A Man’s Rite of Passage

            

In America men are taught to be “hard” meaning that they can’t be emotional or they can be considered a sissy. Living in America my whole life I never thought to think how men were taught to be men in other parts of the world. Are men taught to be “hard” and emotional detached? How are they viewed if they are emotional?

            In the Bukusu tribe the rite of passage occurs at 14 years old, the young man pumps his arms and dance in the dirt yard under a mango tree outside of his father’s house. Older friends and relatives parade around him waving sticks and guava branches and singing songs about courage, women, and alcohol. The young man later then paid a ritual visit to the home of a maternal uncle, who gave him a cow, but before he was slapped in the face by him. The uncle said that he looked like a sissy, not someone ready to become a man. Which made angered him. This shows that some places in other parts of the world establishes some of the same values that are engrained in men in the states. I believe this tribe’s ritual is very harsh because at some point his paternal cuts the gut of a cow and takes his gut contents and throw it onto him and smear all over his chest. If that were to happen in the states there would be so much uproar on how wrong that is but to them it shows that the boy is ready to be a man. Similarly to the states the young man continues the night by getting advice by his elders on how it is to be a man. It’s very interesting to see how things are different in other regions. I also found it interesting that he had to basically get permission to be considered a man. I always considered a male a man depending on their age. How do you consider a male to be a man? What is your definition of a man?

National Geographic