When Psammeticus turned back the conquering Scythians from their
contemplated invasion of Egypt, some stragglers of the rear-guard
plundered the temple of Venus Urania at Ascalon. The goddess punished
this sacrilege by inflicting on the Scythian nation the "female
disease." Herodotus, from whom we learn this, says:
"The Scythians themselves confess that their countrymen suffer
this malady in consequence of the above crime; their condition
also may be seen by those who visit Scythia, where they are
called Enareæ."--Beloe's Translation, vol. i. p. 112., ed. 8vo.
And again, vol. ii. p. 261., Hippocrates says:
"There are likewise among the Scythians, persons who come into
the world as eunuchs, and do all the work of women; they are
called Enaræans, or womanish," &c.
It would occupy too much space to detail here all the speculations to
which this passage has given rise; sufficient for us be the fact, that
in Scythia there were men who dressed as, and associated with, the
women; that they were considered as victims of an offended female deity;
and yet, strange contradiction! they were revered as prophets or
diviners, and even acquired wealth by their predictions, &c. (See
_Universal History_, xx. p. 15., ed. 8vo.)
The curse still hangs over the descendants of the Scythians. Reineggo
found the "female disease" among the Nogay Tatars, who call persons so
afflicted "Choss." In 1797-8, Count Potocki saw one of them. The Turks
apply the same term to men wanting a beard. (See Klaproth's _Georgia and
Caucasus_, p. 160., ed. 4to.) From the Turkish use of the word "choss,"
we may infer that Enareans existed in the cradle of their race, and that
the meaning only had suffered a slight modification on their descent
from the Altai. De Pauw, in his _Recherches sur les Américains_, without
quoting any authority, says there are men in Mogulistan, who dress as
women, but are obliged to wear a man's turban.
It must be interesting to the ethnologist to find this curse extending
into the New World, and actually now existing amongst Dr. Latham's
American _Mongolidæ_. It would be doubly interesting could we trace its
course from ancient Scythia to the Atlantic coast. In this attempt,
however, we have not been successful, a few isolated facts only
presenting themselves as probably descending from the same source. The
relations of travellers in Eastern Asia offer nothing of the sort among
the Tungusi, Yakuti, &c. The two Mahometans (A.D. 833, thereabout),
speaking of Chinese depravity, assert that it is somehow connected with
the worship of their idols, &c. (Harris' _Collection_, p. 443. ed. fol.)
Sauer mentions boys dressed as females, and performing all the domestic
duties in common with the women, among the Kodiaks; and crossing to the
American coast, found the same practised by the inhabitants of
Oonalashka (ed. 4to., pp. 160. 176.). More accurate observation might
probably detect its existence amongst intermediate tribes, but want
{102} of information obliges us here to jump at once over the whole
range of the Rocky Mountains, and then we find Enareanism (if I may so
term it) extending from Canada to Florida inclusive, and thence at
intervals to the Straits of Magellan.
Most of the earlier visitors to America have noticed the numerous
hermaphrodites everywhere met with. De Pauw (who, I believe, never was
in America) devotes a whole chapter to the subject in his _Recherches
sur les Américains_, in which he talks a great deal of nonsense. It
assisted his hypothesis, that everything American, in the animal and
vegetable kingdoms, was inferior to their synonymes in the Old World.
The calm and more philosophical observation of subsequent travellers,
however, soon discovered that the so-called hermaphrodites were men in
female attire, associating with the women, and partaking of all their
labours and occupations. Père Hennepin had already mentioned the
circumstance (Amstel. ed. in 12mo., p. 219.), but he seems to have had
no idea of the practice being in any way connected with religion.
Charlevoix went a step farther, for speaking of those he met with among
the Illinois, he says:
"On a prétendu que cet usage venait de je ne sais quel principe
de la religion, mais cette religion avait, comme bien d'autres,
prit sa naissance dans la corruption du coeur," &c.
Here he stopped, not caring to inform himself as to the real origin of
the usage. Lafitau says these so-called hermaphrodites were numerous in
Louisiana, Florida, Yucatan, and amongst the Sioux, Illinois, &c.; and
goes on,--
"Il y a de jeunes gens qui prennent l'habit de femme qu'ils
gardent toute leur vie, et qui se croyent honorez de s'abaisser
à toutes leurs occupations; ils ne se marient jamais, ils
assistent à tous les exercises où la religion semble avoir part,
et cette profession de vie extraordinaire les fait passer pour
des gens d'un ordre supérieur et au-dessus du commun des
hommes," &c.
Are not these, he asks, the same people as those Asiatic worshippers of
Cybele? or those who, according to Julius Firmicus, consecrated
themselves, the one to the Phrygian goddess, the others to Venus
Urania?--priests who dressed as women, &c. (See _Moeurs des Sauvages
américains_, vol. i. p. 52., ed. 4to., Paris, 1724.) He farther tells us
that Vasco Nuñez de Balbao met many of them, and in the fury of his
religious zeal had them torn to pieces by dogs. Was this in Darien? I
believe neither Heckewelder, Adair, Colden, nor J. Dunn Hunter, mention
this subject, though they must all have been aware of the existence of
Enareans in some one or more of the tribes with which they were
acquainted; and I do not remember having ever met with mention of them
among the Indian nations of New England, and Tanner testifies to their
existence amongst the Chepewa and Ottawa nations, by whom they are
called A-go-kwa. Catlin met with them among the Sioux, and gives a
sketch of a dance in honour of the I-coo-coo, as they call them. Southey
speaks of them among the Guayacuru under the name of "Cudinas," and so
does Von Martius. Captain Fitzroy, quoting the Jesuit Falkner, says the
Patagonian wizards (query priests) are dressed in female attire: they
are chosen for the office when young, preference being given to boys
evincing a feminine disposition.
Lafitau's conjecture as to the connexion between these American Enareans
and the worshippers of Venus Urania, seems to receive some confirmation
from our next evidence, viz. in Major Long's _Expedition to St. Peter's
River_, some of these people were met with, and inquiry being made
concerning them, it was ascertained that--
"The Indians believe the moon is the residence of a hostile
female deity, and should she appear to them in their dreams, it
is an injunction to become Cinædi, and they immediately assume
feminine attire."--Vol. i. p. 216.
Farther it is stated, that two of these people whom they found among the
Sauks, though generally held in contempt, were pitied by many--
"As labouring under an unfortunate destiny that they cannot
avoid, being supposed to be impelled to this course by a vision
from the female spirit that resides in the moon," &c.--Vol. i.
p. 227.
Venus Urania is placed among the Scythian deities by Herodotus, under
the name "Artimpasa." We are, for obvious reasons, at liberty to
conjecture that the adoption of her worship, and the development of "the
female disease," may have been contemporaneous, or nearly so. It were
needless entering on a long story to show the connexion between Venus
and the moon, which was styled Urania, Juno, Jana, Diana, Venus, &c.
Should it be conceded that the American _Mongolidæ_ brought with them
this curse of Scythia, the date of their emigration will be
approximated, since it must have taken place subsequently to the affair
of Ascalon, or between 400 or 500 years B.C.
The adoption of female attire by the priesthood, however, was not
confined to the worshippers of Venus Urania; it was widely spread
throughout Heathendom; so widely that, as we learn from Tacitus, the
priests of the Naharvali (in modern Denmark) officiated in the dress of
women. Like many other heathenish customs and costumes, traces of this
have descended to our own times; such, for example, may have been the
exchange of dresses on New Year's Eve, &c.: see Drake's _Shakspeare and
his Times_, vol. i. p. 124., ed. 4to. And what else is the effeminate
costume of the clergy in many parts of Europe, the girded waist, and the
petticoat-like cassock, but a relique {103} of the ancient priestly
predilection for female attire?