Cybele and Attis

Cybeles' lover Attis dies when a pig bites off his genitals.
In remembrance of this, Cybeles' priests are castrated during orgiastic rituals. After this they used to wear female clothing and behaved like women. It is suggested that the circumcision of men in middle-eastern cultures was evolved from this. Essential to the metamorphosis from man to woman is not only the removal of the genitals, but also the causing of bleeding, which is to be interpreted as the imitation of menstruation. During another ritual, the taurobolium, one was initiated by baptizing in bull blood from a, for this occation, castrated bull. This ritual was only added to the worship in the later period of her rule, about the third century BCE. She was worshipped with extatic dancing and erothic music by drums and cymbales, in caves, her sacred under earthly chambers were identified as a symbol for a womb.

Another way for worshipping her was by a cubical stone, it is possible that the word 'cubic' comes from Cybele. The same word is seen in the kaba of Mekka, a cubic sanctuary of islamites, where the ancient Arabic Mother Goddess of Cybeles' cult was moved to Rome in 204 BCE by the oracle priestesses called Sibylles. She was mainly brought there to prevent more bad harvests and to fight the Carthagian Hannibal out of Roman territory. Her statue was moved from the Ida or from Pessinus. Sometimes it is refered to as a black stone, sometimes as an antropomorphe picture of the Goddess. On the Palatine her temple was erected 191 BCE.
Her statue was carried through the streets of Rome and it was covered with roses, just as is now done with the statue of Mary, the mother of Jesus Christ, whom also is a evolution of Cybele. Cybeles' temples was on the place of the modern Vatican, where Saint Peter's Cathedral is. Her cult was one of the greatest mysteries, which were very popular in those days. Because of the orgiastic character of her cult, it was forbidden for Romans at first until Claudius made it the states religion. As from the 4th century CE all mystery cults were forbidden by Constantin, in favour of Christianity.

An early christian sect, founded in the 2nd century CE by Montanus, Jesus was identified as Cybeles' son Attis. Within this sect both men and women could become priests and were seen as the reprenters of the Goddess on earth. Another remain of this cult is the Christian Holy Week, which is held on the time as the former Cybele rites.
Cybeles' rites were hold from 15 to 27 March. The feast invited the new year to start, at the spring equinox when the days became longer and warmer. On march 22 a tree was chopped down as the personification of Attis. The tree was wrapped in linen and decorated with violettes, which represented Attis' blood. On march 23 the horns were blown and on the third day, march 24 - the Day of the Blood - blood offers were made by the priests who cut themselves. The new initiates castrated themselves on this day aswell. Their genitals were barried in under earthly caves devoted to Cybele. On march 25, the Feast of Happiness was celebrated: a feast of lawlessness, similar to nowadays Carnaval.

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