Culture is simply the way of living of the people as it gives people a sense of identity, belonging and pride. This explains why people always regard their culture and have such a great esteem towards it. Culture entails several aspects of the community ranging from language, traditions, customs, and festivals among others. It is in this broad concept of culture that the rites of passage exist. There are many transitions that occur in the life of a person. Some of these transitions are trivial while others are major depending on societal consideration. The rites of passage are a cultural mark and the way they are handled differs from one culture to another. They refer to ritual events or ceremonies that mark one’s transformation from one status to another. In the light of this, two cultures are focused in the scope of this paper showing how the rites of passage were held in each of them. The Gusii of Western Kenya and Sambia of Papua New Guinea provide an incredibly rich culture illustrating the significance of rites of passage as a physical symbol for change. Change is inevitable, indispensable and unstoppable, and human beings can only embrace it and thus, when it comes people have no other option than to heed to its call.
The Gusii, commonly known as the Kisii in Kenya is a Bantu speaking community found on the western side of Kenya in Nyanza province. The community is part of the forty-two tribes found in Kenya and just like other Bantu communities; it has a rich culture demarcated by the rites of passage. The Kisii is proximate neighbors of the Luo community, who are River Lake Nilotes residing in Nyanza province near Lake Victoria. Due to this proximity, there has been a lot of cultural exchange taking place between the Luo and the Kisii communities.
One of the most significant rites of passage among the Gusii is initiation. It is mandatory that every boy undergoes circumcision and girl to undergo the clitoridectomy. Although this has changed with time especially clitoridectomy for girls due to pressure from human rights societies that have termed it Female Genital Mutilation, boys in the Gusii community still have to face circumcision as a rite of passage from childhood to adulthood in a ceremony traditionally known as “chinyangi” (Varnum, 1982).
Initiation period among the Gusii is a season characterized by enjoyment, plenty and rest since it comes at the beginning of new cultivation. Initiation is held yearly for both sexes and takes place all over the land of Kisii. In the main Initiation ceremony is a group of neighbors known as the “risaga”, a small community that incorporates a couple of adjacent homesteads who join hands to help one another with collective labor and share major festivals. Children of the same risaga usually undergo initiation at the same time.
However, it is imperative to understand that Initiation among the Kisii is a neighborhood affair such that no one is left unconcerned of what is happening in the neighborhood. Children too young to face initiation are preoccupied with running errands or carrying food. They are made to listen to the dramatic dialogue shouted loudly specifically for them and the bull-roarers at night. The older girls and boys who have already gone through the initiation process and are yet to marry play a key role in organizing and performing most of the celebrations and rites. Some are formally identified as circumcision leaders and sponsors. Others voluntarily escort the novices as they enter and leave after circumcision (Mayer, 1953).
Sambia is a tribe of people living on the mountain practicing horticulture and hunting. They are found in Papua New Guinea on the Eastern Highlands Province. From time immemorial the Sambia people have presented numerous initiatory rituals that none of them has proved to be theoretically controversial and symbolically complex as the bloodletting. The people of New Guinea have viewed the rites of bloodletting from several different analytical perspectives. Firstly, the New Guineasts argue that the rites promote social solidarity. Other people have argued that it is a form of psychological conditioning belief of the male warrior. Nose bleeding ritual: the nose bleeding ritual is one of the most painful ritual technique carried on initiates by like men. Enhanced by secrecy, the nose bleeding ritual is forcibly administered on boys by men.
The technique almost causes authentic trauma as it turns to be a violent assault and not ritual as usual. Boys always hark back to the ritual citing that they feared that the men would have killed them. The ritual’s subjective dynamics and efficacy of collective nose bleeding highly focus on the act of blood flow. The body of the initiated novices concentrates on generous but regulated blood flow. The flow of the blood is regarded as a triumph and always greeted with a war or ritual chant. The Sambia people recognize two methods for nose bleeding associated with affiliation of phratry.
The techniques are hidden from the identity children, women and younger initiates who only get to learn of it during their time on a successful initiation ritual. The methods in the way the ritual has been carried out have changed with time. Men are given the opportunity to decide on which type of nose bleeding they would wish private or collective. The commonly used technique involves thrusting sharp, stiff grasses of cane in the nose until it bleeds. The other technique involves forcing salty liquid into the nose. Usually, this procedure is done several times until blood flows from the nose. This marks the transition from boyhood to the adulthood (Herdt, 1982).
In comparing the rites of passage in the two communities, it is worth noting that both communities recognize the passage from childhood to adulthood and have a way of earmarking that. Secondly, both communities regard initiation as the ceremonial symbol of passage from childhood to adulthood. They identify initiation as the ultimate rite of passage and is, therefore, accompanied by pain and bloodshed. As clearly observed, the rites of passage are central and an integral part of either of the communities. However, there are a couple of differences observed in the two cultures.
First, while the Gusii carry out initiation for both boys and girls, the Sambia people carry out initiation on boys alone. The Gusii believes that the transition is not only happening to boys alone and therefore girls are also on board. Another very clear contrast is in the form of initiation carried out by both cultures. While the Gusii carry out circumcision for both boys and girls, the Sambia people use bloodletting as a mark of initiation where nose bleeding is one of the many methods used. The Sambians way of initiation is very painful and ruthless since the initiates are constantly heard to hark back to the initiation process saying that those men almost killed them. Another difference noted is that while the Gusii initiates organize themselves in the risaga, Sambians initiates have no such neighborhood groupings and can be seen to be individual in the process.
In conclusion, rites of passage are central in society as they earmark change. The rites of passage are different from community to community. Some communities hold so much regard on the rites of passage such as initiation, and have ceremonies to celebrate them while other communities do not have such rites. However, this diversity is expected, and it is what makes the human race rich in diversities. The different cultures that hold the different ceremonies of rites of passage help appreciate and usher in the incoming change, transition from one status to the other. These rites are very helpful and resourceful in assisting to keep and maintain a community’s culture, and safeguard it from the threat of erosion. The initiates also benefit a lot from the rites since they have an indelible reminder of the change that has taken place to them not only physically, but also mentally and emotionally. To that effect, they have an obligation to change and mature according to their newly attained status. It is this physical symbol implanted on the bodies of the initiates that constantly reminds them of their moral obligation and the expectation of the society of them in regard to behavior and thought. The all-round change that comes with initiation is the transition that is inevitable since the initiate has transformed from being a child to an adult.
Although the initiation is spontaneous, the actual change in the body and mind of the initiate is gradual. Initiation, therefore, serves an important role of showing the initiate the change that is taking place. While the change takes place, the initiates are expected afterwards to portray a higher level of maturity in their speech, behavior and mindset. Those who do not live to that expectation are considered to act against the social expectation and need to be counseled on how to live up to the expectation. At this point, it is utmost important to accept that change will always be there around the world. Change plays a key role in making life interesting. Without change the life would be very boring, and people would lose the implication of it and its entire significance. Change is inevitable, indispensable and unstoppable, and human beings can only embrace it and thus, when it comes people have no other option than to heed to its call.
References
Herdt, G. H. (1982). Sambia Nosebleeding Rites and Male Proximity to Women. Ethos, 189-231.
Mayer, P. (1953). Gusii Initiation Ceremonies. The Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, 9-36.
Varnum, J. P. (1982). The Obokano of the Gusii. A Bowl Lyre of East Africa. Ethnomusicology, 242-248.
