Cultural views on the navel Early Japanese poems feature many references to the female navel. In some, the word "navel" actually refers to an indentation or hole instead of the belly button. The shape of the umbilicus of a newborn baby would be discussed at length. If a baby's navel points downward, the parents would brace themselves for a weakling child who will bring them woe. The thunder god Raijin, with his terrifying drums, great horns, and long tusks, was said to have an insatiable appetite for young navels, and mothers had to nag their youngsters constantly to keep themselves well covered up. Due to
Cultural views on the navel navel and curvaceous thighs. These passages also celebrate a curvaceous stomach and midriff and plumpness as aspects of female physical attractiveness. In the ancient Mediterranean, Hebrew, Israelite and Middle Eastern worldview, it was a common belief that shrines, important places such as cities or capitals, or other such places of prominence had a position of centrality to the world and hence equated to the child-bearing, life-giving navel of a mother. These domains constituted what could be regarded as important bond that linked the universe. Thus Nippur, the ancient city of the Mesopotamian people, was often described as the "navel". This