anasyrma
Anasyrma is the gesture of lifting up the skirt or
kilt. It is used in connection with certain religious
rituals, eroticism, and lewd jokes, see e.g. Baubo. The term is
used in describing corresponding works of art. Anasyrma differs from flashing, a physically similar
gesture as an act of
Anasyrma may be a deliberately provocative self-exposing of one's naked genitals and/or buttocks. The famous example of the latter case is Aphrodite Kallipygos ("Aphrodite beautiful derriere"). In many traditions this gesture also has an apotropaic character, as a mockery towards a supernatural enemy analogous to mooning.
Greek antiquity
Ritual jesting and obscenity were common in the cults of Demeter and Dionysus, and figure in the celebration of the Eleusinian mysteries associated with these divinities. The mythographer Apollodorus says that Iambe's jesting was the reason for the practice of ritual jesting at the Thesmophoria, a festival celebrated in honor of Demeter and Persephone, but in other versions of the myth of Demeter, the goddess is received by a woman named Baubo, who makes her laugh by exposing herself, in a ritual gesture called anasyrma ("lifting up [of skirts]"). A set of statuettes from Priene, a Greek city on the east coast of Asia Minor, are usually identified as "Baubo" figurines, representing the female body as the face conflated with the lower part of the abdomen, much like the phalluses decorated with eyes, mouth, and sometimes also legs that appear on vase paintings and also as statuettes.
See also
Sources and references
- Wesleyan.edu - Homeric hymn to Demeter
- the German Etruscs-specialist C. Weber-Lehmann published an article in German on 'the orientalised theme of anasyrma in divine weddings' : Anasyrma und Götterhochzeit. Ein orientalisches Motiv im nacharchaischen Etrurien, in: Akten des Kolloquiums zum Thema: Der Orient und Etrurien. Zum Phänomen des 'Orientalisierens' im westlichen Mittelmeerraum. Tübingen 1997 (2000).
| Gestures | ||
|---|---|---|
| Friendly gestures | A-ok · Air kiss · Big up · Cheek kissing · Dap greeting · Thumbs up · Fist pound · Namaste · High five |  |
| Formal gestures | Bowing · Curtsey · Hand-kissing · Genuflection | |
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| Celebration gestures | Applause · Fist pump · Gig 'em Aggies · High five · Hook 'em Horns | |
| Obscene gestures | Bowfinger · Corna · Finger · Mooning · Shocker · Moutza | |
| Other | Air quotes · Anasyrma · Articulatory gestures · Crossed fingers · Gang signal · Hand gesture · Head bobble · Jazz hands · Lock and fly · Manual communication · Mudra · Nod · Poke · Pollice verso · Puppy face · Raised fist · Shaka sign · Shrug · Sign of the Cross · Thai greeting · Type of gesture · Varadamudra · V sign · Vulcan salute · War Chant · | |
| List of gestures | ||
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