Phallic processions are public celebrations featuring a phallus, a representation of an erect penis.

Ancient Greece

Called ''phallika'' in

ancient Greece Ancient Greece ( el, Ἑλλάς, Hellás) was a northeastern Mediterranean civilization, existing from the Greek Dark Ages of the 12th–9th centuries BC to the end of classical antiquity ( AD 600), that comprised a loose collection of cult ...

, these processions were a common feature of

Dionysiac celebrations The cult of Dionysus was strongly associated with satyrs, centaurs, and sileni, and its characteristic symbols were the bull, the serpent, tigers/leopards, ivy, and wine. The Dionysia and Lenaia festivals in Athens were dedicated to Dionysus, ...

; they advanced to a cult center, and were characterized by

obscenities An obscenity is any utterance or act that strongly offends the prevalent morality of the time. It is derived from the Latin ''obscēnus'', ''obscaenus'', "boding ill; disgusting; indecent", of uncertain etymology. Such loaded language can be ...

and verbal abuse.Dunkle, Roger

'' in ''Introduction to Greek and Roman Comedy'' The display of a fetishized phallus was a common feature. In a famous passage in chapter 4 of the '' Poetics'',

Aristotle Aristotle (; grc-gre, Ἀριστοτέλης ''Aristotélēs'', ; 384–322 BC) was a Greek philosopher and polymath during the Classical Greece, Classical period in Ancient Greece. Taught by Plato, he was the founder of the Peripatet ...

formulated the hypothesis that the earliest forms of comedy originated and evolved from "those who lead off the phallic processions", which were still common in many towns at his time.

Modern Greece

The city of Tyrnavos holds an annual festival, a traditional phallophoric event on the first days of Lent.''The Annual Phallus Festival in Greece''
Der Spiegel, English edition, Retrieved on 15-12-08 In August 2000, to promote a production of

Aristophanes Aristophanes (; grc, Ἀριστοφάνης, ; c. 446 – c. 386 BC), son of Philippus, of the deme Kydathenaion ( la, Cydathenaeum), was a comic playwright or comedy-writer of ancient Athens and a poet of Old Attic Comedy. Eleven of his fo ...

' ''

The Clouds ''The Clouds'' ( grc, Νεφέλαι ''Nephelai'') is a Greek comedy play written by the playwright Aristophanes. A lampooning of intellectual fashions in classical Athens, it was originally produced at the City Dionysia in 423BC and was not ...

'', a traditional Greek phallic procession was organized, with a long phallus paraded by the cast with the accompaniment of Balkan music; the phallic device was banned by the staff of the Edinburgh Festival.

Japan

Similar parades of

Shinto Shinto () is a religion from Japan. Classified as an East Asian religion by scholars of religion, its practitioners often regard it as Japan's indigenous religion and as a nature religion. Scholars sometimes call its practitioners ''Shintoist ...

origin have long been part of the rich traditions of '' matsuri'' (Japanese festivals). Although the practice is no longer common, a few, such as

Kawasaki Kawasaki ( ja, 川崎, Kawasaki, river peninsula, links=no) may refer to: Places *Kawasaki, Kanagawa, a Japanese city **Kawasaki-ku, Kawasaki, a ward in Kawasaki, Kanagawa **Kawasaki City Todoroki Arena **Kawasaki Stadium, a multi-sport stadium *K ...

's Kanamara Matsuri and Komaki's Hōnen Matsuri, continue to this day. Typically, the phallus is placed in a '' mikoshi'', a portable Shinto shrine.

Notes

References

*Richardson, N. J., ''The Homeric Hymn to Demeter''. Oxford, 1974, pp. 214–15 *O’Higgins, Laurie, ''Women and Humor in Classical Greece.'' Cambridge, 2003. p. 57 *For the outrageous practice of "abuse from the wagons" see Fluck, H., ''Skurrile Riten in griechischen Kulten.'' Diss. Freiburg. Endingen, 1931., pp. 34–51 *Pickard-Cambridge, Arthur, Dithyramb, Tragedy, and Comedy. 2nd edition, rev. by T.B.L. Webster. Cambridge, 1962. *Reckford, Kenneth, Aristophanes’ Old-and-New Comedy. Chapel Hill, 1987. pp. 463–65 * alph M. Rosen(2006)
Comic Aischrology and the Urbanization of Agroikia
', pp. 219–238 *

' in Cornford, F. M. the Origin of Attic Comedy. Ed. T. H. Gaster. Intro Jeffrey Henderson. Ann Arbor: U of MI P, 1993. *Eric Csapo
Riding the Phallus for Dionysus: Iconology, Ritual, and Gender-Role De/Construction
' Phoenix, Vol. 51, No. 3/4 (Autumn–Winter, 1997), pp. 253–295 {{doi, 10.2307/1192539

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