When they are to become men, the boys of the Satere-Mawe tribe place their hands into mitts filled with biting, stinging insects. Their arms are paralyzed for hours and tremble for days afterward.
When a youth of the Tlitzteg people is of age to choose a bride, he first hurls himself from the cliff into the river. Should he emerge, bruised and battered, on the far bank, he is accounted a man.
Not to be outdone, the reclusive Zpatos have enhanced their maturity ritual to include complete decapitation. It is said to bring good luck and fruitful loins in marriage.
Saturday, February 21, 2009
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