Essay on Turner’s Analysis of the Rite of Circumcision Practiced by the Ndembu.
According to Turner Ritual is “prescribed formal behaviour for occasions not given over to technological routine, having reference to beliefs in mystical beings as power”. In other words, a Ritual situation contains the following elements:
(i) Certain prescribed ways of acting,
(ii) The belief, that the occasion is ‘sacred’ or out of the pale of the mundane,
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(iii) Profane world and,
(iv) The propitiation or calling upon of supernatural forces.
While studying Ritual, Turner keeps in mind the following criteria:
(i) The external appearance. This is a purely descriptive criterion.
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(ii) The ‘exegesis’ or the interpretation of the external appearance offered by the participants themselves.
(iii) The analysis of the anthropologist, which may at times contradict the analysis or integration of the participants.
Mukanda begins with a formal invitation to the Senior Circumcisor. The oldest and best developed of the boys to be initiated (the novices) is sent to the Senior Circumcisor. The boy, known as the ‘Kambanji’, abuses the Circumcisor thus, “old man… you have become lazy and your knife is now blunt. Pretending to be very angry, the circumcisor tells kambanji to inform the headmen of the vicinage that they are to make preparations for Mukanda.
(i) The Stage of Induction:
Before the rites begin, food and beer are stocked at the sponsoring village, and a campsite is cleared for the novices and their kin. On the day before circumcision, the circumcisors set about preparing ‘Ku-Kolisha’ medicine whose ingredients are the leaves and bark strappings of certain species of trees e.g. ‘chikoli’ thorn tree.
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The chikoli tree symbolizes the penis and masculine virtues of courage, hunting skills and endurance. The night, all participate in a grand dance. The novices are carried by their parents as their feet are not allowed to touch the ground.
Early the next morning Ku-Koshila medicine is applied to the novices, their mothers and all the officials who will participate in the Ritual. After being fed a big meal of fish and cassava prepared by their mothers, the novices go down the path to the circumcision site. Small beds of leaves are made for the boys to lie on.
As they are carried in, their mothers cry and wail as if at a death. The circumcision site is known as ‘if wilu’ or ‘chifwilu’, the place of dying. The circumcisors work in teams of three on the boys. After the operation, the boys are seated on the mukula log. The blood from their cuts is soaked up by grass pads. The women are forbidden from going near the circumcision site.
(ii) The Stage of Seclusion:
The stage of seclusion normally lasts for a period of three to four months. The building of the novice’s lodge is the first part of this stage. The lodge is a crude structure built out of twigs and grass. Novices enter the lodge.
They eat and sleep in groups which are based on friendship rather than kinship. They are in the charge of a Lodge Instructor, the latter takes care of them, ensures that they maintain feed taboos. The secrets of the lodge may never be revealed. Unit the wounds of the novices heal, neither they nor their parents may consume salt.
The reason is Salt, semen, blood and intercourse are symbolically linked. Parents must also refrain from sexual intercourse. Consumption of salt or indulging in intercourse prevents the novice’s wounds from healing. In the lodge, the values of discipline and obedience to elders are instilled into novices.
They have to maintain a modest demeanor, only speak when spoken to, fetch and carry as required at the double and run errands. Novices are given instructions by lodge officials and visiting elders. They are told not to steal or lie, or jeer at the aged, courage and hospitality are prescribed.
When they have fully recovered both physically and psychologically, ‘chikula’ rites begin. ‘Makishi’ masked dancers perform a dance. It is dance symbolizes the healing of the boys. Salt is then distributed to the parents who may now resume sexual relations. After the chikula rites are completed, the boys are taught tribal lore; riddles, proverbs, hunting dances and songs. They learn how to dance the ‘ku-tomoboka’ war dance which each boy must perform at the end of Mukands.
(iii) The Rites of Return:
After the completion of the period of seclusion novices are decorated with patterns of white clay for their public appearance after Mukanda. This decorative disguise indicates that they are changed persons. They are no longer children they have entered the adult, more moral, community.
They are taken to their parents camp and greeted with songs and rejoicing. The Lodge Instructor makes a final speech, commanding the novices to maintain food and sex taboos. The performance of the boys is discussed and evaluated. The boys then go back to their own villages.