the art
of belly dancing likewise took on new forms and meanings, so that it now most
frequently calls to mind such images as “a dance of seduction performed before
lascivious men by women confined in a harem.” But, as we increasingly learn
more about women’s history, and rediscover the role and symbols of the ancient
Great Goddess, it becomes obvious that belly dancing itself is a sacred art,
which in its original purpose reflected the essential Act of Creation and the
power of women as mirror of the Great Goddess.
This representation occurs on many levels. At
its most practical, belly dancing is a dance of childbirth. Its movements are
similar to exercises done in modern childbirth preparation classes, and some
parts of the dance actually depict phases of the labor process.
In addition, many of the traditional belly
dance movements can be recognized as classic symbols of the Great Goddess and
her creative, life-giving powers: including body patterns such as the circle,
the half-circle, and figure eight; the rolling of breasts, pelvis, and belly;
gestures such as upraised arms; and movements which imitate flowing water or the
snaky serpent. Even the traditional belly dance accessories, the finger cymbals
and veil, are related to ancient symbols of the Great Goddess in her act of
creation.
Finally, the dance is in part a celebration of
a woman’s own body, pleasure, and sensuality. It is a sexy dance. And this
reminds us (contrary to male-dominated assumptions) that to the ancient peoples
who revered the Great Goddess; “female lust” was the essential force without
which life on earth would not happen.
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