Today was a big day for me, the biggest of my life so far, I thought to myself as I opened one eye and looked at the morning sunshine filtering into the hut. Today I not only turned eighteen but was also getting married.
"Get up, Orion," my mother said. "Go fetch water."
"Okay," I replied and stepped out of the hut.
"Take this," she said, putting a clay pitcher near me as I peed in the bush.
When I reached the well — a five-minute walk from the hut — my sister, who's a year older than me, was taking a bath with my aunt in the lake next to the well. A man, who lived two huts away from ours, was filing water from the well.
"Ready for the big day?" my sister Hera asked me.
"He's been ready for a long time," Aunt said.
"Hmm," Hera concurred, looking at me with her deep-blue eyes.
"What's your plan?"
"Nothing," I replied to Aunt.
"Well, now you can do whatever you want," she said. "Enjoy."
She got out of the lake and began walking toward her hut as water droplets glistened on her naked body.
Filing the pitcher with water, I enquired about my one-year-old nephew. "How's Erasmus?"
"He's fine. Mom's making you work even today," my sister said. "I'll see you soon."
She came out of the water and joined Aunt. I could see her pink nipples were erect, probably because the water was a bit chilly, and her blonde pubic hair was coiled together like sticky Chinese rice.
I was born in a tribe the world would consider unusual, exotic or even weird. The community, with a total population of around 200, lived deep in a valley surrounded by mountains on an island near Crete in Greece.
The houses, or huts to be precise, were built with only natural materials, such as wood, leaves and mud, had only one room and no bathroom, kitchen, doors or windows. We cooked our food outside the hut on wood and used water streaming down from the mountains to wash. The small lake is where we cleaned our clothes and took a bath.
We had been living in this area for generations and had never seen the world beyond the mountains. We had no idea what lay behind those mountains. That was because we considered the mountains holy so we never set foot on them. And nobody from the other side had ever crossed the mountain or seen us.
So for us the whole world started and ended with our tribe. There was no school, hospital, electricity or any other modern amenity. We ate whatever we grew or hunted and survived on subsistence farming and animal hunting.
In our tribe men and women covered only their lower part with a loincloth, leaving the top bare. Unlike the outside world, nudity for us was as normal as the sun rising in the east.
The second thing that set us apart from the world was that women ruled the whole community. They took decisions, gave orders and ran everything. While both men and women worked shoulder to shoulder on farms, hunted animals and did household chores, it was women who called the shots.
This had roots in the goddess we worshipped and whose teachings we followed. Goddess Hyacinth originally came to this land decades ago from the Netherlands with a small band of believers and decided to set up roots here.
Her beliefs were simple: protect the earth, treat trees, mountains and rivers as holy and share everything. If you want eternal happiness then don't believe in mine or yours, but in us, in sharing whatever you have. This was the philosophy we followed.
Of course, there were few instances from time to time of people not respecting the beliefs, of people lying or stealing or cheating. But they were swiftly dealt with. Whether young or old, man or woman, girl or boy, the rule-breakers would be brought to the community square and told to bend over a wooden log and then their bare bottoms would be whipped with birch in front of others until their white skin was completely red.
How many times they were whipped depended on the nature of their crime and age. This was decided by the matriarch of the tribe. The punishment was always administered by a woman. So whether it was a tall, physically strong young man or an old woman, all were whipped by women.
The third factor that differentiated us was how we viewed sex. We treated it like any other activity, such as eating food or taking a bath, but there were certain rules around it. One was that sex with minors was forbidden. While small indiscretions like kissing were overlooked, anything major meant a march to the community square and getting such a whipping on the ass and back that the skin would come off.
The second rule was that it was the woman who decided who she wanted to marry and when. Once she attained adulthood, she became in charge of her life and in charge of her husband and children. From then on, she ran the show.
The last, and the most important factor, related to how an adult woman conducted her sex life. If a woman wanted to get married all she had to do was tell the man that she wanted to marry him and then inform the community. She was free to tie the knot with a single or married man. If a man was already married then he would have to devote equal time to all his wives. That was his duty and any complaint by any of the wives meant punishment.
On the wedding day, the bride was taken to the lake by female relatives who would apply a special mud that reportedly was good for skin all over her body and then give her a bath.
After the bath, her family members would paint different images on her body. On her back would be a picture of a tree as trees symbolized long life, on her stomach an image of a child and on her inner thigh a large phallus to symbolize fertility.
Then she would put on a new loincloth made with finest animal skin and simple jewelry like a necklace or bracelet.
Once ready, she would walk down with the women of the house to the square where the whole community would be already drinking, singing and dancing.
The groom was also prepared for the big day. He would lie down on a rug on the floor of the house and his mother, or grandmothers if the mother was not alive, would apply mud all over his naked body, including his private parts, and then the women of the house would massage his body, both front and back. Then he would be given a shower to get rid of the mud.
After that, his mother would bring a bowl of goats' milk and dip her fingers in it and wash his penis with the milk. Then she would stand in front of him with the bowl and he would masturbate in it.
