There are some signs that you've reached adulthood. It's when you get your first car, drink your first beer, or graduate from high school in most countries around the world. In other cultures, however, becoming an adult is a more perilous experience. Adolescent rites of passage are a cross-cultural phenomenon. They have existed throughout human history and may play an important role in the formation of a stable adult personality. We are all familiar with rites such as Bar Mitzvahs, Sweet 16 parties, and Quinceaneras in Western culture. However, coming-of-age ceremonies in tribal cultures are often much more elaborate and can be truly terrifying. Here are some of the strangest and most disturbing rites of passage practiced by people all over the world. This list is ranked from the mildly odd to the oddest. So let us get into it!
10. Algonquin Indians
Quebec
Boys from the Algonquin Indian Tribe of Quebec are brought to a secluded area, often caged, and then given wysoccan, an extremely dangerous hallucinogen that is said to be 100 times more powerful than LSD. The ritual's goal was to force any memories of being a child from the boy's mind. Unfortunately, some boys suffer from memory loss to the point where they lose memory of their family, identity, and even the ability to speak. Some of the boys who showed reminiscence for their childhood after returning to the village were then taken back and given a second dose, forcing them to attempt to cheat death a second time.
9. Vanuatu Land Divers
Vanuatu
Land diving is a harvest ritual and a rite of passage for the tribes of Vanuatu's small Pacific island. It is now a tourist attraction. The men of Pentecost Island, Vanuatu, climb a rickety 98-foot (30-meter) tower, tie vines to their ankles, and dive to the ground at speeds of up to 45 mph (72 kph). When a dive is done correctly, the person gets close enough to the ground to touch his or her shoulders or head. However, unlike bungee jumping, these vines are not elastic, and a mistake in vine length can result in broken legs, cracked skulls, or even death. Boys can start participating after they have been circumcised, which is around the age of 7 or 8, though they are usually not allowed to jump from a shorter tower. As a boy makes his first dive, his mother holds an item representing his childhood.
8. Harmar Cow Jumping
Ethiopia
This rite of passage for men coming of age must be completed before a man can marry. To be successful, the man-to-be must "jump the cattle" four times, and only castrated male cattle and cows may be used to jump over. This test is done naked (except for a few cords tied across his chest) as a symbol of the childhood he is about to leave behind. After passing this test, the young man joins the ranks of the maza, which are other men who have recently passed the same test and who spend the next few months of their lives supervising these events in villages across the Hamar territory.
7. Okiek Tribe
Kenya
Their rite of passage ceremony, which takes place between the ages of 14 and 16, is similar for both girls and boys, though the genders are initiated separately. The initiates are first circumcised or excised ceremonially. Following that, they are separated from adults of the opposite sex for four to 24 weeks. They paint themselves with white clay and charcoal to resemble wild animals (cemaasiisyek). Same-sex elders impart certain secret knowledge. The cemaasiit – a mythical beast that haunts the initiates during their time in seclusion – is the most important piece of information. Its roar can be heard at night, and the initiation is complete when each youth has seen and held the instrument used to produce the roar, as well as produced the roar themselves.
6. Festa das Mocas Novas
Tukana Tribe, Northwest Amazon
Festa das Mocas Novas is a traditional initiation into womanhood performed by the Tukuna people of the Northwest Amazon. It begins with the onset of menstruation, and the initiate spends the next 4 to 12 weeks in seclusion in a small chamber built within the family's home for this purpose. During this time, the initiate is thought to be in the underworld, under constant threat from demons known as the Noo. Guests arrive for the rite's climax, and some don masks, allowing them to become incarnations of the Noo. The initate remains in the seclusion chamber for two more days, her body painted with black genipa dye as protection against the Noo. On the morning of the third day, she emerges from the chamber. Surrounded and protected by relatives, she is led out into the festivities. The family dances with her until dawn, at which time the dancing stops. The initiate is then given a fire brand by a shaman and instructed to throw it at the Noo. This done, the power of the Noo is broken, and the Tukuna female is safely entered into womanhood.
5. Okrika Tribe
Nigeria
The Iria is a rite performed by female Okrika tribe members in Africa. Girls between the ages of 14 and 16 are placed in "fatting rooms," where they are fed rich local foods in order for the body to "come out." The elderly women of the tribe teach them how to sing traditional Iria songs. These people believe that young girls develop romantic attachments to water spirits. Before they can be considered marriageable and receive mortal suitors, they must first be free of these attachments. This is accomplished by the girls gathering at the river on successive mornings to sing the songs they have learned. On the final day, the initiates return to the riverbank and the water spirits are expected to attempt to seize the girls by force. This can be prevented by the Osokolo, a senior male member of Owuper society who strikes the girls with sticks, driving them back to the village, ensuring both their safety and future fertility.
4. Mardudjara Aborigines
Australia
When a young man reaches the age of majority, his tribal elders take him into seclusion. The men will form a circle around the boy, facing away from the fire. An assistant will sit on the boy's chest while another elder pulls and twists the boy's foreskin before severing it. The men will force the boy to kneel on a shield over a dimly lit fire and eat good meat. î The meat is essentially the boy's own foreskin. He must swallow without chewing, and once he has done so, he will have eaten his own boy and become a man. After the circumcision has healed, the young man will undergo a subincision. His penis will be slashed on the underside, sometimes all the way to his scrotum. The man is then made to stand over a fire to allow the blood to drip into it and purify it. Apparently men do this to sympathize with their female counterparts. And although they will now have to squat to urinate because of these incision, when they become married, some men will often times repeat the same blood-letting process.
3. Satere-Mawe Trive
Amazon
This Amazon tribe has an initiation ritual in which young men actually put their hands into mittens filled with hundreds of bullet ants. The bite is approximately 20 times more painful than a wasp sting. The ants will be gathered by the tribal men and submerged in a solution that will temporarily knock them out. After that, the ants are woven into the mittens. When the men wake up, they put their hands into the mittens and dance for 10 minutes. The sting of the ant prevents the body from protecting itself against pain. The body starts convulsing, and the pain can last for up to 24 hours. The strange thing is that many men will repeat this ritual many times in order to prove their manhood.
2. Matis Hunting Trials
Brazil
A man must go through four trials to prove his worthiness to hunt in the Matis Trial in Brazil's Amazon jungle. The first stage entails dumping bitter poison directly into their eyes, ostensibly to improve their vision and senses. The following set of trials includes beatings and whippings. The trial concludes with the inoculation of the small poisonous frog Phyllomedusa bicolor. The frog toxin is injected with a wooden needle after an area of the skin is burned. The poison is said to boost strength and endurance; however, these benefits must come after the unbearable light-headedness, violent vomiting, and violent bowel movements. Once the boys have proven their ability to withstand these tests, they are given the opportunity to perform them before every future hunt they partake in.
1. Sambia Tribe
Papua New Guinea
At the age of seven, boys are separated from their maternal figure and all females and placed in a special house where they will live with other males for the next ten years. During the first stage, the skin of the uninitiated boy is pierced in order to eliminate any external contamination from women. The boys are forced to bleed their noses profusely. They are also forced to consume sugarcane to induce vomiting and defecation as a form of internal cleansing. Once the boys have been cleared of any contamination, they are required to consume sperm, which is thought to be essential for igniting masculine growth and strength. Throughout the initiation process, the youths are made aware of the impurities that women bring with them and how dangerous they can be to them. The youths are taught purification techniques in the fifth stage of initiation. Once married and engaged in heterosexual activity, men must cleanse themselves of any contamination brought on by their wife. To accomplish this, they engage in heavy nose-bleeding, brought on by each of their wives' menstrual periods. Near the end of the third initiation, the boys are led to the forest and directed to a structure facing a tree. They are told to remove a pubic hair and hand it to one of the men who then, places the hairs into the trunk of a pandanus tree. The boys are told a story about a Jew’s harp and everything it signifies. During this lesson they are forewarned that they are not to be promiscuous during their heterosexual relationships otherwise they will be killed.
This has been quite the weird ride. Thanks for sticking through, hope you picked up a thing or two? Culture is a beautiful thing, and as a lover of culture, I believe that many things in culture should be celebrated, but I am not certain of these rites of passages. Even as I write this, I wonder if this is not the westernized me voicing her hesitations, but taking a look at what these people (mostly men) have to go through, and the potential physical harm to their bodies and health, I realise that I do not advocate for these particular rites of passages.
Do you have a different view? I would love to hear it. Meanwhile let us go deeper into the psychology of rites of passages as Social Psychologist, Johnathan Haidt examines why men need to go through these harmful rituals to be considered as men in the video below. Happy watching!
i like the story
It’s the young children for me 😭🥺
honestly i scared of what i have read from these tribes
it is funny how i can relate to the fatting room of the okrika's
i actually agree with you like i don't care whether it's the westernized version of me but these things as important as they may be i feel it will be better for them to either go or they should be reduction