Beyond Ancestral Taboos: Menstruating Women and Their Energies at the Heart of the Home

Beliefs about women's place during menstruation set ancestral prohibitions against more modern approaches. Priestess Hounnon Dandinan says a menstruating woman should not cook for her husband or greet a priest of the god of thunder, because she could weaken his spiritual strength or disrupt his protections. Sociologist, anthropologist and spiritual consultant Sylvain Adoho, known as Maître Bobos, links these practices to respect for totems in various cultures.