Reflection 7

Rites of passages are important because they are supposed to teach the individuals who is partaking in the ceremonies how to be a proper adult and a good member of the society. Rites of passage ceremonies aren’t the same as formal education but they are similarities. Formal education is meant to teach the individual about their culture and to lead them into the path to become proper members of society. The rites of passage rituals and ceremonies do this collectively. The endurance of these rituals allows for induction or acceptance into the culture or tribe. In the readings of the articles titled The Sambia, Sitting Quietly, and Facing Mt. Kenya are insights to the different rituals from different cultures. In The Sambia, we learn how the Sambian people practice their rites of passage ceremonies. They believe that tingu which is semen, carries the necessities in changing from a boy to a man. The Sambian boys practice fellatio on other boys and are instructed to digest the tingu. They are not considered homosexual amongst their culture since they grow up and lead very heterosexual lives having wives and many children. Our beliefs in western culture would be to first call them homosexuals though they are strongly against be called homosexual. In Facing Mt Kenya, the children participate in many dances and are separated in two huts, boys and girls. In these huts, they learn many of the tribe’s secrets. They then gather in a circle,(the girls) with their legs opened and an older woman comes around with a sharp knife and cuts of their clitoris. The girls must sit and endure the pain without making a sound. This ritual is also followed by the boys who are also circumcised with a sharp knife. Not only is this painful, but it can be medically unsanitary. The kids are sometimes liable to die from infectious diseases. Imagine an old person performing any type of surgery on someone. For one, their hands shake way to much for it to be steady. What if they cut something that isn’t supposed to be cut? Another thing is the excruciating pain theses individuals must suffer. There are circumcisions done in the United States but they are done when at birth when the person is still an infant. These young boys who have already begun to develop biologically have to endure a lot of pain to be accepted as a man and a good standing citizen in the tribe. Honestly, if it was up to me, I would just walk away from the tribe; family and all. The rites of passage ritual in Sitting Quietly aren’t too farfetched. The twins are taken away by a mythical legend into the forest to become men. They are taught the basics to survival in the tribe and those who complete are men. They even get new names. Not bad at all. The author made the story exciting by having the readers believe that the children were actually being eaten. Analogies are wonderful and the author uses them brilliantly. All in all, different cultures have different ideas on what is considered to be norms. These rituals teach loyalty, dignity, respect and teach the individuals about becoming model citizens. These things are done so that the culture can be carried into the next generation. Without tradition there is not culture and these rituals display that.


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