I am convinced that, like other living things words also do have genders. Of course from the structuralism point of view, I don’t know clearly what Claude Levi Strauss would call me on that. Some words create an image of masculinity to us, whereas some words create the image of woman through their femininity. That’s why from this perspective the word “abundance” always sounds feminine to me. This situation might be emerging from the dictionary meaning of “plentiness”. It seems to be a title which is attributed to women, due to their reproductivity, breeding and nursing features. Who can express reproduction better than a woman figure with a fat belly and big breasts?.. I mean, better than a earth woman.

The concept of abundance, engraved its place within the history of humanity during the Neolithic processes in a way that can not be erased at all. And there is no doubt that it will sustain its presence within our concious or nonconcious daily habits, either in images or in cults. The importance of the Neolithic Age emerges from the features of this age itself and the change in the dimension of the concept. The agricultural society’s taking its place within the infrastructure could be related to the alteration of the economic forces of a new period and the social transformations. When agricultural production form took its place within the infrastructive, inevitably all the  superstructures  also changed and this alteration triggered each other mutually within a chronological sequence.  Because, the Neolithic Age  gradually added agricultural life to the daily hunting rush habit of the humans.  Undoubtedly, within this transformation the place of the feminen power can not be underestimated. According to some theses, the foundations of transformation both to the agricultural and of course to the sedentary life have been built by women. While men were hunting, women were busy for collecting and after sometime they “expertised” their experiences by obtaining seed from the food they have collected and started to cultivate them. This transition period itself is of an exclusive subject of a research as well.

During the rough times of the hunting seasons, nutrition requirements always and in every condition were being supplied by the food which were collected by women. Again the same process was seen in the ceramic phase of the Neolithic Age when the hand tools were being manufactured. Thus, societies which beginned to harvest agricultural added value, by the instinct to safeguard the future they soon began to stock and stack. Considering the essential due time aspect of  those stocks, methods for the preservation of food became to be important promptly. In this way what we call  as “ceramic” today, took its place within the social life for the  “functional” purposes. Once again, according to several theses, early pottery producing techniques were also developed by women. This is detailed well enough to be an exclusive subject of research indeed. Generally through all those progresses, human beings whom were vitally dependant to the nature began to gain a certain level of auotonomy and issued some sort of life insurance for themselves. In this way the continuity of the races were provided and avoidance of starvation and scarcity were ensured. Starvation and scarcity were so long been a social phobia but now through the concept of abundance, were replaced by the cults and faith.

Proceeding to a sedentary and agricultural life, also changed the role of women within the society. This alteration, as a result either strengthened the feminine goddesses which already existed in some societies or  initiated the emergence of them in the others. Thus, in the history of mythical religions, it is obviously seen that feminine goddesses possed natural signs and powers. Claiming this fact to be just the result of a simple social coincidence, should be accepted as a proof of ignorance.

As we have generally mentioned above, abundance is almost like an feminine symbol that gives power from woman to soil, and then from soil to the life. Either in Muslim faith as one of the celestial religions or in Brahmanism, within all faith and worshipping systems, the concept of abundance exists to be one of the elements that  give direction to the life. Looking from all of these points, I think we have enough reasons to mention the “femininity” of abundance. So what do you think?

“You exist as much as I think.

You are there as much as I bring you into existence.

If I know you as of you, that is because I know you.”