IT was summer time in Grahamstown, South Africa. But the morning smoke from the surrounding mountains kept the town cold. Such is the capriciousness of Grahamstown weather. Sometimes, it rains while the sun shines. In that summer morning, some local women in Extension Nine, Josa Township could be heard weeping. Their cry turned to gentle sob as a group of men filed out of the small compound in the township. In front of the procession was an eighteen 'year-old boy. The lad cut the tragic figure of Ikemefuna, the ill-fated character in Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart who was offered as sacrifice to some blood-thirsty gods. But Ndiga Libona Rasana, the lad leading the procession was not a prepared breakfast for the gods. Rather, the young man, draped in white robes, was leading men of his clan into the Bush in preparation for his journey into manhood.Libona was among hundreds of Xhosa boys who have come of age last December and therefore was ripe enough for circumcision. Though the ritual of traditional circumcision in Xhosa culture in South Africa is performed with great caution, not all initiates make it back home alive. Some of them die of infection if the wound does not heal in time. This uncertainty was the cause of the grief by the women of Extension Nine.'Libona, please come back alive. We don't need your dead body here. We need you to come back alive', they called out to him in tears as the youth headed for the Bush to join other teenagers ready for the rite of passage. If Libona heard them, he did not acknowledge their call. This is no time to betray emotion. This is the time to stay strong and act every inch a Xhosa bred.In the bush where circumcision and initiation process took place, each candidate was made to roll in a small pool of brown water before proceeding into the small hut, sutu already prepared for each of them. There they were expected to await the visit of the local doctor whose surgical skill has transformed many boys into men.This bath is necessary because 'the boys need to enter the bush clean', said Libona's uncle who represented his estranged father. Libona's biological father has been separated from his mother right from the time he was a toddler. And since the patriarchal nature of Xhosa culture forbids the mother to accompany her son to the Bush, the responsibility rests on the closest male family member.It is a taboo for women to go to the Bush or to seek information about what happens in the Bush. Similarly, a non-Xhosa person is also forbidden from witnessing the ritual process in the Bush. Because of the secret nature of the initiation ritual, rumour about what happens in the bush is rife. 'The initiates are compelled to chew their foreskin raw immediately it is cut off after circumcision', so goes a rumour. Others say the foreskin must be buried in a secret spot in the Bush known only to the owner. Whichever the case, each initiate comes back home without his foreskin.The moment of panic for each boy comes when the local doctor, a middle-aged man, appeared with his surgical knife. Yet that was the moment every young man waited for with excitement, the moment of transition to manhood. In Xhosa tradition, a male child is not different from his female counterpart until he is being circumcised. The unwritten cultural code among the Xhosa people is that every male youth should be circumcised before he can be addressed as a man or enjoy certain social benefits such as the right to date girls or the right to speak in the assembly of elders.'You must not cry out loud. You could wince, but don't wail', the adults who accompanied Libona to the Bush had advised him long before his turns came. 'And the moment your foreskin is cut, you shout 'Ndiyindoda (I am a man!)'.After circumcision, the fresh wound was dressed up with herbs and each initiate is led into his private tent where they spent many days till healing process was complete. Generally, it takes the boys three weeks to 8 weeks to get healed. But some lads spent a little longer. Within this period the young initiates roved around the brown field almost naked, each of them carrying a club as a weapon of protection in the night, their juvenile bodies pulsating youthfulness and strength. To keep away the chill of the night, the boys made bonfires inside their room. Their skins were powdered with Ingceke, some white substance in order to help ward off the evil spirits. The powder also helps keep the skin youthful so that when the young adults return home, they look as fresh as eggplant. 'But the bush is not a happy place,' said one of the initiates. The boy was not only speaking of the pain of fresh wound inflicted on their bodies, but also the challenge of living in the open field away from families for several weeks; or the denial of water for several days to which every inmates was subjected.Circumcision is not only an important ritual practice among Xhosa; it is a thing of pride among the youths. For this reason, children of the white parents, especially those from Eastern Cape also are becoming fascinated by the ritual of circumcision and the myth that surround the practice.Philip Mathew Simpson was one of such white youths whose curiosity led him to be circumcised in the Bush. According to him, 'when I saw many of my friends talking about going to the Bush, I became curious. I wanted to go through what they go through. I discussed the matter with my mum and she encouraged me. My father though could not understand my reason, but he did not object'. Therefore one December, Philip joined his friends for the circumcision ritual in the Bush. His audacity has emboldened other kids in Grahamstown to also go for their circumcision in the Bush.Though male circumcision has been considered an effective measure in reducing HIV by health professionals globally, the government of South Africa has warned the locals in Eastern Cape from performing circumcision in the Bush. The South African National Department of Health for instance regularly has been encouraging parents to take their wards to hospitals in order to reduce the spread of HIV among young men. But for youths like Libona, such policy works against the culture of Xhosa. 'They can't take our culture away from us'.As the young Libona returned home from the Bush, the same women of Extension Nine were there to receive him. This time, their excitement was mixed with joy: Libona was not only alive; he came back a full-made Xhosa man.
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