Editing Menarche (section)

== Society and culture==
{{Main|Culture and menstruation}}
{{See also|Seclusion of girls at puberty}}

Menstruation is a cultural as well as scientific phenomenon as many societies have rituals, social norms, and religious laws associated with it. These typically begin at menarche and may be enacted during each menstruation cycle. The menarches are important in determining a status change for girls. Upon menarche and completion of the ritual, they have become a woman as defined by their culture.

Canadian psychological researcher Niva Piran claims that menarche or the perceived average age of puberty is used in many cultures to separate girls from activity with boys, and to begin transition into womanhood.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Bobel |first1=C. |title=The Palgrave Handbook of Critical Menstruation Studies |last2=Winkler |first2=I. T. |last3=Fahs |first3=B. |last4=Hasson |first4=K. A. |last5=Kissling |first5=E. A. |last6=Roberts |first6=T. A. |last7=Piran |first7=N. |year=2020 |isbn=978-981-15-0613-0 |pages=201–214 |chapter=The Menarche Journey: Embodied Connections and Disconnections |doi=10.1007/978-981-15-0614-7_18 |pmid=33347201 |chapter-url=https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33347201/ |s2cid=226484326}}</ref> For example, post-menarche, young women compete in field hockey while young men play ice hockey.

=== Celebratory ceremonies ===
[[File:140111_Azuki_Museum_Himeji_Hyogo_pref_Japan11bs.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Sekihan]], a traditional Japanese dish of sticky rice steamed with azuki beans, was sometimes served after menarche.]]

Some cultures have observed rites of passage such as a party or other celebration, for a girl experiencing menarche, in the past and the present.<ref>Hartman, Holly. ''Girlwonder: Every Girl's Guide to the Fantastic Feats, Cool Qualities, and Remarkable Abilities of Women and Girls.'' Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2003.</ref>

==== Past ====
In ancient Japan, when a [[women in Japan|Japanese girl]] had her first period, the family sometimes celebrated by eating red-colored rice and beans ''([[sekihan]])''. Although both blood and sekihan rice are red, this was not of symbolic significance. All rice in ancient Japan was red; it was also rare and precious. (At most other times, [[millet]] was eaten instead.) The celebration was kept a secret from extended family until the rice was served.<ref name="Girls almanac">{{cite book |vauthors=Siegel A |title=Information Please Girls' Almanac |year=1995 |publisher=Houghton Mifflin Harcourt |isbn=978-0395694589 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jjdI-5tfGOIC&q=Ulithi+tribe+kufar&pg=PA13 |access-date=2013-11-09}}</ref>

==== Present ====
In [[Hinduism in South India|South Indian Hindu]] communities, young women are given a special menarche ceremony called [[Ruthu Sadangu]]; at that time, they begin to wear two-piece [[saris]].<ref>{{cite book |vauthors = Chockalingam K |title=Census of India, 1971: A. General report |year=1973 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OMsXAAAAMAAJ&q=Ruthu+Sadangu+menarche+india |access-date=2013-11-09}}</ref>

In [[Morocco]], the girl is thrown a celebration. All of her family members are invited and the girl is showered with money and gifts. [[Quinceañera]] in Latin America, is similar, except that the specific age of 15 marks the transition rather than menarche.

The [[Mescalero]] Apaches place high importance on their menarche ceremony and it is regarded as the most important ritual in their tribe. Each year, there is an eight-day event celebrating all of the girls who have menstruated in the past year. The days are split between feasting and private ceremonies reflecting on their new womanly status.<ref>{{cite book |vauthors=Crawford O'Brien SJ |title=American Indian religious traditions: an Encyclopedia, Volume 2 |year=2005 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SEopBoB8ch0C&pg=PA279 |isbn=9781576075173 |access-date=2013-11-09}}</ref>

In the [[United States]], public schools have a [[sex education]] program that teaches girls about menstruation and what to expect at the onset of menarche; this takes place between the fifth and eight grades. Like most of the modern industrialized world, menstruation is a private matter and a girl's menarche is not a community phenomenon.<ref>{{cite book | vauthors = Freidenfelds L |title=The Modern Period: Menstruation in Twentieth Century America |year=2009 |publisher=JHU Press |isbn=978-0801892455 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=n58U9B9BqhQC |access-date=2013-11-09}}</ref>

=== Rituals of purification ===
The [[Ulithi]] tribe of [[Micronesia]] call a girl's menarche ''kufar''. She goes to a [[menstrual house]], where the women bathe her and recite spells. She will have to return to the menstruation hut every time she menstruates. Her parents build her a private hut that she will live in until she is married.<ref name="Girls almanac" />

In [[Sri Lanka]], an [[astrologer]] is contacted to study the alignment of stars when the girl experiences menarche because it is believed that her future can be predicted. The women of the family then gather in her home and scrub her in a [[ritual bathing]] ceremony. Her family then throws a familial party at which the girl wears white and may receive gifts.<ref name="Girls almanac" />

In [[Ethiopia]], [[Ethiopian Jewish|Beta Jewish]] women were separated from male society and sent to menstruation huts during menarche and every menstruation following as the blood associated with menstruation in the Beta Jewish culture was [[ritual purity|believed to be impure]]. The Beta Jews built their villages surrounding and near bodies of water specifically for their women to have a place to clean themselves. The menstruation huts were built close to these bodies of water.<ref>{{cite book|vauthors = Tal I |title=Exploring the Meaning of Becoming a Woman in Non-Western Culture: A narrative Analysis of First Menstruation Stories of Ethiopian Jewish Women|year=2004|page=64}}</ref>

In India, [[purdah]] is practiced by some Hindu and Muslim communities. Women, starting at menarche and continuing with each subsequent period, are separated from men, and also wear different garments to conceal their skin during menstruation. 

In [[Australia]], the [[Indigenous Australians|Aboriginals]]{{which|date=June 2014}} treat a girl to "love magic". She is taught the ways of womanhood by the other women in her tribe. Her mother builds her a [[menstruation hut]] to which she confines herself for the remainder of her menses. The hut is burned and she is bathed in the river at the end of menstruation. When she returns to the village,{{clarify|date=June 2014}} she is paired with a man who will be her husband.<ref name="Girls almanac" />

In [[Nigeria]], the [[Tiv people|Tiv]] ethnic group [[scarification|cut four lines]] into the abdomen of their girls during menarche. The lines are supposed to represent fertility.<ref name="Girls almanac" />

=== Rituals of strength ===
The [[Navajo people|Navajo]] have a celebration called [[Blessing Way|''kinaalda'']] (kinn-all-duh). Girls are expected to demonstrate their strength through footraces. The girls make a cornmeal pudding for the tribe to taste. The girls who experience menarche wear special clothes and style their hair like the Navajo goddess "[[Asdzą́ą́ Nádleehé|Changing Woman]]".<ref name="Girls almanac" />

The [[Nuu-chah-nulth people|Nuu-chah-nulth]] (also known as the Nootka) believe that physical endurance is the most important quality in young women. At menarche the girl is taken out to sea and left there to swim back.<ref name="Girls almanac" />