Author: s1thy

Hera the Goddess of Marriage and Birth

         Hera or Juno (Roman) is the Goddess of Marriage and Birth, the Queen of Heaven and Olympians. Hera was married to Zeus, the King of God and her brother. Before her marriage, she had dominance over the earth, heaven, and all aspect of existence including seasons and weather. Just like other gods, Hera had super strength including, immortality, resistance to injury, and her unique ability to curse or bless the marriage. As the goddess of marriage and birth, she symbolized women’s responsibility as wives, who need to take care of others.

      In most myths, Hera is depicted wearing the diadem,  jeweled in the shape of a half-crown, and holding a pomegranate as a symbol for birth, blood, and death, in her hand. She was known to have the peacock as a symbol, depicting her beauty, luxury, and immortality, and the cow embodies Hera’s watchfulness of human beings, as her sacred animals. Hera has a strong preference for lilies over other flowers. Lilies also symbolized humanity and devotion, and it is the 30th wedding anniversary flowers.

      Hera was the youngest daughter of  Cronus and Rhea. After their marriage, Zeus and Hera went on a 300 years honeymoon where they had three kids together, Ares the God of War, Hebe the cupbearer of the Olympians, and Eileithyia the Goddess of Childbirth. In some myths, Hephaestus was known to be the son of Zeus and Hera. In other myths, it was believed that Hephaestus was created by Hera alone after her anger of Zeus unfaithful action in their marriage. Hera is deeming to prove that she does not need Zeus, by having Hephaestus alone. However, Hephaestus was born with birth defect, which greatly upset Hera as well as Zeus.

      Even though, Hera was the Goddess of Marriage, her marriage, was unsuccessful. Hera was famous for the jealous and vindictive response to her husband’s mistresses and illegitimate children, and her revenge to their mothers and any gods or goddesses who claim to be more superior than she is. Hera had an unstoppable hatred for one of Zeus’ favorite sons, Heracles. To execute him, Hera summoned the storm over the sea to get him out. That incident had inflamed Zeus’ anger towards Hera. Hera was hung in the clouds with the golden chain, and anvils attached to her ankles by Zeus as her punishment. Hephaestus, who tried to help his mother, was thrown from heaven by Zeus, however, in other myths, it was believed that he got thrown away because of his birth defect.

     Hera was also known to be the creator of the Milky Way. The legend stated that Zeus brought his son who was born from a mortal woman, Heracles to suckle Hera’s milk while she was sleeping, in the hope of endowing godlike qualities. Once regaining her consciousness, Hera pushed them away allowing her spurt of milk to drop which resulted in the creation of the Milky Way.  

     There are many temples dedicated to her in various Greek City-states, women often keep the altars of her in their homes. Greek women, who wish to conceive sons, they often offered a vow:  small statues or painting, or apples, any fruit representing birth. According to researchers, one of the earliest Hera’s Temple was made before any of Zeus’ temples.This shows that Hera was worship by the Greek long before Zeus. In addition, entering marriage is considering as their rite of passage, and it is the only way for women to change their social status.

      Despite her vengeful tolerance towards her husband’s mistress and illegitimate children, Hera was faithfully worshipped by the Greece and Roman. The month June was named as an honored for Hera from her goddess named in Roma, Juno. June is the most popular month for weddings.

 

Works Cited

Hera, www.mythweb.com/gods/hera.html.

Campbell, Mike. “Meaning, Origin and History of the Name Juno.” Behind the Name, www.behindthename.com/name/juno.

“Goddess Names and Their Meanings.” Goddess Names, www.goddess-guide.com/goddess-names.html.

“Hera.” Hera ***, www.talesbeyondbelief.com/greek-gods/hera.htm.

“Hera.” Hera ***, www.talesbeyondbelief.com/greek-gods/hera.htm.

“Hera.” Story of Hera ***, www.talesbeyondbelief.com/myth-stories/hera.htm.

“Hera.” Hera, Goddess of Marriage and Childbirth, Queen of the Gods – Greek Gods, www.greek-gods.org/olympian-gods/hera.php.

“Hera • Facts and Information on Greek Goddess Hera.” Greek Gods & Goddesses, greekgodsandgoddesses.net/goddesses/hera/.

“Hera, Greek Goddess.” Hera, Greek Goddess of Love and Marriage, www.goddessgift.com/goddess-myths/greek_goddess_hera.htm.

“Hera, Queen of the Gods.” Myth of Hera, Queen of the Gods ***, www.talesbeyondbelief.com/myth-stories/hera-the-queen-of-the-gods.htm.

“Hera, Queen of the Gods.” Myth of Hera, Queen of the Gods ***, www.talesbeyondbelief.com/myth-stories/hera-the-queen-of-the-gods.htm.

Nguyen, Judy. “Greek Gods Strengths and Weaknesses.” Prezi.com, 18 Sept. 2015, prezi.com/pr6qlopnjw2i/greek-gods-strengths-and-weaknesses/.

The Leftover Women

Ladies, do you know that you come with an expiration date?

In our contemporary society, many women are encouraged to pursue their dreams, higher education, and STEM related careers. Slowly, but surely, women have conquered more and more executive positions. However, these opportunities often affect women’s decisions about motherhood and marriage.

In China, women are 48.6% of the nation’s population. A study from 2017 shows that 40.1% of Chinese women are hesitant to have children, while the 63.4% are worried that having children would significantly impact their career development. Many advantaged women and less-advantaged men remain single due to the cultural beliefs that men should be more highly educated than women.

During Chinese New Year, when family members gather to celebrate, many unmarried women in their late twenties are pressured with questions: How old are you? Are you married? Do you have a boyfriend? When will you have a boyfriend? When will you get married? Why are you still single?

The tradition of arranged marriage has been illegal in China since the 1950s, nonetheless, many parents remain strongly involved in the marriages of their children.

With the rapidly increasing rate of unmarried women, and with parents oppression on their children’s marriage life, the birth of boyfriend renting app, and marriage market, expeditiously emerged into the Chinese society.

In 2005, China started a place called “marriage market,” it is where parents post the profiles of their children including job, income, and property ownership, in the hope of finding the right match. “It is like selling your daughter” stated one of the casts in SK-ll: Marriage Market Takeover.

Furthermore, the demand for fake boyfriend and girlfriend renting have peaked during the Lunar New Year in recent years. As such desire could be found in an online shopping, Taobao, in China. The price of the pretend partner could be up to $250 per day, occasionally, including the overnight stay.

Many young people are turning away from marriage, which causes an alarm to the parents. Parents fear that the children will break family lineage or will be left with no one to care for them. Society has set an expiration date on any women who are not married by the age of 25, and will be called “Sheng Nu” translated to “leftover women.”

Many parents misunderstand their daughters and believe women must rely on men in order to have a “complete” life, that women are bound to rely on men and their life would be insufficient without men, even with a stable job. If a woman doesn’t find her partner at the early age she will be left unwanted, and that was her only chance.

The pressure of women needed to find their suitable partner at an early age, that sometimes would lead to arranged/forced marriage isn’t only the pressing issues in China, it is a problem in places such as; India, Africa, Middle East and Asia. That imprecise ideology was taught from generations after another, however, the beauty of culture is that it can also be untaught.

Do we, women actually have an expiration date on us? Marriage should be a choice at any age for any member of the society, it should never be considered as a “must”. Women who have chosen to pursue their career should be highly encouraged. Lastly, leftover women should be treated with respect and honor.

Source

https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2017/04/05/national/1-4-japanese-men-still-unmarried-age-50-report/#.WmAWvaiWa00

http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2016/05/time-fake-boyfriend-china-leftover-women-160519121232031.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JqRt5boELkQ

http://www.jrzny.com