COMING OF AGE CEREMONIES AND TRADITIONS
Added on: 21st Mar 2015
MENTAWAI TEETH SHARPENING
When young female Mentawaians reach puberty they sharpen their
teeth with a rock and chisel, and file them down to points.
It is supposed to look beautiful.
THE KRYPTEIA
As part of a “graduation” exam, young Spartan boys would be pitted
against captured slaves in a sort of death match called the Krypteia.
The “barely teenagers” would employ all of their lethal Spartan
training to quickly finish their foes.
FULA WHIP MATCH
Young Fula boys must engage in a whipping match with boys from a
neighbouring tribe. During the match they cannot show any sign of
pain. Whoever the crowd deems the winner earns the right
to be called a man.
IRIA CEREMONY
The Orika tribe in Nigeria believe that young girls have romantic
relationships with water spirits. Before their marriage they must go
down to a river and perform the Iria ritual which involves singing
songs to break their relationship to the water spirits.
HAMAR COW JUMPING
Men of the Hamar tribe in Ethiopia must undergo a ceremony where
they are whipped by the other men of the tribe. They then run across
the backs of four castrated bulls to become a man.
ABORIGINE WALKABOUT
Some aboriginal Australian tribes send their boys off into the Outback
by themselves for up to 6 months.
XHOSA CIRCUMCISION
A Xhosa boy must be circumcised before becoming a man. He will be
sent off to live in a hut in the woods where a tribe doctor will come
and circumcise him. He will not be allowed to return to his family
until he is healed.
SCARIFICATION
Practiced heavily by the Sepik River tribes in Papua New Guinea, the
elders of the tribe cut the younger men with razors so that their
scars resemble alligator skin. They believe that the alligator will then
consume their boy hood and leave them as men.
ALGONQUIN INDIAN TRIP
Young boys in this Indian tribe are caged and given a powerful drug
called wysoccan which supposedly causes them to forget everything
about their childhood. If they mention any aspect of it in their
adulthood then they are given a second dose of the drug.
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