Initiation Ceremonies among Xhosa People Initiation ceremonies are an important part of most societies. They symbolize a transition period in the life of the people who practice them. Many of these rituals transcend time and are conserved as part of modern culture. It is understandable, however, that the significance of the rituals might change as different interpretations are given to a ceremony. In our society, for example, circumcision is performed to infants in order to avoid infectious diseases. Religious traditions like Judaism also use circumcision as a symbol of purification and masculinity. For the Xhosa people, circumcision represent the beginning of new period filled with responsibilities and expectations. A period when a boy should be able to support a family on his own. In is important to remember that, among the Xhosa people, a boy is not different from a girl until he is circumcised. Therefore, it is acceptable to say that circumcision is the defining moment when a person becomes a man. Originally from Southern Africa, the Xhosa people are characterized by the practice of agriculture, hunting, and gathering. Their main source of food is meat from cattle, which is supplemented by meat of domestic animals, and crops such as sorghum, pumpkins, calabashes, melons, and wild green and fruit. Even though Xhosa chiefdoms were often sub-divided by the authority of subordinate leaders, the real political unit was under the control of and independent chief. Descent was strictly patrilineal, residence patriolcal, and authority patripotetal. Women have defined and specific roles but they were always subordinated to men. Boys usually do the main work herding and milking under adult supervision. Boy’s initiation ceremonies among the Xhosa are common and they appear to be popular among the boys themselves and to attract enormous community interest. Circumcision and the whole process of initiation that accompanies it is, as it was in the past, an essential preliminary stage to the achievement of manhood. The occasion also marks their separation from the women as they prepare to enter the initiate lodge. The boys are usually between the ages of eighteen and twenty-three and enter in groups of about a dozen or more, but occasionally they are initiated singly or in pairs. What is especially significant is that neither school education, nor Christian teaching, nor prolonged contact with Europeans in migrant employment has changed the view of the Xhosa people that circumcision is essential to the attainment of manhood. In point of fact these developments seem, if anything, to have fostered male initiation among the Xhosa living reserves. The process of male initiation begins with a formal preparation at home, which nowadays may differ from one individual to another. Those who have already been out to work often return especially to undergo the initiation ritual. Some are able to set aside two or three months for this purpose; others may have less than a month. On the day of the actual circumcision the boys gather near the initiates’ lodge an wait for the surgeon and other officers. After the operation they enter a 10-day period of healing and privation, during which they are only fed a coarse and hard porridge. A special ritual involving the slaughter of a goat and the feast releases them from this ordeal, but there after they must remain in seclusion for two or three months (although nowadays the period is quite short for those who have to return to school or work). The day of the feast is always made known in the village and adult men often attend to listen to the speeches delivered for the benefit of the initiates. The boys are told to be manly, to avoid roads and homesteads and to keep away from women. Eventually the day arrives for their “coming out.” Their red blankets are stripped off them, their bandages are removed, and they are told to run to the river to wash their bodies. They return to the lodge (conducting themselves like men), and their bodies are anointed with melted butter. They are now given their new blankets and long black sticks, and they are led single file back to the village. The lodge is set alight, and their past is symbolically consumed in the flames. In the village they are welcomed by the women with shouting and singing as they proceed to the cattle byre of the master of ceremonies. Speeches are delivered by various men who refer to the initiates’ new status: as men they must now build up their homes by buying cattle with the money they will earn from Europeans when they go away to the towns and cities as migrant workers. After the speeches the men feast on beer and meat, but it is not until the following evening that each initiate is officially handed over to his own homestead. And as soon as he is able, he goes to the town to work. Initiation rites serve a purpose in society, having a wide range of implications no only on purely domestic dimensions, but also beyond the local level. They create the foundations for more stable relationships among people of the same culture. They also help to define roles and give status to members of a particular group. For the Xhosa people, we saw how circumcision was used to enhance manliness by creating a dominant and aggressive image of man. This idea is clearly presented by the fact that care and management of stock was exclusively a male preserve. Indeed notions about ritual impurity effectively kept women away from cattle which was belief was subject to mystical contamination by females. The responsibility of women was then focused on taking care of the children. This is obvious example of how stabilization of a productive society is only possible by the creation of defined roles, which are a direct effect of rituals and ceremonies. About the music: The first musical clip is called “The uneyo Shaking dance.” It is characterized by the use of flutes to create this very unique melody. The second clip is called “Namhla Kunyawe Saulini Tina.” The Xhosa and Mpondo people perform this interesting music. Sources: Carstens, Peter. “The Socio-Economic Context of Initiation Ceremonies among Two Southern African People.” Canadian Journal of African Studies 16, no.3,1982: 505-522