The Scented Garden

Anthropology of the Sex Life in the Levant

Bernhard Stern, Stern

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2013
• Print ISBN: 9781138869707
• eBook ISBN: 9781136206382
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Anthropology
• Index: Social Sciences

First published in 2008. This encyclopaedic book details the sexual practices and perversions of peoples and cultures throughout the work. Topics include: love and love charms, rental marriages, the bridal night of a princess, the sexual lexicon, chastity and the feeling of shame, onanism and artificial instruments, public prostitution and the sex act.

CHAPTER ONE

LOVE AND LOVE CHARMS

Love potions—among the Romans—in France—in the present day Orient—The southern Slav oracle of the coal—Bosnian love medium—a Serbian remedy for the charm of love—Roumanian customs and oracles—Love methods in India—Concept of love in the Orient—A Bosnian love-duet—Persian customs—The death penalty for secret love—The charm of bushy eyebrows—The love physiologist Omer Haleby on love charms—Superstition in love and marriage—Moors—Syrians—Bosnians—Roumanians.

Fourteen-year-old Bohemian

Love potions have been used in all times!

Ovid wrote of their power to make persons of both sexes, who at first were quite indifferent to each other, to fall in love. The power of such love potions were often only psychic and harmless; in other cases the drinks consisted of poisonous matter, which, however, worked charms on the libido, the so-called aphrodisiacs; at times a person of the female sex through stupefaction was transported into a deep sleep by strammonium, hyoscyamus or belladonna, so that the debaucher had little difficulty in satisfying his lust.

Older people need such love potions to inoculate, like the virus of small-pox, the object of their offering for mutual love. The Italian Porta relates of the miracles effected by hippomanes, a black skin, the size of a dried fig, which grew on the forehead of a new born foal, which when burnt to a powder by the Greeks was used, with the blood of the beloved, as a love philtre. The Romans knew how to prepare similar love potions. Lucullus is said to have lost his mind, and finally his life through such a drink. A similar misfortune befell the poet Lucretius, who took his life under the spell of love. Apuleius is supposed to have won the heart of the wealthy Pudentilla with the use of such a philtre, composed of asparagus, crabs’ tails, fish spawn, pigeon blood, and the tongue of one of Aesop’s fabulous birds. A superstition exists in France that a man can make himself beloved if he carries on his heart the head of a hawk, or if he gives the object of his love the last hair of a fox’s tail to swallow. Marx in his researches revealed the ingredients of love potions of former times: a branch of laurel, the brain of a sperling, the bones from the left side of an ant-eaten toad, the blood and heart of a dove, the testicles of an ass, a horse, a hen, and most particularly menstrual blood. More will be said later in this section concerning the last, also in the chapter on menstruation.

In the present day orient the belief in love charms exists among the Moslems as well as among the Christians and Jews of high and low degree.

A southern peasant named Nowak Opalitsch, living in Zabigje, after a communication from Frederich S. Krauss for love anecdotes employed the following oracle of the coal: He threw two pieces of coal along the surface of water, one for the boy, the other for the girl. If the fates will it that the boy and girl become mated, then the two pieces of coal immediately come together. If it happens that the girl desires the boy, but he does not care for her, or vice versa, then one coal pursues the other but it cannot overtake it.

In order to win the mutual love of a shy person, superstitious Bosnians gaze upon the beloved object through a charmed ring, and she is thereupon consumed with burning love for the person looking upon her. Such ring—says a Moslem sage—caused a young Turk in Dervent to kill his own father. A pretty woman wished to conquer the son and looked at her beloved through her magic ring; a glance grazed the father, and now father and son were simultaneously inflamed with wild passion for the same girl, so that the jealous youth murdered his father.

A Serbian remedy for love charm, among the Serbians, the Montenegrins and the Herzegowiners, was called cabbage by the southern Slavs. According to the report from Leist this cabbage is none other than the Doldengrowth, Liguisticum officinale, which had been used in Germany for superstitious purposes with reference to awakening or averting love, as the German love-tree indicates. In Europe the root of the love-tree is sold even today as a remedy for sicknesses of the domestic animals. The plant is seldom found in middle Europe, but it is frequently met with in the warmer mountain regions of European Turkey. The Turks call it: amus; the Arabs: kemun meluki; the Persians: nancha; the Indians: dschoanni.

The Roumanian peasant girl knows, as Flachs tells us, the following little methods of drawing to her the love of a given man, who is alone, or to alienate the affections of another girl or woman. The young woman winds a metal violin string, such as the G string, around her finger into a ball. The string then has the power to soften the hardest man’s heart, so it manifestly stands in somewhat of a mystic tie with the hearts of men. The ball is then sewn to the seam of her underwear. In the course of the same day the maiden must say the following little speech thrice at different times, “As the string is wound around my finger, so must his senses and thoughts revolve about me!” The maiden kneads a man’s figure out of wax, places it before the blazing fire, and says: “As this puppet softens at the fire, so should the heart of my beloved soften for me!”—Older girls desiring marriage may find the following advice of the Gypsies helpful. The maid must go to a herdsman’s cottage, but she must be careful not to awaken the dog which is watching the cottage. From the cattle trough she must take a lump of salt and go home with it. On the following day she must salt her food properly. To that she must add a luck-bringing spice or plant—garlic, basilien leaves, evergreen, or a pine twig. After a comfortable meal she should remain in the sun for the entire day without quenching her thirst. During the next night there will appear in her dreams a man determined by fate who will bring her water and ride home as her husband. This dream will soon become reality. The Roumanian women know many more incantations whose recitation under carefully prepared formulas brings success in love. The following magic love-speech, faithfully translated from Flachs will serve as an example: “On Sunday morning, as the day dawned, I arose, left my house and table and on the way, on the small bridge to the wide street, the people who saw me said, ‘That is Marghiola, the beautiful, not Diana, the beautiful, but Marghiola, the kind, about whom the whole world has read!’ Just as the Hibiscus is chosen of all flowers, of all scents; just as the Pope cannot go into the church without Hibiscus and without Isope—so shall not the boys be able to dance without her. All other maidens shall look like crows beside her, dirty crows which one throws over the hedge.” This magic love-speech must be recited over a water-filled dish, in which there have been placed Hibiscus leaves tied with red silk cord, a coin, and a pine twig.

The Kamasutra says in the section on “Various Practices”: “The woman who hears a man blow upon a reed-pipe is afflicted with Salvinia cucullata, Costus species, Tabernaemontana coronaria, Flacourtia cataphracta, Pinus deodora and Asteracantha longifolia, and becomes subject to him. In the section on “the enchantment of women” an ointment is named from the leaves of Tabernaemontana coronaria. Costus species (arabicus) and Flacourtia cataphracta bring about enchantment. Another ointment is the oil, composed of the leaves of Boerhavia procumbens, Sida cordifolia (rhombfolia), Ichnocarpus frutescens (or Hemidesmus inducus), yellow amarynth and blue lotus; garlands are also woven of these. He who uses a powder of dried Nebumbium species, blue lotus and Mesua roxburghii with honey and melted butter, will become rapacious. These, tied with the leaves of Tabernaemontana coronaria, Flacourtia cataphracta and Xantochymus pictorius make another salve. If one carries the eye of a peacock or a hyena streaked with gold in his right hand: that works enchantment. Even if one carries a breastberry and a shell as an amulet which is consecrated after the order of Atharvaveda.”

In the chapter on acquisition (Schmidt translation 467) it is further said: “Wind-blown leaves, the remains of death offerings, strewn with the powder of peacock-bones effect enchantment. The powder of a dead female hawk, mixed with honey, and a bath in fruit of Myrobalan are profitable. Euphrobia neriifolia and Euphrobia antiquorum cut into pieces, provided with red arsenic and sulphur, dried seven times, rubbed into a powder, and mixed with Affenkoth, is—when strewn upon a maiden—a method of preventing her from belonging to anyone else.”

“Pieces of the root of Acorus calamus, streaked with the oil of a Mango tree, concealed in the hollow branch of a Dalbergia Sissoo tree; taken out after six months, this becomes, so they say, the highly treasured ointment of the gods, which brings luck. Take small thin splinters of rosin of the Acacia catechu and the breath of the flowers of that tree in which it was placed after it had been hollowed out; that results in the salve beloved by the Gandharven, which brings profits, so they say. Panicum italicum, mixed with Tabernaemontana coronaria and streaked with Mango oil, and placed for six months in a Mesua Roxburghii tree, which has been hollowed, created an ointment beloved by the diamond snakes and works charms. A camel-bone, stuck into a lizard, and by means of a staff out of camel-bone provided with antimony, becomes a holy collyrium, which brings profits, so they say.”

The nobler concept of love, as conceived by us in the occident, exists neither among the southern slavs nor among the Orientals. Short and to the point is the love duet sung in Plehane in Bosnia:

“O maiden, red apple,
The summer shall not pass
Ere I shall climb upon you.”

“O, my lover, my Atlas bolster,
The summer shall not pass
Ere I shall lay myself beneath you.”

The love of which the Persian poets sing in their poems has also either a symbolic or a highly profane meaning; the word Ischk—Love—is always followed by the idea Was’l, the sexual intermingling.

In the higher class of superstitions the Persians have many about charms, magic, and lucky stars, especially in matters of love, and they use all kinds of means and amulets of the strangest nature to catch a man or at least to interfere with the fertility of their rivals. Dr. Polak tells of a famous tower near Isjhahan to which girls and widows betake themselves to get their man. They ride in two stages; upon each must be placed a nut which the pilgrim must crack while reciting a certain curse. It is often dangerous to play the part of the magician of love. So it is said that in Turkey about the time of Achmed III, on the report of the Governor of Rakka: that the Persian Shah known by the name Ebubekr and by the nicknames Seijah, the Rapacious, through the art of magic fooled the people and betrayed the women—he was executed. History tells us of an instance in the regime of the same nobleman, that the mere thought of arousing love was penalized with death, because this thought secretly involved a woman of the Sultan’s harem; the unlucky thinker was the nephew of the mighty Grand vizier Koprili, the master of the stable, Kiblelisade Alibeg; neither his own position nor his uncle’s protection could save him.

In Volume IV of his history, Hammer mentions this noteworthy incident “one of the historians of the kingdom of Raschid, given to the most authentic reports, says delicately yet clearly that nothing in Osman history surpasses the capital offense of profaning the emperor’s harem.” The penalty is fixed by the Kislaraga, the head eunuch: because “Alibeg was one of those men whose body was preserved in the treasure of chastity, secretly faithful.” So not the deed, not the rendezvous, but the mere attachment, the secret desire for either a wife or a slave of the emperor’s harem appears here as a crime against the state, which brought a martyr’s death to the concealer of that unhappy love.

The dominion of Achmed III was famous for such strange cases. For Hammer reports an other interesting incident. This happened to a rich Persian Armenian, who was known at Constantinople by the name Gumischmemdase, silver-mass. Rumor has it that he caroused with an immoral woman during her husband’s absence; apprehended in her house, he was brought before the court. Although prejudice existed against him’ “because the Persian Armenian was in the habit of pursuing women,” yet the evidence of his damnable lewdness was not easily obtainable; so a crowd of zealous Moslems showed the court, “that this cursed unbeliever, with the arch of the devil’s restlessness, had spoken to the Moslem women in passing, and for this offense he was sentenced to be hanged and, in the presence of the Vizier, in the Persian-Armenian quarter, the sentence was executed.

According to the laws of Islam, this last reason is sufficient for execution; but besides this no one receives the death sentence even if he is of lovable temperament with a maniacal tendency towards conquest, and has high bushy eyebrows….

Although love-magic in Turkey is not at all free from danger, the Turkish love physiologist prescribes many means of enchantment and recommends especially the blood oath: If a man wishes to possess a woman—for the ultimate goal of love among the orientals is coitus—and if the woman stands opposite him, then he places all his hopes and his entire desire into his eyes. If he then gazes upon the beloved woman, he must stare into her eyes, press his left arm sufficiently to start the blood in motion; and when the beloved woman is near enough to hear him, he must say: “There is no God besides God! And so it is certain that my blood will dry up before my desire to possess you can be suffocated!” These signs of the desire for love must cleverly infuse the imagination of the woman, so that her fantasy becomes the advocate for the lover and immediately pleads his cause. In the organs of the woman there develops an irritation which makes sensuality the mistress over her body. And of all the organs of the woman the womb is the most impressionable and is the one which has the greatest power over the brain, with the result that the excitement in the womb of the woman compels her to give up her opposition and drives the beloved person into the arms of her lover. If this method does not work the first time, then it must be tried again, and even a third time. One must also send his beloved red roses upon which he has blown his wishes three times with his entire soul. If you can come closer to the woman, infuse her even more with your glances, fascinate her, command her to love you and to belong to you. If you cannot come close to her or if you have no opportunity to speak to her and perhaps to touch her forehead with your index finger, then ride by her window, speeding your horse dauntlessly, or stand hours long before her house and stare upon it continuously. Music and song are also powerful methods of spiritual love-magic.”

The enchantment which is born of a glance is called: Asimah; the good suggestion: Ahham; the bad suggestion: Rorr. A twig of Asimah is jealousy or fascination. As soon as the charm of the glance begins to take effect and you are near the enchanted person, place your hand upon hear head and command her with authority, but in a sweet tone and gently, to do your bidding. If she is in the midst of a crowd, say to her: Follow me! … This fascination works as well with a woman whom one wishes to possess as with an animal which he wishes to tame.”

I am beginning to gather the customs and superstitions which fate presents to husbands and wives in marriage, love, and faithfulness.

In Morocco the skin of a bat is smoked with the rosin from the root of an unbellifere. If the woman places this remedy in the clothes of her faithless husband, she is certain to win back his love. According to the Syrian, Eijub Abela, the following customs are prevalent in Syria: the number which forms the proportion of subjects does not have to be accurate; but if it is accurate there is the danger that a woman will marry more than one man if she loses her first husband through his death or if he disowns her. If the woman-subject who belongs to her proportion stands or lies inverted, her husband must do mischief to her. If she inadvertently puts on another woman’s shoe, she will immediately lose her husband through death. A woman must not give the flowers from her hair to any other woman; that one takes with the flowers the love of her husband. The Christian in Syria believes that her husband does not love her if he awakes with the rising sun, gets up, and leaves the house. The Mohammedan woman becomes melancholy if the sea begins to rise at the moment when she is bathing: that indicates to her that her husband is becoming estranged from...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Chapter One—Love and Love Charms
• Chapter Two—Marriage in Islam: The Koran and Polygamy
• Chapter Three—The Wives of the Prophet Mohammed
• Chapter Four—Rights and Duties of the Married Mussulmen
• Chapter Five—Divorce and Widows
• Chapter Six—Adultery
• Chapter Seven—Marriages and Weddings of the Sultans
• Chapter Eight—The Power of Women in the Sultan’s Harem
• Chapter Nine—Wedding Customs of the People in Turkey
• Chapter Ten—Physical Aspects of the Bride and Groom
• Chapter Eleven—Sexual Lexicon
• Chapter Twelve—Menstruation
• Chapter Thirteen—Chastity and the Feeling of Shame
• Chapter Fourteen—Wickedness
• Chapter Fifteen—Public Prostitution
• Chapter Sixteen—The Sex Act
• Chapter Seventeen—The Kind of Sex Acts
• Chapter Eighteen—Pederasty and Sodomy
• Chapter Nineteen—Eunuchs and Sexual Perversions
• Chapter Twenty—Onanism and Artificial Instruments
• Chapter Twenty-One—Venereal Diseases
• Chapter Twenty-Two—Impotence
• Chapter Twenty-Three—Fertility and Sterility
• Chapter Twenty-Four—Abortions
• Chapter Twenty-Five—Midwives
• Chapter Twenty-Six—Customs During Pregnancy
• Chapter Twenty-Seven—Delivery
• Chapter Twenty-Eight—Confinement
• Chapter Twenty-Nine—Mother’s Milk and Wet-Nurses
• Chapter Thirty—The Child
• Chapter Thirty-One—Boys and Girls
• Chapter Thirty-Two—Miscarriages and the Naming of Children
• Chapter Thirty-Three—Circumcision