TRIBAL RITES OF PASSAGE
In a world of ever increasing education, knowledge and technology... Parts of the world are still deeply steeped in archaic and brutal tribal traditions. These initiations into adulthood are what normal society would consider barbaric, abusive and inhumane... yet many cultures around the world still practice various forms of these insane initiations.
Fair warning, this post does contain some graphic content.
Here are my top 5 picks
THE OGIEK ROAR
Time to become a man. At the ripe age of 14-16 years old, these African boys are led to a secluded area where one elder sits on each boys chest while another performs a circumcision. Performed with zero use of anesthesia, the young boy is then required to swallow his recently removed foreskin without chewing. Once this stage of the ritual is completed, the children (boys and girls) are then chased off by the adults of the village, to live in seclusion for 12-24 weeks!!!. The children paint themselves in white clay in order to appear like a wild creature, are responsible to hunt and scavenge for themselves and are haunted each night by the roars of the Ogiek. The Ogiek roars are just an instrument the adults use to psychologically traumatize the children for months and once the children complete this gauntlet challenge, they are shown the instrument and practice its use to torment future generations... See?!? There was absolutely nothing to worry about for the past 3-6 months young ones!
BONUS ROUND
Once the adult boys return to the village as men, the underside of their scrotum is sliced open and they are made to stand and bleed over a fire!
MATIS HUNTING TRIALS
Found in the Amazonian jungles of Brazil, this tribe is as hardcore as the environment they reside in. There are 4 rituals that need to be performed and should any of the 4 rituals not be completed, you are required to retake all the trials again, once you are ready. Upon completion of these rituals you are then considered a TRIBE HUNTER, which I guess means you can shoot blowpipes and all the chicks dig ya.
#1 - The bitter juices of a poisonous leaf are dripped into the eyes. Why you ask? So you can see better, run faster and for longer distances of course... DUH!
#2 - Get beaten and whipped by rattan stems. This, of course, cures laziness.
#3 - Inject the poison from a green tree frog into your bloodstream. But wait, if the first dose wasn't enough to make you vomit, they shoot you up with another dose using sharpened sticks... What could this possibly be for? For strength!
#4 - Rub a poisonous leaf all over your already beaten and whipped body. This supposedly causes an extremely painful rash for several hours. This ritual teaches patience.
FULANI WHIP MATCH
A competition between tribes using 12-13 year old boys, this rite of passage is designed for strictly pain and endurance. Different clans travel for miles over the African plains for an opportunity to throw their champion children in the ring, Thunderdome style. The children go and find the perfect, long stick which they then sharpen as to do as much physical damage as possible. Once there are two boys pitted against each other, they are judged on their bravery. The boy who flinches least, showing the least amount of pain, is awarded the title of man! He is then showered in gifts and covered in talc powder.
SAMBIAN PURIFICATION
This tribe is on a whole new level and the reader should be warned... This segment is a bit horrific.
The Sambian tribe of New Guinea, essentially believes that women are evil and at the young age of 7 years old, the males are taken away from their mothers and females of the tribe to begin their "sexual inauguration" into manhood. Taken to some remote cabin in the jungle, for the next 10-15 years, the boys have sharpened cane sticks inserted into their nostrils until they bleed profusely (teaching them to deal with pain) and perform sexual acts with the older men of the tribe and swallowing their semen (the semen of the elders provides them with wisdom). Apparently raping children helps them grow into real men? After about 10-15 years of this ritual abuse, the males then shave off their pubes and shove them in a trees hollow for some other fucking stupid reason, at this point, who cares why? I can respect tribal cultural and understand the need to preserve them for histories sake... but pretty sure we could do without this one in the history books...
MANDAN OKIPA CEREMONY
BONUS ROUND
Once they woke up and were lowered back to Terra Firma, they had their little fingers cut off as an offering to the spirits.
WELCOME TO MANHOOD!
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