Bloody Mary in the mirror: A rutual reflection of pre-pubescent anxiety

Western Folklore, Spring 1998 by Dundes, Alan

The beginning of puberty is marked in many cultures by various formal initiation rituals, often in the case of females the ritual consisting of some form of enforced seclusion. A good portion of the discussion of menstruation folklore tends to concentrate on the diverse rituals and customs connected with this event (cf. Crawfurd 1915, Novak 1916, Voselmann 1935, Delaney, Lupton, and Toth 1977:22-30, Malmberg 1982, 1991). In American culture, there is no such formal ritual, but I suggest that the "Bloody Mary" ritual serves an analogous function for pre-pubescent American girls. One study of attitudes found among premenarchal girls reported that "the most frequent response was that of menstruation being exciting since it is related to growing up" (Williams 1980:40). Certainly the Bloody Mary ritual evokes feelings of excitement on the part of participants, excitement tinged with fear and apprehension as well.

There are a number of reasons why a menstrual interpretation of the Bloody Mary ritual makes sense. The ages of the young girls who participate in the ritual run from seven to twelve. According to one authority, the average American girl first experiences menarche at age 12 and 1/2 (Delaney, Lupton and Toth 1977:42). The Bloody Mary ritual in that context would appear to be an anticipatory ritual, essentially warning girls of what to expect upon attaining puberty.

The interpretation here proposed would certainly explain why the ritual invariably takes place in a bathroom and why there is such an explicit and repeated emphasis on the sudden appearance of blood. Another seemingly curious detail in some versions (texts 7, 8, 9, and 10) involve the flushing of one or more toilets. Inasmuch as one of the greatest fears of newly pubescent girls concerns the potentially embarrassing prospect of blood "showing," care is taken to ensure that any expelled blood from the urinogenital area be wiped off the body and flushed down a toilet. Sometimes, the pad or tampon may also be disposed of in the same fashion. The point is that the flushing of a toilet can easily be understood in the context of a menstrual interpretation of the Bloody Mary ritual.

There are other elements of the ritual which may also be illuminated by the theory proposed. The name "Mary" seems to be a constant whether it is Bloody Mary, Mary Worth, Mary Worthington, Mary Lou, Mary Jane (Brunvand 1986:81). The question is why! There could be an allusion to the Virgin Mary here-the ritual does occur frequently in Catholic elementary schools. Virginity is still an issue for young girls, especially when the risk of pregnancy is understood as a concomitant feature of pubescence. In addition, the vowel in the name "Mary" as pronounced in some American dialects of English is the same vowel as in the verb "marry." Part of the culturally defined transition from girlhood to womanhood entails the expectation that one day marriage might occur. The headlessness of Mary in some versions (text 2) might be a reference to Mary, Queen of Scots (1542-1587) who was in fact beheaded by order of Queen Elizabeth. However, it is by no means certain that elementary school girls would necessarily be familiar with this historical figure. (As a matter of fact, it was another queen Mary, namely Mary 1 (1516-1558), the daughter of Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon, who was tarnished with the negative label of "Bloody Mary" because of the many bloody persecutions occurring during her reign.) A Freudian rather than a historical gloss on the headless image might construe the loss of a "maiden head" as a symbol of lost virginity, a loss in which the breaking of the hymen could result in blood flowing. The possible erotic connotations of the term "Bloody Mary" are perhaps suggested by the folk term for a well-known drink. A "Bloody Mary" is comprised of tomato juice, Vodka, and a splash of Tabasco Sauce. A "Virgin Mary" is the same concoction minus the Vodka.