Gusii/ Kisii/ Abagusii Tribe of Kenya's Rites of Passage for Adolescence to Adulthood
Tasfia Alam & Laura Perreault
HSP 3U1
Mrs. White
Period 2
Video
Male Initiation
Stage 3: Incorporation/ Re-Integration
- After weeks of seclusion, boys return to village/society
- They are welcomed with huge celebrations done by their family and friends
- They can see females and their father again
- They are expected to act as adult men when returned to society and are expected to act according to the rules of sexual shame and respect
Female Initiation
Stage 3: Incorporation/ Re-Integration
Female Initiation
Stage 2: Transition
- on the way home from the operation, obscene songs are sung to indicate that the girl is now too old to be humiliated or inhibited
- After the seclusion, the girls are celebrated by family and friends with a huge celebration
- Girls are expected to act like adult women and act according to the rules of sexual shame and respect
- After the initiation, they are conditioned by the prospects of marriage
Male Initiation
- Girl is taken to the operators house where other girls are also going to go through clitoridectomy
- During the operation, a woman comes behind the girl to support her by covering her eyes so she doesn’t see anything
- white flour is put on genitals
- after the head of the clitoris is cut, the women give a trilling shriek and sing and dance happily
- girl is then led to a shed to squat and bleed
- after all the girls had been operated and the operator paid, the girls return home
- on the way home, obscene songs are sung to indicate the girl is now too old to be humiliated or inhibited
- the girl is then again asked to squat behind a bush to bleed until her mother made dinner for her and the rest of the girls
- all the initiated girls gather in one of the mothers’ house for a month long seclusion
- during seclusion, they are taught how to be an adult women, wife, mother, and the rules regarding sexual shame and respect by the older women
Stage 2: Transition
- hands tied behind back right before circumcision
- circumcision is done at midnight by older male specialists
- reactive leaves are rubbed on their genitals to numb them
- ash is rubbed on the body so it is more easily seen in the dark
- Lies down on a wooden bench near a holy tree for circumcision to be done
- Men with arrows surround the boy during circumcision; if the boy flinches or cries during circumcision, arrows would be shot at them
- once procedure is done and boy has successfully completed circumcision without crying or flinching and left to bleed, men with arrows shoot in the sky and cheer to celebrate bravery
- after circumcision they are sent to a special hut back in the village for the healing process
- during seclusion they are taught rules of being men by the older men
- they stay in seclusion for several weeks and are not allowed to see their father or any female
Female Initiation
Male Initiation
The male initiation ceremony in the Gusii tribe involves circumcision, which happens at about the age of 10-14 and in late November. The goal of the initiation ceremony is not only to signify the transition of a male from a boy to a man, but also to train them as social human beings who know rules of sexual shame (chinsoni) and respect (ogosika). Initiation ceremonies are gender-segregated and are preformed by male specialists.
The female initiation ceremony in the Gusii tribe involves clitoridectomy, which happens at about the age of 7-12 and in August. The goal of the initiation ceremony is not only to signify the transition of a female from a girl to a woman, but also to train them as social human beings who know rules of sexual shame (chinsoni) and respect (ogosika). Initiation ceremonies are gender-segregated and are preformed by female specialists.
Stage 1: Segregation
- boys are separated from their village/society and are required to walk for a long period of time to a special place where the initiation will take place. This hike is supposed to prepare their bodies for the circumcision
- they are taken to a special hut and required to get lots of sleep before there circumcision
- they are required to put their whole body, except for their head, in the river for about 20 minutes to also prepare their body
- they are virtually naked through this process, and will continue to be naked until whole ceremony is done
- girls would usually wake the mother up at around dawn and ask for a hen or two, then mom would pinch her saying she is still too young
- the idea of this is to test the girl’s seriousness and courage
- if she was not courageous enough, then she left the house naked except for a cloth on her shoulders
- girls are separated from society
- girls would leave with their mom and would sing on the way to the operator’s house where other girls with mothers were waiting for clitoridectomy
About the Gusii/Kisii/Abagusii Tribe
- Gusii tribe makes up about 6.3% of Kenyan population
- located near Lake Victoria highlands, about 50 km from Lake Victoria, in Western Kenya
- very productive agricultural land (70 to 80 percent can be cultivated)
- known for soapstone carvings
- only 18% of Gusii follow their traditional religion
- Ekegusii,a Western Bantu language, is the offiicial language of the tribe
- about 1.5 million Gusii people
- average Gusii woman bears 9 children
- low infant mortality rate in Sub-Saharan Africa (80 deaths per 1000 live births)
- Most important rites of passage in the Gusii tribe are initiation and marriage
- Have strict rules regarding polite behaviour, especially rules of sexual shame (chinsoni) and titles of respect (ogosaki)
- Initiation ceremonies are gender-segregated and are done to transition a girl or boy to a man or woman and teach them the rules regrading sexual shame and respect as a social human being in the Gusii culture