Who is Baubo?
Baubo is one of the names of a mythical Greek woman, said to be a servant or wet nurse to the grain goddess Demeter. Baubo exposes her vulva before Demeter, an act called ana-suromai , a Greek verb literally meaning to lifts one's skirts. the effect was to make Demeter laugh during a time when the Grain Goddess was deep in mourning over the loss of her daughter, Persephone. But Baubo can be seen as a much older symbol for the power and the energy of female sexuality. She can also be viewed as trickster figure, who with her own jokes, magic, and laughter embodies fecundity and fertility. We have no images of a clearly identifiable Baubo, but her various shapes and her memory have persisted in myth and ritual. She was neither goddess nor night demon, though at times she was claimed as such. For you and me, Baubo can remind us to laugh whenever we become to serious and if picking up our skirts will do the trick then so be it.