Apache Tribe:

Apache Tribe:
The Apaches are one of
about 500 aboriginal
societies who once
occupied North
America. They have a
four-day rite of puberty
-- the Apache Sunrise
Ceremony, called
"na'ii'ees." It "...is one of
the most important
events in an Apache
female's life." In an act
of unusual bigotry and
religious intolerance, the
U.S. government banned
this and other
ceremonies in the early
1900s. It was only
decriminalized in 1978
when the American
Indian Religious Freedom
Act was signed into law. The ritual "...is intended to imbue the girls with the
spirit and characteristics of White Painted Woman, the Apache culture's first
woman - also called Esdzanadehe or Changing Woman. The girls' skin is
painted and covered with a sacred mixture of pollen and clay, which they
must not wash off during the entire ceremony." The ritual itself is physically
demanding. The girls have to pray, dance for hours, sit with their backs
straight, and perform other physically draining activities. They are given
instruction in sexuality, self-esteem, dignity, confidence, and healing ability. They
are told to pray towards the east at dawn and in the four cardinal directions,
which represent the four stages of life.
Gwallye and Gyerye
In the Confucian society coming of age rituals were performed when a person
reached young adulthood, which is between the ages of 15 to 20. This
practice is still prevalent in Korea.
The rite was called Gwallye in the case of boys. Young men were allowed to
wear gat hats and their hair was tied into top knots for the first time. In the
rural areas the custom was simpler. A young man was made to lift a heavy
stone to prove that he was strong enough to shoulder the responsibilities of an
adult, and join the work force.
The ceremony for girls was called Gyerye. The initiate’s hair was formed into
a chignon and ornamental hair pins were inserted. It signified the young
woman’s maturity and was a prerequisite for marriage.
Seijin shiki
Seijin shiki (
) is
the Japanese coming-ofage ceremony. It is held
annually on Coming-ofAge Day ( seijin
no hi?), the second
Monday in January.
Festivities include
ceremonies held at local
and prefectural offices
and parties amongst
family and friends to
celebrate passage into
adulthood.
History
The festival was created as a national holiday in 1948, when Coming-of-Age Day was set to January
15. In 1999, as a result of the Happy Monday System ( Hapii Mandei
Seido?), Coming-of-Age Day – and thus the seijin shiki – was moved to its current date of the second
Monday in January.
Current practice
The age of majority in Japan is 20. The seijin shiki covers all those who will reach this age during the
current school year, which runs between April and the following March. The ceremony is generally held
in the morning at local city offices and all young adults who maintain residency in the area are invited to
attend. Government officials give speeches, and small presents are handed out to the new adults.
Many women celebrate this day by wearing furisode (?), a special kind of kimono. Since most are
unable to put on a kimono by themselves due to the intricacies involved in putting one on, many choose
to visit a beauty salon to dress and to set their hair. A full set of formal clothing is expensive, so it is
usually either inherited or rented rather than being bought specially for the occasion. While men
sometimes also wear traditional dress (dark kimono or hakama), most men now wear business suits
instead.
After the ceremony, the young adults often gather in groups and go to parties or go out drinking. Young
women not used to wearing the zori slippers ( zri?) can often be seen limping as the afternoon
wears on and evening approaches. Later in the evening, it is not unusual to see wobbly young adults
staggering in the trains, heading home after a day of celebration.
Igbo tribe:
Igbo tribe: This tribe in Nigeria once had a traditional coming-of-age
ritual for both boys and girls. Colonialism and oppression by the
Christian church almost destroyed it. An Igbo group of AfricanAmericans, the Otu Umunne Cultural Organization, has attempted to
reconstruct the ritual in the U.S. The "...male initiates spent the night
with the Otu Umunne fathers at a designated location, while the
female initiates did the same with the Otu Umunne mothers"
elsewhere. The children are taught teamwork, leadership, values,
responsibilities, moral decisions, freedom, and valuing their heritage.
Candles are lit, and prayers recited. The children pledge to conduct
themselves in a manner that gives glory to God and that will
command respect for them, their families abroad, in the ancestral land
of the Igbo tribe -- Nigeria -- and to the American community where
they live.
Ancient Greece – Sparta
When the young Spartan boy reached seven he was deemed too old to be coddled by his parents and
was taken from them to live a military life for the rest of his existence. He was placed in a communal
barracks with others his age, supervised by an older boy referred to as a Eirena who had respectively
been the strongest in his class (and was himself undergoing something like officer training). For the next
five years these Spartan boys were conditioned physically and mentally. They were educated- but only
enough to count soldiers in a formation, read war sagas and sing and recite war poetry. . They were
given rigorous strength and endurance training and physical conditioning through endless field and track
events. They were taught wrestling and the art of ancient martial combat to make them lethal. They
were fed -but it was a weak broth and in quantities only enough to exist. It was expected that the
young starving boys would steal or otherwise find enough food to keep them strong. For this they would
only be punished if caught and the lesson learned from this was how to look for food when none was
available, a skill that would be needed in the future when occupying a village that had been sacked
and abandoned. Discipline was the word to live by, with terrific punishments meted out if caught
performing the most minor infraction.
At age twelve the lean and hungry boy was taken from the barracks and made to eat, live and sleep
in one garment with no shoes under the open sky for one year, exposed to the beasts and the weather.
This yearlong exercise taught survival and fieldcraft skills that he would need when deployed fighting
abroad. From age thirteen until he reached what was considered manhood at twenty the Spartan child
played very very serious war games. These games often left the contestants dead or injured and would
include armed invasions on Messenian agricultural slaves called helots and other non Spartans living
nearby. These war games taught small unit tactics, raids, reconnaissance and surveillance, and the art of
the ambush. When age twenty was reached the Spartan boy was seen as a solder and had thirteen
years of the hardest military training yet devised under his belt. For the next ten years he would still live
in barracks as part of the standing army and only at age thirty were they allowed to marry and as a
full fledged citizen, reproduce and achieve public office. It was only then that they were granted the
privilege to live in their own house and not in barracks. This superbly trained Spartan soldier would still
remain in the army no matter where he lived until age sixty when they were allowed to retire.
-----That is, if they were still alive.
Burma (Myanmar) – Shan people
The Poy Sang Long (Shan: "Festival [of the] Crystal Sons") is a rite
of passage ceremony among the Shan peoples, in Burma (Myanmar)
and now in Northern Thailand, undergone by boys at some point
between seven and fourteen years of age. It consists of taking novice
monastic vows and participating in monastery life for a period of
time that can vary from a week to many months or more. Usually, a
large group of boys are ordained as novice monks at the same time.
The Shan have brought their colorful Poy Sang Long ceremony to
northern Thailand. The ceremony goes on for three days, as the boys
(dressed up like princes in imitation of the Lord Buddha, who was
himself a prince before setting out on the religious path) spend the
entire time being carried around on the shoulders of their older male
relatives. On the third day, they are ordained, and enter the
monastery for a period of at least one week, and perhaps many
years.
Australia – Aborigine people
“All those rock engravings in the
countryside are what we call tribal marks,
maburn in our language. The cuttings all
over our country are also on people. The
cuts are a stamp or a seal. Wardaman people
[both men and women] have two cuts on
each shoulder, two on the chest and four on
the belly. Jawoyn people only have one cut
on the shoulder, one on the chest and a big
long one on the belly. Other people have
three cuts on the shoulder and many on the belly.
You must have the cuts before you can trade anything, before you can get married, before
you can sing ceremonial songs and before you can blow a didgeridoo at big burial
ceremonies. In the past, everyone had to have all these cuts and a hole in their nose. If
they didn't, they were 'cleanskin' or unbranded, and unbranded people couldn't do
anything.
The cuts are made when a man or woman is around 16 or 17. They make them with a
stone knife, made out of a special type of rock like jaspar. This rock is like stainless steel,
very sharp so you can't feel it cutting. After the cut is made, they put a little burnt wood
on the cut, We call it conkerberry and it's bush medicine - stops the cut from bleeding.
They put the stick in the hot ashes before they make the cuts on the boy or girl, and after
they're cut, they put the stick on the cut. They have to keep the stick on the cut until the
skin dries up and the stick falls off. Sometimes they also put on the ashes of a gum tree,
like a powder. This also stops the bleeding and keeps the skin firm.
These cuts on our bodies relate to the rock paintings. The maburn on the rock are like a
letter that tells people they are in Wardaman tribal land.”
Yidumduma Bill Harnie, Wardaman Aboriginal Corporation, Northern Territory
India – Bengali people
The Gae Halud (Ga.e ho-luTH), translated, means the turmeric ceremony. This ceremony
is more a cultural artifact than a religious one, and originates from ancient Bengali
tradition. There are two such ceremonies, one for the bride and one for the groom. The
spice turmeric is a traditional complexion enhancer, and the whole concept of this
ceremony is to help the bride and groom get all "prettied up" for the wedding.
The bride's Gae Halud usually occurs first, with a small party of the groom's family and
close friends (sans the groom) travelling to the bride's home. They bring gifts for the
bride such as saris, jewels, cosmetics and other items for the bride to wear until the
wedding day. The gifts are all colorfully wrapped and are carried upon woven bamboo
trays.
The bride's family and friends will greet the groom's family at the gate with morsels of
sweets and flower petals. Traditionally, women wear yellow saris with red borders. Red
and yellow are the traditional colors of Bengali weddings. Men usually wear punjabis,
which is a long silken tunic.
Flowers are everywhere, and alpana patterns (an inricate pattern based on a paisley motif)
decorate the room. The bride, who is dressed in a sari and wearing flower ornaments, sits
on a decorated dias that has been specially constructed for the occasion. The groom's
mother ties a rakhi (a golden fringed bracelet-type ornament) around the bride's wrist.
This symbol of betrothal is not to be taken off until after the wedding. People then come
to the dias one by one and place a bit of turmeric paste upon the bride's face, as well as a
token amount of the turmeric on their own face. Each person then feeds the couple
something sweet, such as kheer (a rice porridge), to the bride. The groom's Gae Halud is
analogous to the bride's.
Kenya – Okiek people
The Okiek are a tribal people of Kenya. Their rite of passage ceremony is similar for girls
and for boys, ages 14 to 16, though the genders are initiated separately. The initiates are
first ceremonially circumsized or excised. After this, they live in seclusion from adults of
the opposite sex for four to 24 weeks. They paint themselves with white clay and
charcoal in order to appear as wild creatures (cemaasiisyek). Certain secret knowledge is
imparted by same-sex elders. The most important knowledge concerns the cemaasiit - a
mythical beast that haunts the initiates during their time in seclusion. At night its roar can
be heard, and the initiation is complete when each youth has seen and held the instrument
used for producing the roar and then produced the roar themselves (Kratz, 1990).