Initiation School

We just got through one of the periods when Initiation School takes place. This is a very old tribal custom in South Africa, not just for the Xhosa people but others as well. It marks the transition from a boy to a man, and is considered a very important ritual that will determine a male's place in the tribal society.

Initiation School is 30 days long. During this time, the boys live in the bush on their own. Their families are not to interact with them except to bring them food and water. And then only the men can come, no women of any kind. Some boys in the cities will return to their rural villages for Initiation School. If they can't, or if they were raised in the city, then they will build their huts on a bare patch of land in the township. The field in this picture is maybe a mile from the Centre and I drive by it every morning. There's another field about three miles south that has even more huts on it.

School starts with a ritual circumcision, usually done by a traditional healer or sangoma. As far as I know, no anesthetic is used. For the next 8 days, the initiates can only eat dried food (dried meat, half-cooked samp, etc.). They cannot drink any water during this time, either. The reason is that the wound needs to heal completely, and if they have water or normal food it will delay the healing process. (I don't understand the science in this, but it's been going on for thousands of years so there must be something to it.) After the 8 days is up, they can go back to eating normal food and drinking water. Everything is supposed to be healed up by the end of the second week, and then it becomes a waiting game.

During one of my previous trips to Guguletu we saw an initiate painted white over his entire body. He did this to pay tribute to his ancestors. He was white because the tribe believes we are all white under our skin, because that's what color our bones are (after we decompose). I haven't seen anyone else do this, but I haven't seen too many initiates up close to know.

The initiates are also taught about their new roles and responsibilities as men. They are given new words and phrases to use, none of which are written down (keeping in tradition with other oral histories). These words and phrases are used as tests when they meet other men to show that they are truly men now. If a male is asked a question and cannot answer with the correct phrase, then he is assumed to be a boy and cannot participate in debates held by men. If the "boy" argues that he is indeed a man, and it cannot be proved by the proper ways, he may be asked to show his evidence. That's a last resort, and I'm not sure I'd want to be in that position.

When School is over there is usually a celebration. Some families will kill and roast a goat, and homemade beer is usually produced. (In some rural areas, the tribe may offer the initiate a woman to make sure everything still works okay and that he is truly a man.) From that point, the man will be judged by his actions and words. If the man still behaves like a boy, running with the same crowd and making the same mischief as a boy, people will consider him a failure and shun him.

Xhosa men take this ritual very seriously, as well as the responsibilities it brings. I told two men I was speaking with that they'd have to take my word that I was a man. They laughed and said they would judge me by who I am and that I wouldn't have to show my evidence.

Phew!