Cassandra's Daughters

*Cassandra, seer and Trojan woman. Gifted with the ability to see into the future, but cursed to carry the burden of her knowledge because no one, the jealous gods declared, will ever believes he visions.

"In our community as soon as a baby is born, it is the women who prepare the food, the clothes, the flowers, the ribbons, the menu, Everything is fixed by the women. And then when all has been set, a priest, who is a man, will come and officiate in the baptismal of the baby. In funerals, it's the same thing. When somebody dies, it is the women who wash the body of the dead. They also organize all the details-- the cups, the flowers, all the little things needed in the ritual for the living and the dead. Again a priest, and the eldest son or the brother or father of the deceased--all men--will come to officiate in the ritual. It seems to me that it is women who weave the basic fabric of a society. And the men, they put the embroideries on that fabric."