Phallic processions are public celebrations featuring a

phallus A phallus is a penis (especially when erect), an object that resembles a penis, or a mimetic image of an erect penis. In art history a figure with an erect penis is described as ithyphallic. Any object that symbolically—or, more precisel ...

, a representation of an erect penis.

Ancient Greece

Called ''phallika'' in ancient Greece, 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 use ...

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 Poetics is the theory of structure, form, and discourse within literature, and, in particular, within poetry. History The term ''poetics'' derives from the Ancient Greek ποιητικός ''poietikos'' "pertaining to poetry"; also "creative" an ...

'', Aristotle 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 Lent ( la, Quadragesima, 'Fortieth') is a solemn religious observance in the liturgical calendar commemorating the 40 days Jesus spent fasting in the desert and enduring temptation by Satan, according to the Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke ...

.''The Annual Phallus Festival in Greece''
Der Spiegel, English edition, Retrieved on 15-12-08 In August 2000, to promote a production of Aristophanes' '' The Clouds'', 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 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 A is a structure whose main purpose is to house ("enshrine") one or more ''kami'', the deities of the Shinto religion. Overview Structurally, a Shinto shrine typically comprises several buildings. The '' honden''Also called (本殿, meani ...

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 Alph may refer to: * Alpheus River, a river on the Peloponnese *Alph River, a river in Antarctica *Alph Lake, a lake in Antarctica *Alph, a fictional river in the poem ''Kubla Khan'' by Samuel Taylor Coleridge *Alph, a character from ''Luminous Arc' ...

(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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