fertility cult

American  

noun

1. a religious cult devoted to the enhancement of the fertility of persons, plants, or animals, by means of rituals often associated with a particular deity.

2. the body of members of such a cult.

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fertility cult British  

noun

1. the practice in some settled agricultural communities of performing religious or magical rites to ensure good weather and crops and the perpetuity of the tribe

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Etymology

Origin of fertility cult

First recorded in 1930–35

Example Sentences

Those goddesses were part of a fertility cult.

From Seattle Times

Dr. Edrey speculated that practitioners of a fertility cult came to this area periodically to cast offerings into the water.

From New York Times

The idea that witches were members of an ancient fertility cult was floated repeatedly during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

From Washington Post

Still others posit he was carved during the English Civil War as a parody of Oliver Cromwell, although he is commonly believed to have some association with a pagan fertility cult.

From BBC

That hill contained a natural spring famous in the pre-Christian era for a pagan fertility cult in which women came to drink the waters.

From New York Times