Part of journey to manhood for most Tanzanian males (female is another story for another time) is circumcision.
My first encounter with this was at Sanawari - ex my diary.
"There was a bit of activity early this morning in Big E's household, and even later there seemed to be a rush. It turned out that that Big E took his son, Heri be circumcised! At 18! Anyway at about 11:00am Big E arrived in the Suzuki and Heri hopped in looking grave. There was a doctor too! [how I knew he was a doctor came later]. Big E called me over to tell me that Heri had been circumcised and was bleeding - I had the impression that they were going to hospital.
On their return, Big E told me that the doctor was very experienced in circumcising boys, but had mistakenly cut and almost castrated the boy!
Don't let doctors with knives near me!"
Heri survived and was treated as a hero and his older brother gave him a fimbo - stick (walking/carrying). They fed him well and his recovery was swift.
While this is a Maasai family, this ritual was very different to what would happen traditionally. I have not witnessed the actual operation in the traditional sense but have been told of several things.
Maasai are 'done' in age groups and beforehand walk about in small groups wearing black robes and with white painted faces. One group charged me at the village of Valeska once! They were only wanting to discuss trees with me. Nothing threatening.
Josiah told me that each boy/youth has his own knife sharped especially. This is because the greeting these young men share afterward is 'How did you stand up to the knife?' And the reply is 'With bravery!'
One day we went to the village of Mkonoo without Josiah, and lost our way because the maize was too high to see out of. We stopped at a Maasai boma to ask direction and the man insisted we take tea. Mags wanted to take his photo and at that time used her limited Swahili. 'Nipe picha.' she asked - but that means give me a picture. The poor guy was a perfect host and had only pictures of his son's circumcision ceremony and he insisted that she take those. Of course we did not know the pictures of the traditional clothing was that. Josiah told us later.
Recently in Meru, gangs of guys were going around the villages at night asking the men in each house to show their willies. If they were not circumcised, they were taken away to be done! 'We are tired of our women catching disease from uncircumcised men' they said.
Mbise told me that the ritual was a bit different in Meru. A small hut was built and after the operation was complete, the lad would be locked inside and force fed - even beaten if he didn't eat. This was to give him strength and help the healing.
I have no comment on the rights or wrongs of any of this. It is not my right to have such opinions.
My first encounter with this was at Sanawari - ex my diary.
"There was a bit of activity early this morning in Big E's household, and even later there seemed to be a rush. It turned out that that Big E took his son, Heri be circumcised! At 18! Anyway at about 11:00am Big E arrived in the Suzuki and Heri hopped in looking grave. There was a doctor too! [how I knew he was a doctor came later]. Big E called me over to tell me that Heri had been circumcised and was bleeding - I had the impression that they were going to hospital.
On their return, Big E told me that the doctor was very experienced in circumcising boys, but had mistakenly cut and almost castrated the boy!
Don't let doctors with knives near me!"
Heri survived and was treated as a hero and his older brother gave him a fimbo - stick (walking/carrying). They fed him well and his recovery was swift.
While this is a Maasai family, this ritual was very different to what would happen traditionally. I have not witnessed the actual operation in the traditional sense but have been told of several things.
Maasai are 'done' in age groups and beforehand walk about in small groups wearing black robes and with white painted faces. One group charged me at the village of Valeska once! They were only wanting to discuss trees with me. Nothing threatening.
Josiah told me that each boy/youth has his own knife sharped especially. This is because the greeting these young men share afterward is 'How did you stand up to the knife?' And the reply is 'With bravery!'
One day we went to the village of Mkonoo without Josiah, and lost our way because the maize was too high to see out of. We stopped at a Maasai boma to ask direction and the man insisted we take tea. Mags wanted to take his photo and at that time used her limited Swahili. 'Nipe picha.' she asked - but that means give me a picture. The poor guy was a perfect host and had only pictures of his son's circumcision ceremony and he insisted that she take those. Of course we did not know the pictures of the traditional clothing was that. Josiah told us later.
Recently in Meru, gangs of guys were going around the villages at night asking the men in each house to show their willies. If they were not circumcised, they were taken away to be done! 'We are tired of our women catching disease from uncircumcised men' they said.
Mbise told me that the ritual was a bit different in Meru. A small hut was built and after the operation was complete, the lad would be locked inside and force fed - even beaten if he didn't eat. This was to give him strength and help the healing.
I have no comment on the rights or wrongs of any of this. It is not my right to have such opinions.
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