Understanding Ourselves - The Meaning and Importance of Initiation

Limpopo Boy Initiates

Initiation is one of the widely practiced practices in Africa. It is a rite of passage that both boys and girls go through. Rites of passage are an important part of a person's life because they mark the transition from one stage of life to the next. They exist because of the four main stages we go through namely birth, maturation (transition into adulthood), reproduction (marriage and procreation) and death. They help young people navigate the dangerous period between childhood and adulthood and have been proven to have a positive psychological effect on the individual going through it. The absence of rites of passage in some societies have led to the youth creating their own badges of adulthood which vary from obtaining drivers licence, 21st birthday celebrations, experimentation with drugs and alcohol and other dangerous ceremonies. It is apparent that rites of passage are an important and integral part of the human psyche and that in their absence, humans will create one.

Basotho girl initiates

The initiation practice marks the transition to adulthood of both boys and girls. In terms of African Religion, initiation has a legal, spiritual and psychological significance. Prior to initiation, a boy is not seen as responsible for his transgressions. His father is responsible for him. When he commits a transgression his father is the one responsible for any reparations necessary. In Xhosa there is a saying "ayikathululi" meaning eyes have not opened and refers to those who have not undergone initiation. Once he undergoes initiation, he is considered an adult and responsible for his own transgressions and reparations.

During the initiation period, the initiates are isolated from the community and are seen as people who are in limbo, i.e. they are no longer children but are not adults as yet. During this period they are seen as "inyamazane" and this is an extremely volatile and vulnerable period.

Basotho girl initiates

The shedding of blood binds the person to the land and ancestors. Prior to initiation the individual is not seen as alive by the ancestors. The blood shed symbolises that they are alive and wish to be tied to the community and people they were born into. The circumcision blood is tantamount to making a covenant, a solemn agreement between them and their people. So until a person goes through this operation, he is an outsider. Once the blood is shed, he joins the stream of his people and becomes truly one with them.

 

Xhosa initiates return dressed in white blankets

The cutting of the flesh symbolises the shedding of his youth and the preparation for his adulthood. If a person has not undergone this practice he will forever be viewed as a child by his community. He will never be given full responsibility at home and in the community and his father will remain legally liable for his transgressions. Once the initiation occurs, he is then ready to enjoy the full privileges and responsibilities in his family and in the larger community.

Initiation is a gateway to marriage; it gives young people an opportunity to prepare for marriage. The period spent at the initiation school is used to teach them many things concerning the life of their people, their history, their traditions, their beliefs, and above all how to raise a family. The mysteries of married life are normally revealed to the young people at this point, to prepare them for what is soon to come. Nobody is allowed to get married before going through initiation.

It is a central bridge in life as it brings together one’s youth and adulthood, the period of ignorance and that of knowledge. Separating the person from one life and joining his to another by getting rid of the early stage of passive life and integrating it into a productive state and knotting him with the community. It is initiation which is also a bridge between male and female, fatherhood with motherhood, since it signals the official permission for one to get married and bear children. It also joins the living with the departed, the visible with the invisible, because after initiation a person may perform religious rituals.

It is a mark of unity and identification with the people. Through it the individual is sealed to his people and his people to him. This is a deeply religious step. For that reason, during the initiation ceremonies and after, the leaders in charge offer sacrifices or prayers to God and ask for his blessings upon the young people. In other places the spirits are believed or invited to be present to witness the occasion. From that occasion onwards, the initiates will forever bear the scars of what is cut on their organs, and these will be scars of identity. Through these scars, the initiated are henceforth identified as members of such a people. Without the identification scars, they cannot be fully integrated with the people.

 

Basotho male initiates

Upon completion, returning home is like a new birth. There is celebration and rejoice that often involves the community. In some part of Africa, they are given new clothes, receive presents and new names to show the radical change they have undergone.

Source: An Introduction to African Religion by John S Mbiti