Baubo-The Naughty Crone by takhisis

[Dept of PMM Artists & things]

Her name means "belly" and Baubo was the Greek goddess of belly laughter, the kind that indecent gestures and suggestive jokes promote. Baubo was sculpted as a headless and limbless body with her genitals forming a bearded mouth and her breasts staring like eyes. She was the sister or double of Iambe, the goddess of of indecent speech. A similar story is told of both.

 

There are two versions of Baubo's help with Demeter:

 

The weeping Demeter searching the earth for her lost Persephone, reached the coastal town of Eleusis and there sat down by a deep well. Baubo came to draw water and touched by the goddess' great sorrow, tried to console her. But Demeter refused her sympathy. So Baubo lifted her skirts and exposed her vulva, Demeter's sorrow was broken by a smile; the sterile earth stirred; soon Persephone returned.

 

Persephone had been violently abducted by Hades, the god of the underworld. Abandoning her goddess duties of bringing fertility to the land, Demeter was wandering the Earth in deep mourning over the loss of her beloved daughter.

 

Eventually she stopped to rest in the city of Eleusis. The disheartened goddess, disguised as an old woman, was brought into the home of the king to serve as a nanny to their newborn son.

Although everyone in the household tried to console the  depressed woman, it had no effect—until the elderly servant Baubo appeared. The two women started chatting and Baubo made a number of risqué remarks which brought a small, tentative smile to Demeter's face. Then, Baubo suddenly lifted her skirt in front of Demeter.

 

Whatever the goddess glimpsed under Baubo's skirt, she responded with a long and hearty belly laugh and her depression lifted.

 

Ultimately, with her spirits and confidence restored, Demeter persuaded Zeus to command Hades to release Persephone. So, thanks to the bawdy antics of Baubo, the fertility of the land was restored and starvation averted.

 

A Crone goddess with irreverent joy and liberation towards sexuality, Baubo reminds us to relish sex, love, and above all, laughter. 

 

The goddess Baubo is always there to remind us to let our hair down and have fun. She tells us to be proud of, to occasionally flaunt, and to be empowered by our femininity and sexuality. And Baubo reminds us to be sure to let out a good belly laugh every now and then! After all, laughter is one of our greatest gifts from the Goddess!

 

 

 

sources:

 

The New Book of Goddesses and Heroines

by Patricia Monaghan

 

http://www.goddessgift.com/goddess-myths/goddess-baubo.htm

 

http://www.goddessgift.com/goddess-myths/greek_goddess_baubo.htm