"Ouch! My Penis Hurts!"

Know whats even more fun than having a ceremony to name your baby? Having a ceremony to circumcise one. It was ridiculous!

So today I went to two post-circumcision parties in my area, and it was a crazy time!! Both these ceremonies were for boys, I have yet to see one for girls, and don’t know how those celebrations differ.
Anyhoo. I’m told that boys are meant to be taken to “the bush” for circumcision in their early teens, but I’d say these kids averaged age eight(one was only two). The boys in a community are gathered and sequestered in a compound for two to three weeks. During this time they are circumcised and taught to be men. An important character to mention during this tradition is the “kankoran.” He is a man dressed head-to-toe in strips of bark and he carries two machetes. His job is to keep the boys sequestered from any females or uncircumcised males during their time in the bush. So during the weeks the boys are gone, he is going around the village, chasing women away with his machetes and yelling. I don’t think he’d hurt me, but I run just the same, I don’t want to test it. At the end of this time away, the community holds a big party for the boys, which is what I attended.
On the morning of the boys’ return, all their female relatives got all dressed up in rags, face paint, beads, and necklaces made from candy and cookies, and went around town dancing, singing, and generally carrying on. Then for most of the rest of the day, people were cooking, dancing, and waiting for the boys. Then, around dusk, the boys all arrived back. They were draped head to foot in cloth, such that you couldn’t tell who was who, all seated on a mat. The large group who had gathered by that time all formed a circle around the boys, with a group of drummers in the middle. One by one, each boy was uncovered and brought to the center of the circle where he had to dance. People threw money and candy, and sometimes went to pick the boy up to carry him around. These kids were terrified. Overall, it was a long day of dancing. While at the party, lots of women’s clubs wearing their asobi (matchy-matchy clothing) and were having what looked like West Side Story-style dance-offs. Except with less finger-snapping, more ass-shaking. It was way fun.