Ancient fertility rituals

Autor: Raif Esmerovic

In ethnographic notes from the beginning of the twentieth century one can find descriptions of rituals which spurred fertility, which are, as one can notice, completely lost in the first half of the previous century; this proves that the Illyrian cult of fertility managed to preserve itself among our people, a cult which was based on pagan beliefs. Role of men and women is pronounced in them, i.e. the things which were called in the ancient witchcraft/paganism High priest or high priestess, which blessed nature and called upon its forces via sexual relation.

With the advent of monotheism though the pagan religion or better to say the religion of nature, was repressed, this has not necessarily represented the end of it since the pagan rituals were an integral part of agriculture, i.e. cult of fertility, without which people couldn't live. That's why a resistance towards the forced religion arose and a special, parallel form of the religion was created, which we today known as "folk religion" based on pagan beliefs and customs, whose age dates from the earliest days of our people, therefore the ethnologists and anthropologists themselves cannot fathom their origin and symbology.



The worst evil that could take place with the advent of monotheism, primarily Christianity and Islam, is violent distancing of man from nature. But, this was the only way that church, despite the forceful christening and demonising of all things pagan, could significantly suppress the religion of nature, or more precisely - marginalise it. However, even in such a crippled form, without freedom or religious equality of men and women, the cult of fertility managed to prosper. The substratum of the former High priest and priestess was located in marriage, i.e. the husband and wife could without any judgement continue to practice their ritual incitement of fertility and preservation of life itself, in the privacy of their home.

Horns of god Vidasus

Paganism is based on the belief that men and women have equal rights and that the first and oldest deity in human history was the Grand Mother, the one that gave life to all things, the one whose traces can be found in the neolith period. Man and woman also signify two sexes without whom life in nature is impossible and whose bodily connection is nothing short of nature's blessing. That's why the symbols of paganism were always symbols of sexuality and fertility, especially the horns, snake, staff, circle, etc.

The most reliable traces of the Illyrian cult of fertility are evident in certain parts of Bosnian love magic, closely tied to stimulating fertility, where one can clearly notice a focus on individual forces of creation. It is noticeable that in magical practice nudity during rituals is emphasized especially if the woman or girl is taking the "horns" of the house with her hands, i.e. roof, and repeats a magical formula. While uttering the curse she firmly holds the roof, or even shakes it, desiring to attract the attention of none other than god Vidasus himself.

Horns are, as it is known, an ancient symbol of fertility and power but also the ancient characteristic of the moon goddess. According to the occult definition the roof represents a heavenly part of the house, as does the trunk of the tree (beam or "horns" of the roof are made out of tree), while the home threshold is closely tied to the earth, its function is to signify a border between the external and internal world, through which one enters and exits, and that's why in folk religion of BiH it denotes a vagina - "it's not good for a girl to sit on the threshold since she will have difficulty giving birth", etc. In this short analysis we cannot ignore a very important piece of information which relates to the description of Vidasus, god of fertility and nature, whose status symbols were large horns on the head, and the ritual holding of the "horns" is explained by this fact. Nudity, is similarly, one of the key sequences in the pagan ritual of fertility, where there is no false morality, instead the beauty and sexuality of the human body is celebrated. In the preserved relief depictions naked girls are dancing around god Vidasus (faeries, nymphs) with long, unbraided hair.  

There are more preserved data which confirm the thesis that we are talking about Vidasus and rituals dedicated to him. Namely, in order to subjugate a man to her will, usually a husband, a woman looks at him through her hand, discreetly, and repeats the following formula, which has a pronounced sexual tone, three times: "Place your horns between my legs!". This ritual is nothing else but an imitation of seduction of Vidasus by his companion goddess Tana, probably from some rituals dedicated to the renewal of the cycle of fertility. One could conclude that love magic is based on mimicry of ancient forces of nature or allusion of their heavenly power, all with the goal of connection and harmony with the eternal circle of fertility and life. Proof of this are the beginning of all magical formulas which are always based on the allusion "as I.so that."

Penis

The importance of sexuality and fertility in human history, almost to the point of exaggeration, is perhaps best presented by the examples of ancient gods. Greek god Priapus, son of Dionysus and Aphrodite, a deity with an extremely large phallus, is the classic symbol of the cult of penis worship which is out of control and sense. Before him the cult of Pan was known, Roman Silvanus or the Illyrian Vidasus, which in its essence celebrates unrestrained sexuality but also emphasises the importance of maintaining uninterrupted continuity of fertility as the basic need of all humanity.


Priapus

In folk religion of BiH the penis was compared to a stick i.e. wood. In certain magical rituals during a friends marriage, a joke was usually done by his friends who would quietly sneak upon the grooms house and uttering a magical formula overturn a wooden stick inside his yard, and according to stories the groom would be unable to achieve an erection.

Bosnian men pay special attention to their penis, probably because the folk name for it is usually "male strength" and sometimes "anguish", because of the traditional obsession of men with their penis. Besides indicating strength, the phallus has pronounced prophylactic characteristics. That we are talking about a great force which will chase away all evil when uttered is demonstrated by the following example from the ritual practice of our stravarke. While pouring molten lead into water stravarka from Velika Kladuša utters:

Fear be gone, you are chased by the father's thing!

With the phrase "father's thing" one alludes to penis. In the exorcist formula from Tešanj the following is mentioned:

A dark dog crosses the water with four legs,
fifth tail,
sixth penis and seventh testicles.
No saddlebag in the testicles
nor a stick in the penis....
nor spells on my child!

Though, according to folk belief, there is no way that someone can cast a spell on the genitalia nor cause a disease since they are parts of the body that no one can see, men have a primal fear from all forms of sexual powerlessness. Based on this we can conclude that identification of men with the penis often crosses all normal forms and often becomes an obsession. In the description of the magical protection of the penis, the man holds his penis while going to the bathroom and utters:

My penis,
you are the boss of the entire castle (estate),
may no one hurt you.

If a man becomes impotent he will undertake all necessary things to bring it back, even if he has to use magical recipes. In Visoko a man wishing to restore his potency would eat roasted sparrows with rice.

In accordance with fertility represents happiness in the narrowest sense, which is then again identified with life itself, sexually functional penis is a source of life happiness and vitality for every man. Looking at him through spread out fingers the man talks to him with a magical formula:

My penis, I'm looking at you through my fingers;
you have small eyes but great powers,
you see in the darkness as you do in light,
please give me luck
and may you never grow tired
and may you always make me happy.

Another interesting thing is that the ritual of looking through the fingers is typical and characteristic of Bosnian love magic, for example when a girl or wife spreads her finger and looks through them at the man she desires or loves, followed by a small love formula. A woman would secretly look through the fingers of her right hand and would repeat this formula three times:

You look at me (the name of the man) lovingly,
string pearls,
give your soul for me,
elzalif amin veledalin amin.

For a man to be generally happy with his penis, besides a good erection one strives for plentiful sperm which in itself guarantees fertility itself. But, besides the fact that sperm is among the folk known as "seed of life", it too has prophylactic powers like the penis, especially ones which need to protect him from spells which women perform against his sexual powers. When a man masturbates and finishes, he would follow the act by this magical formula:

As I had come,
so too may my luck masturbate (walk, go) across the world,
and never let a female put a spell on me.

Trimming or circumcision

Circumcision of the penis is known as a part of the tradition among the Arabs and Jews and according to certain data, all three messengers of God (Moses, Jesus and Mohammed) were circumcised, which is actually one of the main characteristic of monotheism itself. There are some indications that circumcision was practiced even before these instances, and that it is not an original feature of monotheism. But, no matter, removal of the foreskin of the penis, besides having health benefits for the man, became a part of magical belief which are connected to fertility and summoning good fortune.

From various beliefs the following were most frequent: among the people an uncircumcised penis is called a "mutt's" penis, since in that state it resembles a penis of that particular animal, and is considered to be unclean and dirty as such. Similarly, in Bosnia it was believed that it can be beneficial to get hold of the foreskin of a circumcised čifut (Jew), since they were known as extremely stingy people, and one would always seek to gain something from the stingy people through magical rituals, since the borrowed money or item attracted new luck. When one would get possession of such a foreskin, the following would be uttered: "As this penis is happily circumcised, may my luck be happy!"

According to folk legends, if a child dies uncircumcised, the Imam would break the pinkie finger of his right hand prior to the funeral, since apparently it is not good to bury the child before this act. Why this is so, I have not managed to surmise, though there are indications that it was believed that the boy becomes a Muslim after circumcision. Evidently the pinkie finger represents a substitute for the penis, and the act of breaking a substitute to circumcision, which is a logical conclusion which is grounded in love magic. Namely, when a young man wishes to capture a maiden's heart via magic, he would puncture his pinkie finger and have three drops of blood fall on a sugar cube and place it in her coffee. But, as I succeeded in recording from the person revealing these details, she claimed that if she were a man she would never perform such a ritual since "you are weakening your strength and life", which returns us again to the folk name for the penis - male strength.

After the circumcision the foreskin is dried and thrown to a rooster, so that the boy, once grown, receives the sexual power of the rooster, which stands for a fertile and sexually active animal.




Cernunnos or Vidasus

Vagina

Fear of vagina or a woman caused mythological traditions of women as a symbol of evil, manifested in the form of various demonic beings, and among the oldest ones recorded is the one about Tiamat. Origin of this irrational fear, should be initially sought in the physiognomy of the female body. Vagina is the name which comes from the eponymous Latin word which literally means "scabbard". Compared to the penis, which is protruded and clearly visible on the body, vagina is withdrawn inside the body and as such was a mystery for the human psyche and an ideal topic for all imaginative notions and fictions. Even its visual identity, primarily because of the pubic hair and clitoris, it created an impression of something mystical and full of danger, which caused fear among some creators of myths as well as extremely unreal notions. Irrational fear from a woman among men never disappeared and violence over women, especially rape, is actually one of the rudiments of that time (along with the phobia) which is contrary to the popular belief that rape is done out of uncontrollable passion and lust. Monotheism and patriarch grew up on that same fear, since all things which happened at the end of the matriarch were aimed against women, ostracized and turned against the most vulnerable members of the society.



Menstrual period is a natural occurrence and with that an authentic manifestation of the forces of nature inside humans, i.e. woman. First menstruation, which denotes a period of fertility, among girls is called menarche and in its beginning it is pretty irregular i.e. unstable which clearly alludes to certain parts of the Bosnian folk calendar. Namely, in the period from February 14th (exactly at noon - highest point of the sun) until March 14th, also until noon, the reign of Veljača (February) lasts, an extremely unstable period of winter, when according to folk belief bura (gale) north and south wind are fighting. Right after it comes the seven day period called Baba (Grandma) which is similarly fickle, unpredictable and often extreme - snow can fall during the day, wind blows and then the sun appears suddenly, etc. Both names Veljača and Baba, perfectly describe the maturing process of a woman, hormonal cycle, pre-menstrual syndrome, which finishes with Did (/Grandpa/ called by our elders Did Grgo) which comes right after Baba, Did is "good natured since inside him resides the harvest of potato!" If we agree that a potato resembles a testicle and that the laying of seeds in the earth is an act of fertilisation, then we can easily come to a conclusion as to why after Did comes a period of nine days, during which, every three days, there is a change of restless and playful beings, i.e. children, which are called by our people Stablići, Kablići and Štapići. In almost all traditional stories of our people there is mention of three sons which are the main actors in the story. Similarly, I think it's not necessary to especially emphasize that nine days represent nine months of pregnancy. It is interesting that the entire cycle extends to February, March and ends at the beginning of April when the unstoppable awakening and proliferation of nature occurs.



Folk calendar is actually a calendar of agriculture and as such follows the natural cycles which manifest through old deities of the Bosnian cult of fertility and with that it is its only authentic example.

Magical power of menstruation

When a woman has a menstrual cycle, she utters this formula:

My husband,
your penis wants to enter my vagina.
But my red king forbids it,
your penis head is red but so is my king,
and lucky is your red head.
Here I'm giving you my red king for good luck!

Then the husband puts his penis into her bloody vagina and takes it out again, it was believed that then he would be followed by good fortune wherever he might go.

If the trees bare no fruit, then a woman which didn't have any other men, washes her vagina during her menstrual cycle, and waters the trees with the residual water and utters:

Here the flower has come,
to bloom for the whole world!
As I couldn't do without my flower,
so you may not be without your fruit!

Magical power was specifically ascribed to the act of defloration i.e. blood which would then appear from the vagina. When the man would finish with the copulation with a virgin on hard ground, he would utter this formula:

As this earth,
on which we made love is hard,
so shall my luck be hard,
may no one hurt me!

Then if he has to go to court, it is believed, the judge will not be able to condemn him, i.e. determine a sentence.

The power of vagina itself was divided by whether the woman was a virgin, sexually active, married or divorced, widowed i.e. one that didn't practice sex. Since the old days, certain apotropaic power was ascribed to women for which it was believed that weren't sexually active such as widows or divorced women. In case that children are dying in a family, a pregnant woman would seek to collect rags from nine widows and sow a shirt using the rags. With the shirt she would ensure protection against death. Similarly, the best stravarka which cures evil was thought to be the one which is divorced, probably because of the allusion that she had stopped sexual connection with the man.

After giving birth, the next 40 days, she was forbidden to have sexual relations, which can be connected with the taboo of the Grand Mother, since it is believed that during that period she is in the grave with one foot (concept of earth i.e. Grand Mother) and in the phase of recovery and regeneration and that she shouldn't expose herself to energy which is produced by coitus. But, after that, the woman becomes the barer of sexual power which is used to continue reproduction. In spurring reproduction, the woman is called on the vagina through a magical formula, for example, while planting beans she would repeat:

Shrubs as bushes,
may you boil as a turnip,
may you be as sweet as my vagina!

A married woman i.e. a sexually active woman, accumulates a lot of fertility energy and uses it to a maximum extent to all things which precede the creation of the foetus. The term vagina is often used in love magic, when women place or wipe sugar cubes on their vagina and place them in their husband's coffee. In Bosnian magic it is claimed about a woman that she possesses two types of blood; the first has the power to enchant a certain man and the second to curb his temper and wrath. A strong force is hidden in menstrual blood and its magic is based on the number 40.

From certain information givers, of older age, I heard that women would try and go have a bath before their husbands after sex, and only after her did the husband go. As soon as they would shower, they would pour the dirty water from the tub and she would turn it upside down, uttering a magical formula. When the husband would arrive to have a bath he would turn the tub and would be "struck" by the spell with which the woman wanted to dominate him. Similarly, in the desire to firmly bind her husband to herself the wife would place nine sugar cubes underneath the matrass in the middle where their genitals are placed when they're lying. On each sugar cube she dropped three drops of blood and uttered a magical formula. That night her task is to make love to her husband and to place those sugar cubes during the following days into his coffee or some other drink.

Besides the mentioned utilising energy which is created due to sexual act is very famous in other forms of Bosnian magic, especially the one which we call white magic. When she wants to avert her husband from alcohol the wife would take a fistful of dirt underneath a bridge, she would wrap it into a rag and place underneath the marital bed. She needs to make love to him and in the morning take the dirt underneath the bed and feed him the dirt in the following few days slowly or mix it into his drinks.

If the husband is being prepared to go on an important trip then he is making love with his wife and in the end he says:

As this coitus is sweet to you, woman,
so too shall we be followed by sweet luck!

Then he would take off his coat and cover her vagina uttering:

Here is an old coat and I will go with luck on my trip!

Then the woman would lightly thrust the penis into the anus three times.

Sperm which is a result of a sexual act, especially one mixed with vaginal juices, represents a sexual sacrament whose power is great that if it were absorbed by a rag it can later be used in individual magical rituals.

Degradation of sexuality

Nature itself is the greatest altar which exists, which was surely familiar to our ancestors, as well as the fact that respecting natural forces we are returning to ourselves, we are being spiritualised and reset. It's amazing manifestation is observed in the miraculous symbiosis of a man and woman, which as a couple, through rituals of fertility, achieve the effect of harmony and concord with that energy, they blend in it, and in such a manner connect their physical bodies and mental energy even stronger. In many ways this has caused positive reactions and certainly made their marriage even stronger and their family harmonious, since besides sensual pleasure, the couple tried to awaken fertility in their life surroundings, ensure a better harvest, crop yield, and at the same time chase away all evil forces which are in a constant battle against life and forces of good.

This highly social cult destroyed to a greater extent monotheism with its narrowness and disinclination towards any type of tolerance towards things which are different and with violent decadence made people with these remarkable religious-magical practices into persons which from birth had to suppress sexual energy inside of themselves. But, when we analyse in more detail the legend about Adam and Eve, especially from the standpoint of the Bogomils, we come to pretty interesting conclusions which paint a fairly different picture than the one which is being forced on us for centuries by fanatical interpreters of religion. Namely, it is clearly obvious that inborn human curiosity opened the way towards awakening sexuality and so became the synonym for the original sin for which they were expelled from heaven, a place of plenty and fruits into a wild region, where the first mythological people had to create life and fertility (food). Similarly, when we take a look at the other version, the one including a snake, we come to a similar interpretation according to which the snake, ancient symbol of fertility, awakened sexuality in Adam and Eve and the desire for fertility, so that they can gain self-consciousness and control over their lives, and in a way become independent from god. This is why the desire for degradation of a natural and inborn human need for healthy sexuality is unfathomable, this need has been used for practical purposes from the beginning of times; this degradation has resulted in us trying to uncover in the 21st century things which have been discovered by our pagan forefathers in ancient times.

Though it is not an original statement of Aleister Crowley, it is convenient to quote him and his conclusion that suppression of sexual urges is the main reason of perversions of all forms, for aggression and all other anomalies of this modern world. Sexual frustration of the modern man, which was inconceivable for people in ancient times, is the result of systematic destruction of sexual consciousness in monotheism, which subordinated women and made them lower beings, bringing her under the term "birth machine" and to the man forced sex exclusively as the need to create offspring. Everything else, especially enjoyment in the sexual act, was pronounced as undesirable since, as it is known, from the very start monotheism tried to separate man from nature, his primordial cradle.

Hatred towards sex is very pronounced in Christianity where a fantastical and extremely unreasonable theory is promoted where Jesus was conceived in a supernatural way, and not by a sexual act, as well as the unreasonable tendency of the clergy, especially in Catholicism to spend their life in celibacy which is an extreme and unnatural state for any man. What types of deviation has this spurred is best witnessed by mass cases of paedophilia as well as other perversions among the Catholic priests which shocked the entire world. We find something similar in Islam where we have an unreasonable fear of women, her body and generally sexuality. Need to cover a woman with clothes completely, in order to hide everything which makes her a female being, also spurred paedophilia, and in some African countries a very un-Muslim custom of circumcising women, which beside bodily mutilation and traumatic experience makes an asexual person out of the woman.



One of the main roots of the historical fear of women by men, especially forcing the cult of superior men, is in her natural ability to enjoy much longer in the sexual union and that after an orgasm, after only two minutes, a woman can start a new sexual act while the average man needs 15-20 minutes after orgasm to achieve an erection and with that begin a new coitus.

Rituals of inciting fertility

From rare descriptions it is possible to presume that our Illyrian forefathers imagined or represented the Grand Mother. She was embodied in the black earth and her appearance was that of a dark skinned woman, which is not surprising if we take into account certain archaeological research according to which the experts proved that dark skinned people used to live in our lands in ancient history, popularly called Balkan black men. Balkan area itself is important in the total research of European history since, without exaggeration it represents the cradle of the continent itself. There is a great possibility that the Illyrians, due to migration, assimilated the existing religious-magical beliefs and built their cults on top of them, especially the one dedicated to fertility.



Cult of fertility is in principle based on various sexual activities. Use of energy which is produced by sexual arousal, especially before and during orgasm, moves the forces of nature, if they are focused in the desired direction, can call upon all those aspect of happiness necessary for the completion of a goal. Studying the available data I noticed that all those ritual movements and gestures in the Bosnian cult of fertility have a goal of primarily connecting in a more intimate way humans with nature itself, its source, and with that compound spur fertility in both sides. Healthy sexual organ, intimate hygiene, as well as cleanliness of the entire body represented a guarantee that the ritual will produce a positive result and with its state reflect on for example, the cleanliness of grains, i.e. that it will be cockle free. Desire for fertility unquestionably dominated all crude social norms of behaviour, which were more pronounced in rural than in urban areas, and with that they defied the conservative upbringing which was adversely directed towards any form of sexuality which was seen as immoral and demonic activity.

In certain ways the archaic procedures of intimate touching of the male organ with the elements of nature, primarily dirt, trees and seeds, is the primordial connecting of man with that thing which is inborn ever since creation. I am of the opinion that the entire living world recognises itself and communicates through fertility and everything else which it represents in the deeper sense. Fertility rituals are not only important for the maintenance of fertility but also for the wellbeing of the body. It is noticeable in those ritual actions in which the man is talking to his penis, where genuine concern is expressed about that body part, its vitality. Of course, the benefits of such activity are manifold, and among the most important are that the men of that age got to know and develop their sexuality and strengthened his belonging to the community.

Rituals of invoking fertility

Cult of fertility always belonged to the common folk, farmers and herdsmen, and it can therefore be considered as an integral part of folk magic, whose ritual actions and beliefs intensified a fruitful year, in order to ensure enough food to feed the community. Identical rituals of the cult of fertility across Europe had within themselves a pronounced sexual note, i.e. rituals of fertility moulded in the coitus of a man and woman in nature, usually in a field, in order to bless the earth with such an act and spur it to constant fertility. In northern Europe, in lands with rich, i.e. nurtured, pagan tradition these rituals were performed during spring breaks. Since we are talking about an exceptional and powerful force, sexual energy has numerous benefits in paganism. It is used, among other things, as an offer to spiritual forces, for summoning deities, it is used to raise consciousness and knowledge, achieve inspiration, enable permeation into hidden and mystical phenomena, is used for strengthening props, blessing, healing, etc. It is illustrative to mention a segment of pagan rituals, in order to understand sexual energy a bit better. In ancient rituals the Grand priest would spray the witches with his sperm which are kneeling naked in a circle around him, with which he is actually blessing them. With that he is transferring energy of god Pan onto them, i.e. everything that he represents, with which they became more powerful, vital and immune to evil.



These are some of the examples of the magical rituals in the cult of fertility which were present in our lands for centuries. In them one can note an intimate relationship of man and nature as well as celebration of life through creation. As fertility was more pronounced the power of individuals rose higher, but also their ability to overcome all adversity and everyday issues. Pronounced fertility spurs great power against diseases and bad luck which is evidenced by some of our but also some Arabian beliefs. Namely, in Algeria and Morocco it is believed that a woman which gives birth to twins acquires baraka - power of healing certain diseases, while in our region it was claimed that a woman which gave birth to twins can chase away bad weather if she turns her naked behind towards the clouds.

In intimacy with nature

When corn is being sown the owner of the property touches the earth with his penis and utters: "May my corn be this triangular!". Then he raises his penis towards the sky and utters: "May the corn stalks be this straight, like my penis". It was believed that after such a ritual the corn will give rich yields, a few corn cobs on one stalk. If, however he wishes for the corn to germinate quickly into the ground, he would, after having sex with his wife, utter the following formula: "As the soon is exiting quickly, may the corn equally spring from the ground".

When grain is being sown, then some quicklime is added to the mixture, then the husband performs coitus with his wife, ejaculates into his hand and sprinkle the grain kernels uttering: "God help me! My grain, as this sperm is dripping from my hand, so may you grow nice and healthy from the earth. As the testicles are healthy, may my grain be healthy and beautiful."

In the spring the man would touch with his penis every fruit tree and repeat the same magical formula: "As birth (children) is in my house, so too may all trees bear fruit (or "give fruit)".

When cabbage is being sown the husband comes to the field and utters the following formula: "I sow cabbage and with my penis smooth creases. As many hairs that I have, so many cabbage heads may it be!". Then he urinates a bit on the crease. It was believed that the cabbage was wet after that.

For the quince, plum or apple give fruit three grown men gather with lush pubic hairs, they stand next to the tree, take out their penises and each of them utters the following formula: "Do you hear quince, how many hairs there are around the penis! As far as my penis can sprinkle and throw urine, so may you throw your flowers and fruit!"

When the grains are full of mildew, then the owner goes into the field on a young Friday, takes off his pants and turns his bottom towards the grains and farts, uttering: "grains, I'm not farting on you but on the mildew. As the wind exits me, may mildew exit the grains. As my bottom is clean, may my grain also be clean!"

When the man goes into the field to sow grains, he strips naked, and after three rows of grains it will be clean i.e. without cockle.

Naked and healthy man would go at night outside and run through the grains and utter: "As I'm running here healthy, may my wheat advance quickly and healthy! As there are two eyes in my head as two kernels, may everything be clear in my wheat."

When a woman plans on sowing onions in her garden then her husband mixes the seeds with one hand while holding his testicles with the other and returns them in a circle. After that the woman goes into the garden and plants it so that she plants every seed rhythmically lowering the seed between her legs into the hole in the ground, i.e. crossing her vagina with the seeds. According to folk belief the onion which "sees" the vagina will grow faster and better than the one that didn't see it.

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