Right Rites - Alexandra Brown

So, again, while I was doing some research for my paper, I came across some of the rituals performed for the rites of passage into adulthood. Mostly they focused on male rituals, and one of them I found very interesting. In Carmody, they talked about the ritual of circumcision. As you can imagine, this must be incredibly painful. Part of the reason they do circumcisions at birth is because a baby isn't as sensitive to the pain, and will not remember it. But at 15-20 years old...you'd definitely remember THAT. In this passage, Carmody wrote, "The word for the circumcision rite translates to 'tossing.' In tossing away the foreskin, the individual was tossing away childhood, entering upon manhood," (p 80). They also said that a subincision was also performed, and that the males did this in order to associate with female fertility. "The subincised penis could be imagined to resemble the vulva, while the blood produced by the subincising could be likened to menstrual blood," (p 80). I found it interesting that the males wanted to mimic the female condition, which starts when girls "enter" womanhood. Women's fertility begins when her menstrual period beings, thus beginning her ability to procreate. And the symbolism behind men wanting to mimic that shows that they recognize the importance behind women's fertility, and that they want to enhance that by re-enacting it at their own passage rights.

Carmody, Denise, and John Carmody. Original Visions: The Religions of Oral Peoples. New York City, NY: MacMillan Publishing Company, 1993. Print.