Polynesian dilukai and medieval shila-na-gig…

76
Polynesian dilukai and medieval shila-na-gig…
Dilukay from the Caroline Islands, Belau (Palau), 19th – early 20th century. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York


And they will deal harshly with you, and take from you all that you have earned by your labor, and they will leave you naked and uncovered, and your shameful nakedness will be discovered, and your lewdness, and your fornication.
Ezekiel 23: 29




History culture. And it happened that when European travelers reached the islands of Polynesia and saw the local inhabitants, they were most struck by the shamelessness of the latter, because they practically did not know any clothes. A mother-of-pearl shell on a cord above the genital area - that was all the clothes of girls and women on some islands, described by idle sailors. And on some, the natives did not even have this, but walked around in the costumes of Adam and Eve. True, their bodies were completely covered with tattoos. Some fashionistas shaved their heads to increase the surface of the skin, decorated their palms with patterns and even ... tongue!


The 12th or 13th century Sheela na Gig in the Church of St Mary and St Andrew, Whittlesford

The Europeans saw many unusual things there, but perhaps most of all they were amazed by the dilukaias from the Palau Islands - wooden figures of young women that decorated the entrance to the chief's house or "men's house" - something like a club for men only, where women were forbidden to enter under penalty of death. So, they were depicted with their legs wide apart and the genital area in the form of a black triangle. The dilukaia's hands were on their hips, their neck was adorned with a red necklace, and on their hand was a bracelet of folded rings made of turtle shell. It is funny that when carving these figures, the craftsmen had to follow strict rules. Because breaking them could lead to the death of the carver or even the chief of the tribe.


Woman shaving her pubic hair. 12th-century relief, currently housed in the Museum of Ancient Art in the Sforza Castle in Milan

However, the most interesting thing is that it is unknown what exactly they were needed for. There is a legend (although in reality there are many and different ones) that a local guy named Atmatuyuk annoyed the residents of his village so much that they drove him away, forbidding him to return. And so that he could not violate the ban, they hung images of his sister Dilukay everywhere, so that he could not return, because he could not see his sister's genitals. It was taboo. Moreover, Christian missionaries were never able to eradicate this custom. But they managed to interpret it in their favor: according to them, the Dilukay figurines were used to shame women of bad behavior.


Sheila-na-gig. Clincham-sur-Orne, Notre-Dame Church, Calvados department in Normandy region, France

Now let's put it this way: it is clear that in Polynesia even something like this was possible, since they all walked around naked there. But how, I wonder, did things stand with such images in medieval Europe, where Christian culture and morality dominated? Why in medieval Europe? Because in earlier cultures of the same Egypt, Greece, Rome, images of various kinds of copulatory organs were not taboo. There is plenty of evidence of this in the form of images on the same Greek ceramic dishes. Which is not surprising, since they had their own culture and morality.

Thus, the same Greeks considered intimate relations between an adult man and a young boy to be quite socially approved. Although the same relations between two adult men were considered shameful and completely unacceptable. There are no such images. In pre-Columbian America, various sexual practices were also embodied in ceramics. But there is no cunnilingus there, although there is much more. So, apparently, there were certain social boundaries that the Indians did not cross.


Capital. The Collegiate Church of San Pedro de Cervatos is a Romanesque church in Cervatos (Cantabria, Spain). It was built around 1129


There too…


And this is also from there...

There are many erotic pictures in Persian, Indian and Japanese fine arts. Who hasn't heard, for example, of "Ananga Ranga" ("Peach Branches") or Japanese shunga? The latter were published in huge editions, and their authors were the most famous Japanese artists... And the reason for their prevalence is very simple: the Japanese have long lived in houses where complete privacy was absolutely impossible. So the Japanese tried to make sure that a random witness to a love scene would appreciate its... beauty and exclaim: "How beautiful your love is!" And this had to be learned.


Szyla-na-gig in the Church of the Resurrection of Our Lord in Drawsko Pomorskie, southern portal. It is one of two Roman Catholic parish churches belonging to the Drawsko Pomorskie Deanery, Koszalin-Kolobrzeg Diocese, Szczecin-Kamiento Metropolitan Area, located in Drawsko Pomorskie Voivodeship, Poland

But in Christian Europe there were plenty of dark rooms with locks, haylofts, and windmills where one could be quite alone and even with a certain comfort. True, the goals of gender communication were strictly prescribed by the church: only missionary position, the goal - the birth of children (and nothing more!), and the opinion that without orgasm there is no conception - which, by the way, is what the judges ask the heroine of the film "The Last Duel", where a case of rape of a married lady is heard, which ends with an impressive duel of "God's court".


Sheela na gig at Ballyfinboy Castle, County Tipperary. This site is under the protection of the Archaeological Survey of Ireland

But here's what's strange. If we look at the miniatures (and marginalia - drawings in the fields) of the manuscripts of that time, we will find there images of naked nature, and many ambiguous scenes, for example, there is an image of the collection of male copulatory organs growing on... a tree! It makes you want to get into a "time machine", go to the Middle Ages and ask there: "What does this mean!"


Sheela-na-gig in the Romanesque Church of St Mary and St David, Kilpeck, Herefordshire, England

But the drawings are nothing. No Polynesian dilukai can compare with the stone sculptures that are found throughout Western Europe, as well as in the Czech Republic and Slovakia. These are goggle-eyed female freaks, busy with stretching their huge vulvas in different directions with both hands. Such figurines are called sheela-na-gig. But they “decorate” the facades of not only secular buildings and column capitals, but also... churches. In Great Britain and Ireland, they are very easy to stumble upon, you just have to look closely. Such obscene figures in the decor of Catholic churches are especially surprising. Moreover, sheela-na-gig were carved from the 9th to the 16th centuries, that is, for quite a long time. For a long time, but no one has left us an explanation of why this was done at all and what meaning was put into them!

There are many hypotheses about these figures, but which of them is true is unknown. For example, there is an opinion that the sheela-na-gig figures were supposed to scare away evil spirits. That is why they were placed mainly above windows, doors and gates, so that evil spirits could not get through them. Perhaps, upon seeing this, they should have been ashamed, but it is impossible to say for sure whether this is so. Some put forward the idea that this is some powerful fertility deity of the past, and the early Christian church had to put up with his image due to his popularity among the common people. But in the 13th, 14th, 15th and 16th centuries, the church did not put up with those who interfered with it, and then suddenly - here you go, admire ...

Irish figure specialist Anthony Weir and art historian Jim Jarman believe that the sheela-na-gig depicts one of the deadly sins - lust. But where are the other six? Why aren't these sins depicted in the same way? By the way, if we return to the marginalia in the manuscripts, we can also explain that demons and preaching animals were depicted by Protestants and Catholics specifically to ridicule their ideological opponents. But what about the pile of phallic and anal subjects that these folios are full of? And they are drawn without any logical connection with the text!

Moreover, in the same Europe archaeologists find pilgrimage icons: the shells of St. John of Campostela, and also flat figurines cast from metal in the form of phalluses on legs and with bells, and also the same vulva on legs and in a pilgrim hat with a rosary and a staff in her hands...


Sheela-na-gig in the Museum of St Michael's Church, North Gate, Oxford

We know about phallic cults in India, Egypt, Greece, Rome. They deified the penis (and sometimes the vagina, for example, they baked bread in its shape) and endowed these bodies with mystical properties. But Christianity in the Middle Ages destroyed all these pagan cults. Destroyed to the ground... Or maybe not quite, and eroticism flourished along with religious bigotry and hypocrisy, or perhaps they, as they say, "went hand in hand"? So, maybe these "walking penises and vulvas" are nothing more than comic souvenirs ridiculing pilgrims who tried to please God, but at the same time did not disdain the services of road whores? Who knows? Pilgrims looking for casual relationships in unfamiliar cities on the way to a sacred place. This is what medieval Christianity is like.


The water pipe of the Glücksburg house in Goslar…

There are even two drainpipes on the north-east and south-west facade of the Glücksburg house in Goslar (a city in Germany, a district center in the state of Lower Saxony), which were made in our time by the Scottish artist Laura March. Here is what she wrote about her work: “This decoration is a modern homage to a very famous Celtic goddess: often found outside churches in Southern Ireland. She is usually depicted with a mischievous grin, holding her vulva open. Some may say that it does have a cheeky shape, but in reality it simply reminds us of where we come from. The sacred gateway to birth and death. My version is a little less scary, but the meaning remains the same…”

Who knows, maybe this is exactly how it was in the past, and the masters from Spain, the Czech Republic and Slovakia simply copied this figurine after seeing it in Ireland or England.
76 comments
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  1. +22
    26 January 2025 05: 35
    Vanity of vanities! Oh, these human "metamorphoses" and "historical zigzags" of the site! They started with a gun (and rifles!), and we end with .... a vulva! How quickly (right "before our eyes"!) Internet profiles change ... It was Military Review, it becomes Erotic Insolence! I'll shut up here, or they'll send me on a free erotic journey, and for me, due to my age, travel is contraindicated! (Grumbling of an old grumbler)
    1. +4
      26 January 2025 07: 28
      Quote: Nikolaevich I
      (Grumbling of an old grumbler

      This is history. And little-known. And any knowledge is useful one way or another. Doctors recommend doing anything in old age, but occupying the mind - solving crosswords, learning a foreign language. You can study history in the same way... It's no less useful...
      1. +6
        26 January 2025 08: 58
        Doctors recommend that in old age you do anything but occupy your mind - solve crosswords, study a foreign language.
        This, Vyacheslav Olegovich, is what bad doctors recommend. Traditional gerontological practices (all over the world!) advise sorting grain. Everything is like in early childhood, the world and mind on the fingertips.
        1. +5
          26 January 2025 09: 47
          Quote: 3x3zsave
          Traditional gerontological practices (all over the world!) advise sorting grain.

          If it comes to sorting the grain, then there is no need to sort it anymore....
        2. +3
          26 January 2025 10: 04
          Quote: 3x3zsave
          Everything is like in early childhood, the world and intelligence at your fingertips.

          I just came across similar advice on the Internet. I don't have to sort grain or learn a language. May God help me cope with what I have.
      2. +4
        26 January 2025 09: 48
        Quote: kalibr
        solve crosswords, learn a foreign language

        This is clearly not a crossword...
      3. +2
        26 January 2025 20: 46
        Bravo Mr. Shpakovsky!
        The text of the comment is very...
    2. +8
      26 January 2025 07: 58
      The author has simply entered the "late Heinlein era".
      1. +7
        26 January 2025 08: 58
        Quote: 3x3zsave
        The author has simply entered the "late Heinlein era".

        hi Do you mean the novels "Farnham Freehold" and "Glory Road"? I recommend reading, for example, the novels of Harry Harrison, especially the series "Bill, Hero of the Galaxy" or Philip Jose Farmer, various novels. There is so much twisted there (on the topic of the article)!!! But I do not recommend reading David Zindell
        1. +3
          26 January 2025 10: 24
          Hello Dmitry!
          All of Heinlein's later work is permeated with unsatisfied sexual fantasies.
          I also read Farmer and Harrison.
          1. +3
            26 January 2025 10: 53
            Yes, Anton, that's what it is, it turns out.
            Quote: 3x3zsave
            .... All of Heinlein's later work is permeated with unsatisfied sexual fantasies.
            I also read Farmer and Harrison.

            The writer experiences and dissatisfaction, and $$$$, £££££, and the reader has to read these HORRORS! That's how Bob Shaw wrote in his works his unsatisfied sexual fantasies--- how a man achieves immortality only through the destruction of his genitals, or about the sadism of Lutherans--- the inhabitants of the planet M. Luther...
            The Englishman John Wyndham wrote about sex and suffering because of it in a similar way. For example, "The Curse of Midwich Village", about callous and soulless alien Children, introduced into the wombs of earthly women by embryos, who, if successful, would replace and displace ordinary people. There was even a film based on this novel.
            1. +3
              26 January 2025 11: 31
              about callous and soulless alien Children, introduced as embryos into the wombs of earthly women, who, if successful, would replace and displace ordinary people.
              William Gibson has a good story on this topic.
              1. +3
                26 January 2025 11: 41
                Quote: 3x3zsave
                ..... William Gibson has a good story on this topic.

                So I'll repeat myself ---- the writer, instead of being treated for $$$$ by a psychiatrist or sexologist, dumps everything on the reader.
                1. +4
                  26 January 2025 12: 41
                  So I'll repeat myself ---- the writer, instead of being treated for $$$$ by a psychiatrist or sexologist, dumps everything on the reader.
                  Dmitry, he dumps it on the reader so that he has money to pay for treatment, but when he calculates the fee, it turns out that it is much more profitable to write than to get treatment.
                  1. +3
                    26 January 2025 12: 45
                    I think that such writers, Sergei Ivanovich, initially did not want to be treated, they wanted to spread their fears and obsessions
                    1. +4
                      26 January 2025 12: 47
                      wanted to spread their fears and obsessions
                      Naturally, if their complexes bring them profit, then why get treatment?
      2. +6
        26 January 2025 09: 20
        However, the most interesting thing is that it is not known exactly what the dilukay were used for. There is a legend (although in reality there are many different ones) that a local guy named Atmatuyuk annoyed the residents of his village so much that they drove him away, forbidding him to return. And so that he could not break the ban, they hung images of his sister Dilukay everywhere, so that he could not return, because he could not see his sister's genitals. It was taboo. Moreover, Christian missionaries were never able to eradicate this custom. But they managed to interpret it in their favor: according to them, the dilukay figurines were used to shame women of bad behavior.

        There are other assumptions about what dilukai were needed for. And they were put forward by none other than Nikolai Nikolaevich Miklouho-Maclay.
        In the 19th century, Russian ethnographer Nikolai Miklouho-Maclay wrote in his notes on his journey through Palau, describing the structure of public houses:
        In local tribes, women's menstruation was necessarily perceived as a curse, impurity and extreme danger and threat to the spirits protecting the tribe: women were isolated and settled in huts far from home, and food was impaled on sticks and served as carefully as possible, trying not to even cross their eyes. The houses in which women were kept during menstruation are called in the local dialect - pai. Above the door of the pai, a figure is carved, which represents a naked woman with horizontally crucified legs. I will not describe all the figures carved on it, since the description is unlikely to give a correct idea of ​​them <…> But among others, there is a figure that is especially striking in its size, in its execution, in its universality as a threat and taboo. Women who have a husband, young girls and all men of the tribe are prohibited from entering the pai under threat of death. Only elderly female relatives of the unfortunates staying in the shares are allowed to visit them. (c)

        Something similar is mentioned by James George Frazer:
        The attitude towards menstruation is twofold in almost all island cultures: on the one hand, it is a girl's transition to a different status, receiving new rights, and on the other hand, it is uncleanliness, witchcraft and death. During menstruation, women are moved to special huts called pai - a local analogue of margam gojo
        A menstruation hut is a place of seclusion used by certain cultures with strong menstrual taboos, based on beliefs related to ritual impurity. These huts are usually built next to the family home, have small doors, are often dilapidated, have poor sanitation and ventilation, and are windowless. And this is not a universal story. The attitude to menstruation is ambivalent in almost all island cultures: on the one hand, it is a transition for a girl to a different status, gaining new rights, and on the other, it is impurity, witchcraft and death. (c)
      3. +6
        26 January 2025 10: 51
        Good morning. Just starting to read the article, I thought, well, now in the comments such things will start….. And so it turned out :-))))). This article does not belong on the pages of VO. Somehow completely different topics.
      4. Fat
        +5
        26 January 2025 11: 44
        Greetings Anton. Not only the late... Heinlein's works can be divided into categories of readers for whom they were written. What is for children and youth is one thing... And what is for the normal Puritan is brain-jammed by another. lol
        1. +6
          26 January 2025 11: 50
          Hello Borisych!
          The Strugatskys have the same tendency. Well, only taking into account that "there is no sex in the USSR."
    3. +15
      26 January 2025 08: 00
      Understand and forgive. This is called "gray hair in the head, the devil in the ribs" ))) Especially, to the author
      Doctors recommend it
      we will be understanding)))
      1. +4
        26 January 2025 08: 21
        Quote: Walrus
        we will treat with understanding

        What if I wrote about cannibalism in the hungry Volga region?
        1. +15
          26 January 2025 08: 24
          If only Aunt Tatra and "the others with her" would come...
          1. +7
            26 January 2025 11: 16
            It would be interesting to read her comments to this article. Naturally, without any cliches like - you are enemies of the USSR and there was no sex in the USSR
            1. +6
              26 January 2025 11: 27
              Come to your senses, Dima! There is no sex with Tatra!
              1. +8
                26 January 2025 14: 49
                Quote: 3x3zsave
                There is no sex with Tatra!

                So, the enemy of the communists. Yes
                1. +11
                  26 January 2025 15: 06
                  Yeah, and also the empiriocritic harmonists. As for sex with Tatra, I'm scared to even think about it! I won't drink that much!
                  1. +1
                    26 January 2025 19: 45
                    Quote: 3x3zsave
                    Yeah, and also the empiriocritic harmonists. As for sex with Tatra, I'm scared to even think about it! I won't drink that much!

                    You are wrong - it was with Tatra in the photo that sex took place even without drinking... Unconventional belay true
                    Well, remember the old joke about the tankers, the caterpillar that flew off and the Fairy with her
                    "Do you want it for REAL???? "©??
        2. +8
          26 January 2025 10: 33
          Quote: kalibr
          What if I wrote about cannibalism in the hungry Volga region?

          Better not! I read it at one time... and even with "photos"! Black and white and blurry... But still... for a long time "I wanted to forget, but I couldn't forget"!
          1. +2
            26 January 2025 12: 41
            Quote: Nikolaevich I
            .... I read it at the time... and even with "photos"! Black and white and blurry... But still... for a long time "I wanted to forget, but I couldn't forget"!

            It's in vain. Tremble. Suddenly Olegovich will hear. He often used to talk about this. I even stopped reading his comments because of this. And before, a long time ago, he was called Alexander and the same.
      2. +12
        26 January 2025 09: 40
        It's called "gray hair on the head, devil in the ribs"

        And hype in the pen laughing
        I wonder what hot topic the author will touch on next time.

        1. +5
          26 January 2025 10: 23
          Quote: Richard
          I wonder what hot topic the author will touch on next time.

          Well, the author has already hinted! (See the author's answer just above your comment-question!)
          1. +3
            26 January 2025 12: 21
            Quote: Nikolaevich I
            the author already hinted

            You are wrong! My article about this was already here. Why repeat?
            1. +2
              26 January 2025 13: 07
              Quote: kalibr
              My article about this was already here

              I'm sorry! I forgot!
  2. +6
    26 January 2025 05: 59
    Quote: V. Shpakovsky
    in earlier cultures of the same Egypt, Greece, Rome, images of various kinds of copulatory organs were not taboo
    Perhaps people in the pre-Christian era believed that there was nothing in the human structure that nature ordered him to hide. I recall the reaction of one Iranian in a sauna, who saw completely naked men talking to each other and drinking beer, as if nothing had happened. For him, it was just a shock! Another example. One colleague, who was taken out of the GDR in the early 90s, told about German saunas, where women and men were completely naked and no one was embarrassed. In a word, each society has its own morality wink
    1. +12
      26 January 2025 15: 13
      When feminists were outraged that gender separation was maintained in the baths, the men were happy. But when they saw the feminists, they demanded that everything be left as it was. (c)
      1. +1
        27 January 2025 12: 17
        And the feminists hoped and dreamed!!! love AH AH! And here --- such a bummer ---
        leave everything as is crying
  3. +8
    26 January 2025 06: 41
    Sheila-na-gig in the Church of the Resurrection of the Lord in Drawsko Pomorskie, southern portal.
    I used to be in this town, there was a training ground not far from there... True, I didn't have time to go to the churches and cathedrals...
  4. +5
    26 January 2025 07: 53
    Very provocative material, as well as on the neighboring thread. I will express my opinion on the essence of what was stated later.
    Thank you, Vyacheslav Olegovich!
    1. +5
      26 January 2025 13: 09
      Very provocative material
      ,,,unusual.
  5. +10
    26 January 2025 08: 19
    So this is what you can use to scare the devil am
    1. +7
      26 January 2025 08: 42
      "So this is what you can scare the devil with" -
      1. +7
        26 January 2025 09: 50
        "The Origin of the World" is a painting by the realist artist Gustave Courbet, which was long perceived as an artistic provocation and was not exhibited for over 120 years. At the time of the painting, Courbet's favorite model was Joanna Hiffernan (Jo). Her lover at the time was James Whistler, an American painter and student of Courbet.
        Courbet painted another canvas in 1866, “The Beautiful Irishwoman (Portrait of Jo),” which depicts Joanna Hiffernan. During his life, Courbet painted as many as four portraits of Jo. She was probably also the model for “The Origin of the World,” which may explain the sudden and stormy break in relations between Courbet and Whistler.
    2. +3
      26 January 2025 09: 02
      Not only this! Aubrey Beardsley has an illustration for the ancient Greek poem "Lysistrata" where a naked woman scares away a demon am ...with your butt
      1. Fat
        +4
        26 January 2025 12: 01
        "The Comedy of Lysistrata" by Aristfan was not honored, but the Soviet film, shot in 1989 "based on...." I watched in the cinema. Good film, instructive smile
        1. 0
          26 January 2025 12: 26
          Quote: Thick
          "The Comedy of Lysistrata" by Aristfan was not honored, but the Soviet film, shot in 1989 "based on...." I watched in the cinema. Good film, instructive smile

          I can't even imagine. I was 4 years old. Aubrey Beardsley's illustrations are, one might say, instructive
  6. +5
    26 January 2025 09: 23
    When talking about Polynesian art, one cannot help but mention Gauguin and his paintings! By the way, his ancestors on one line were from Peru!!! And he himself openly called himself a "savage", "Indian" or simply Inca! Partly for this reason he first went to the Caribbean, and only then to Polynesia, and there he had the opportunity to live not only in Tahiti! Of course, he painted naked Polynesian women, but he does not have such details in his paintings as in the article. There were very mystical paintings on the theme of Christianity, which are not so easy to understand... Last year I read a biography of Gauguin, a huge one. Now I am reading Somerset Maugham's novel "The Moon and Sixpence", where, apparently, the main character is Gauguin, but "remade" as an Englishman. In the novel he had leprosy, although in reality it was just eczema.
    1. +3
      26 January 2025 10: 11
      Quote: Reptiloid
      I'm currently reading Somerset Maugham's novel "The Moon and Sixpence"

      Well, DmitryYu, you're amazing! My respect for you is growing by leaps and bounds. True, for me this book is connected with difficult memories of studying at the ped school. "The Moon and Sixpence" should have been read in English, and then also re-told.
      1. +3
        26 January 2025 10: 34
        Well yes! hi It is believed that the Russian translation of the name sounds incorrect. In English --- sixpence. The translator did not think about the Russian coin
        What else? It turns out that we brought two volumes of Maugham, published in the USSR, from the Far East in 1991.
        1. +5
          26 January 2025 11: 40
          It is believed that the Russian translation of the name sounds incorrect. In English --- sixpence. The translator did not think about the Russian coin
          Actually, the Russian translation is absolutely correct, because in English, since the end of the 13th century, a sixpence coin has been called a "groat". In imitation of the French "gros trois", that is, "a Tours groat", which replaced the "Parisian sol".
          1. 0
            26 January 2025 11: 46
            Vyacheslav Olegovich wrote --sixpence As in the original. Maugham wanted to say something with this. request
            1. 0
              26 January 2025 11: 54
              I don't think there is anything more important than Brecht in The Threepenny Opera.
              1. 0
                26 January 2025 12: 22
                Quote: 3x3zsave
                I don't think there is anything more important than Brecht in The Threepenny Opera.

                Have you seen it? I ------ no. Not yet.
      2. +1
        26 January 2025 20: 13
        Vyacheslav Olegovich, hi The information that I am reading the novel "The Moon and Sixpence" --- this evening is out of date!!!!!!! I have finished reading it!!! Already. HA HA HA
        1. +1
          26 January 2025 21: 00
          Quote: Reptiloid
          Already.

          Congratulations! What's next?
          1. +1
            27 January 2025 12: 23
            Next up are the short stories in this Soviet edition book! And then another book by Maugham. goodalready published in the Russian Federation
  7. +10
    26 January 2025 09: 30
    What does the history of culture have to do with it, when this is a site on military topics, even though the section is "History"? There is not a word about the military component in the article! Who can explain to me why, in order to review military topics or history or geopolitics, on a site created specifically for this purpose on military topics, there appears an article about the deification of the penis depicted as a bun, or the vulva as a drainpipe? And how did the author of the article determine that in the photograph shown in the article, entitled "And this is also from there", that this is an anal "adventure" between two men, and not between a man and a woman...? In short, on a site supposedly on military topics, for some reason an article about sexual practice depicted in ceramics, plumbing and stucco is shoved in.
    The expert on Irish figurines is right that all these sheela-na-gig and the like depict and display lust. Consequently, the article is about lust. Let's say, about the history of lust. Consequently, for further education in this section of "history" the author should also familiarize himself with other propagandists of this sin. Well, let's say with the painting by Schiele "Girl on her knees", or "The Dream of the Fisherman's Wife" by Hokusai, or better to start with the painting "Leda and the Swan" by Boucher himself. What about Boucher, when Rembrandt himself, for those who wish not to be losers in the science of lust, as a visual aid, depicted in his painting "Monk in a Cornfield", how the monk "has" a milkmaid right in the corn... And then let's have an article about the ear of corn, how it was "historically" depicted in the form of a penis.
    1. +7
      26 January 2025 10: 06
      And then let's have an article about the ear of corn, how it was "historically" depicted as a penis.

      Stop, stop, stop, dear Vidas. No need to provoke Caliber. He might not understand your sarcasm - he'll just go and write. Let's better orient him to other topics.
      “Maybe it’s better about the reactor,
      About my favorite lunar tractor..
      It will do in a pinch
      And an article about the vibration walker" laughing
  8. +7
    26 January 2025 09: 35
    When talking about Polynesia, of course, one cannot help but recall such an English writer as Somerset Maugham! According to his works (mostly stories), it turns out that he sincerely loved these inhabitants, not only from Oceania, but also from the Sunda Islands and other places, and these inhabitants were at a different stage of development than the English.
    Somerset Maugham's biography is interesting. He was an agent of British intelligence, MI5. He started in Switzerland. And then he was given the task of coming to Russia, and just preventing it from leaving WW1.
  9. +7
    26 January 2025 10: 01
    This is the first time I've heard of pornographic sculptures on churches. How (!) the Inquisition didn't clean them out (especially in Spain) is completely incomprehensible. Back then, even in the relatively tolerant Vatican, sculptures had their genitals chopped off, leaves attached to them, and veils drawn onto Michelangelo's Last Judgement. But here it's just pure obscenity, and look, it passed the customer's approval and survived.
  10. +10
    26 January 2025 10: 10
    Even serious scientific journals have a "Humor" column to distract readers. Vyacheslav Olegovich gracefully, and without vulgarity, touched on a delicate topic and evoked completely different emotions. As the baron said, "All the stupid things on Earth are done with this very expression on the face. Smile, gentlemen. Smile!"
    1. +5
      26 January 2025 11: 41
      Quote: mr.ZinGer
      As the baron said, "All the stupid things on Earth are done with this very expression on your face. Smile, gentlemen. Smile!"

      The meaning of "your" phrase is not expressed! No. So, how to do stupid things... smiling (as if, in your opinion!) or "with a serious expression on your face" (like Yankovsky...)? what
      1. +5
        26 January 2025 12: 04
        I agree, the quote is not complete! hi
  11. +8
    26 January 2025 13: 55
    In my opinion, it is correct to say and make public that such works exist in some churches. But the images had to be obscured so as not to offend the sensitivities of readers. It is known that in Roman times, food was prepared in the form of genitals, and fortunately, under Christianity, they were banned. I can imagine what it means for a modern citizen to go to a bakery and find such things.
    1. Fat
      +7
      26 January 2025 14: 56
      Modern citizens go to stores and buy cucumbers, carrots...
      And just imagine, they take bananas - for small children! wassat
      "How scary to live" (C)
      1. +7
        26 January 2025 15: 17
        "How scary to live" (C)
        Borisich, please be careful!
        Comrade is Italian and does not know the "winged expressions" of low-class Russian bohemians.
      2. +8
        26 January 2025 17: 26
        And just imagine, they take bananas

        Greetings Borisych!
        It's a terrible horror, but not long ago some irresponsible citizens, including irresponsible citizens from abroad, bought bananas to go to football matches. Having exclusively malicious intentions! laughing
      3. +3
        26 January 2025 20: 09
        What do you mean they buy bananas, cucumbers or whatever? They won't use them to do weird things.
        1. Fat
          +3
          26 January 2025 20: 16
          They won't, they'll just eat them, just like the ancient Romans did with their strange baked goods (I haven't even focused on bagels, donuts and pretzels yet...)
  12. +7
    26 January 2025 15: 12
    I won’t be sarcastic as usual, but - on issues of worldview and perception
    (including on the genital theme and related to it) of the island ethnic groups of the Pacific region in the 20th century - I would advise you to smoke the works of Bronislav Malinovsky.
    It's like Semenova Tien-Shanskaya about the Russian peasants of her time, but at about the same time, and a Pole about the Polynesians.
  13. +1
    26 January 2025 19: 04
    The article may be interesting, but what does it have to do with military affairs? That there is nothing to write about military history? An unplowed field
  14. +3
    26 January 2025 19: 27
    Vyacheslav Olegovich!
    Have you decided to test your PR skills on VO and raise your rating with the number of comments?
    Thank you for the publication! Interesting. I have never seen a review like this before.
    About the number of comments... For some reason I thought it would exceed three hundred. And most of them would be slanderous. But no.
    Maybe because most of the readers (and commentators) perceive you as the author of interesting publications? And they don't "fall for provocations"?
    Personal opinion... And about fishing on the river in the city in April with a float rod or about photo hunting for birds in the spring forest, do you have any drafts yet?
    1. +3
      26 January 2025 21: 04
      Quote from Fangaro
      And about fishing on the river in the city in April with a float rod or about photo hunting for birds in the spring forest, do you have any drafts yet?

      Roman! I've never caught fish and I can't write about it, I don't write about airplanes (practically), although I probably could. I've never done bird photography either. But I already have an article for April Fools' Day! I try to write about what interests me personally. Is that bad?
  15. +1
    26 January 2025 20: 20
    Perhaps they should have been ashamed when they saw this,
    Or cover yourself winked.
  16. +2
    26 January 2025 20: 22
    Quote from: Semovente7534
    they buy bananas

    And how does she eat it? belay!
  17. +3
    26 January 2025 20: 23
    Quote: TermNachTER
    The article may be interesting, but what does it have to do with military affairs? That there is nothing to write about military history? An unplowed field

    Oh come on!