Celtic women and their period

Of course, Celtic women also had their periods. But we have found out that they, like millions of women in eternal times, probably did not wear panties. So how did they handle their moon blood?

For this, we have to look at the issue from a broader perspective.

We can assume that the average Celtic woman had her period much less frequently than modern women. In times before reliable contraception, women were pregnant for much of their fertile lives (although more than half of their children did not then survive past the first year of life). So there might be two or three months a year when she had her period. In addition, there were often times of droughts, storms, famines, when women became so skinny (and still had to work hard) that they had no periods at all - we know this today from top athletes or women with anorexia.

Interestingly, however, we can assume that in the past, in times before electric lighting, women tended to menstruate around the full moon, and all the women in a household menstruated at the same time. This phenomenon can often be observed in student shared flats, that the cycles of women living closely together adjust to each other.

Now what did woman do during her period? In some primitive peoples, there is still the women's hut, where women retreat to during their days. It may now be left open whether this is due to their "impurity" during that time or because they devote themselves to the "divine blood". Men always have and still do look at the menstruation of women with suspicion and many of the reports about primitive peoples are written by men.

Various methods were and are available to women to keep their blood "in check". They could tie several layers of cloth around themselves like a loincloth - even our grandmothers still knew this form of period pads, which were attached to a belt at the front and back. They could also use strips of cloth or moss like tampons. I knew women who still just shoved absorbent cotton into their vaginas even in the late 20th century, and cloth strip tampons are just coming back in the alternative scene. But I suspect that Celtic women also used a very different method. We're talking about women who weren't largely sedentary like we are today, but were very physically active. Their overall muscle tone was probably better than the average woman today, including their pelvic floor. It is not a problem to hold the flow of the month as one holds urine, and then let it flow like urine. At least if the period is not too heavy, I can say that from my own experience. In this respect, the Celtic woman may not have needed any form of "monthly products" at all, or only for the postpartum flow when the pelvic floor is weakened. At least young women could control their periods in this way, women after several births perhaps no longer, if they had badly healed deep perineal tears (which were probably not sutured at that time).

In principle, menstruation is a strange development of nature. It may be cleansing for the body, but it is actually evolutionary absurd that women lose valuable minerals through bleeding every month and in primeval times (i.e. far before sedentarization and protected spaces) attracted wild animals with their blood scent. Female dogs bleed twice a year, during their fertile days. Exciting why this developed so differently in humans - if a biologist/anthropologist/historian can explain this to me, I would really appreciate it!