Handmaiden

A handmaiden (or handmaid) is a personal maid or female servant.

Domestic work

See also: Maid and Domestic worker

Religion

The role of handmaiden was important in Ancient Egyptian religious practices. The god Atum was supposed to have brought the world into being through self-fornication.^{[citation needed]} In subsequent ritual, a priestess would assist the priest in the ceremony, through the use of a carving representing Atum's penis. These female priests were important within the ritual for they assisted in the creation of the world.^{[citation needed]}

A man might use a handmaiden as a concubine to bear his child if his wife was infertile. For example, the biblical Rachel, the childless wife of Jacob, gave her handmaid Bilhah to her husband to produce children. Jacob's first wife Leah later did the same. The Virgin Mary referred to herself as "the handmaid of the Lord" in acceptance of becoming pregnant by the Holy Ghost.

There are numerous references to prostitutes near or within the religious buildings. This is a mistaken representation of their role, for the priestesses, as well as being handmaidens, performed sex magic rituals related to sacred prostitution in the goddess temples.

See also

• The Handmaid's Tale (film)
• Henchman
• Lady-in-waiting
• Nurse stereotypes