Dozens of rituals have been performed across cultures to promote fertility, ranging from ancient temple ceremonies and folk magic to modern wellness practices. No single ritual dominates. Instead, nearly every civilization has developed its own approach, whether that involves carrying a carved wooden doll, pouring offerings over a sacred serpent shrine, or sleeping on a hillside chalk figure. Here’s a look at the most significant fertility rituals from around the world and why they endure.
Serpent Worship in South Asia
In Kerala, India, serpents are considered fertility deities, and childless couples often perform a ritual called uruli kamazathu at serpent temples. The couple visits the temple and turns a brass vessel called an uruli upside down in front of the inner sanctum while priests chant. The belief is that a serpent performs penance beneath the overturned vessel on the couple’s behalf, and the couple is then blessed with a child.
Serpent worship in Kerala centers on eight primary snake deities known as the ashtanagas, with Anantha and Vasuki regarded as the kings of serpents. Offerings to these deities include a mixture called noorum palum: turmeric powder, rice flour, milk, tender coconut, and banana. Priests draw elaborate ground illustrations of serpents and religious symbols, then gradually pour the noorum palum into these drawings while chanting invocations. Devotees also offer the first milk of their cows and the first fruits of their harvest to the serpent deities, connecting human fertility to the broader fertility of the land.
The Akua’ba Doll in West Africa
Among the Ashanti people of Ghana, a woman hoping to conceive traditionally carries a small wooden figure called an Akua’ba. The doll has a distinctive flat, disc-shaped head and simplified body. The ritual involves treating the figure as though it were a real infant: tucking it into the wrapper cloth tied around the body and pretending to feed it. The name itself comes from a woman named Akua who was mocked by her community for carrying the figure like a baby. They called it “Akua’s child,” or Akua’ba.
These dolls serve a social function beyond the individual ritual. They can be passed down to other female family members, either to a young girl as an educational toy for learning childcare, or to an adult relative who wishes to conceive. The practice weaves fertility into family lineage and community life rather than treating it as a private concern.
Phallic Festivals in Japan
Japan hosts several active fertility festivals centered on phallic imagery. The Kanamara Matsuri, held on the first Sunday of April in Kawasaki, features three portable shrines, each carrying a large phallic sculpture. The oldest is carved from wood, another is forged from black iron, and the third, called the “Elizabeth,” is a bright pink sculpture donated by a drag club in Tokyo’s Asakusabashi district. The shrines are carried through the streets in a lively procession, and vendors sell phallic-shaped candies, candles, and carved daikon radishes. The festival has evolved from its origins into a broader celebration of successful pregnancy and marriage.
The Hōnen Festival at Tagata Shrine in Aichi Prefecture takes place every March 15 (the next one falls on a Sunday in 2026). It’s designated an intangible folk cultural property by the local board of education. Like the Kanamara Matsuri, it centers on a procession with an oversized phallic object, and couples attend hoping to be blessed with children.
Kokopelli in the American Southwest
Kokopelli, the humpbacked flute player depicted in rock art across the American Southwest, is a fertility deity venerated by several Native American cultures. He presides over both human childbirth and agricultural abundance. Among the Hopi, Kokopelli carries unborn children on his back and distributes them to women. He takes part in marriage rituals and is sometimes depicted alongside a female consort called Kokopelmimi. Other tribes describe him as carrying seeds and babies on his back, linking the fertility of crops to the fertility of people. His image, found carved and painted on rock faces throughout the region, served as both a spiritual symbol and a ritual focal point.
The Cerne Abbas Giant in England
Cut into a chalk hillside in Dorset, England, the Cerne Abbas Giant is a 180-foot figure with an unmistakably erect phallus. Since at least Victorian times, the figure has been regarded as a fertility symbol. Local folklore holds that a woman could increase her chances of conceiving by sleeping on the giant, and that having sex on the figure, particularly on its phallus, could cure infertility. The tradition drew enough visitors over the years that the site has since been restricted to protect the chalk from erosion, so couples hoping to try the ritual now have to find an alternative spot.
Amulets and Charms in Medieval Europe
Between 900 and 1500 in England, fertility rituals blended Christian liturgy with folk magic. One common practice involved a man gathering specific herbs, using their juices to write an amulet on parchment, and tying it around either his neck or the woman’s neck during intercourse, depending on whether they wanted a boy or a girl. The ritual was explicitly described as being performed “to make a woman conceive.”
Other rituals involved consuming sacred text. One prescription called for a woman to eat certain letters along with the sator arepo palindrome (a famous Latin word square) written in cheese or butter. Another required writing prayers on communion wafers, which the woman would eat one at a time; any uneaten wafers had to be burned. These practices reveal how deeply intertwined religious belief and fertility concerns were in medieval daily life. Verses from Virgil’s Aeneid and liturgical chants invoking the Virgin Mary appeared alongside herbal remedies in the same medical manuscripts.
The Pomegranate Across Cultures
The pomegranate is one of the most widespread fertility symbols in human history, appearing independently in cultures from the Mediterranean to East Asia. In the Greek myth of Persephone and Hades, eating pomegranate seeds bound Persephone to the underworld, making the fruit a symbol of life, regeneration, and the permanence of marriage. The fruit likely originated in Iran and Afghanistan, where it featured prominently in Zoroastrian rituals symbolizing sanctity, fertility, and abundance.
Bedouin communities in the Middle East have traditionally incorporated pomegranates into wedding ceremonies. The logic is direct: the fruit’s abundant seeds represent the many children the couple will have. In Chinese ceramic art, pomegranates symbolize fertility, posterity, and a blessed future, often given as gifts to newlyweds. The fruit’s biology makes the metaphor intuitive. A single pomegranate can contain hundreds of seeds packed tightly together, making it a natural visual shorthand for abundance and reproduction.
Modern Moon Rituals
Contemporary wellness culture has developed its own fertility rituals, many organized around the lunar cycle. New moon rituals are the most common. The practice typically involves setting a specific intention to conceive during the new moon phase, then reinforcing that intention through daily visualization and written affirmations as the moon waxes over the following two weeks. Practitioners write out their intention clearly, read it daily, and use the waxing moon as a symbolic mirror for growth.
These practices lack clinical evidence for directly improving conception rates, but the stress reduction they involve may matter more than the symbolism. Research on infertility and stress has found that women with the highest levels of a stress biomarker called alpha-amylase were twice as likely to experience infertility compared to those with lower levels. A separate study measuring cortisol through hair samples (which captures stress levels over three to six months) found that cortisol levels were significantly correlated with pregnancy rates. Mind-body programs that incorporate relaxation techniques, cognitive behavioral skills, journaling, and social support have been shown to reduce anxiety in women undergoing fertility treatment and, in some cases, improve pregnancy rates. Rituals that help people feel a sense of control, quiet their stress response, and connect with a community may offer real physiological benefits, even if the ritual itself is symbolic.