Gusii initiation ceremony

GUSII INITIATION CEREMONY

The Gusii, a Bantu-speaking people, live in the Nyanza Province of Kenya. There were ceremonies performed in Kisii which were the rite of passage and all of them marked an important part. Initiation ceremonies being one of the ceremony it showed the transition from childhood to adulthood, that is, culminating with circumcision for boys at around the age of 12years and clitoridectomy for girls at the age of 8-9years.

The ceremonies occurred annually just after the harvest and lasted from October to December but circumcision for girls was done before that of boys.The Gusii have the highest proportion of circumcised women in any Kenyan society with an estimated 97%of adult women having undergone the operation.For the girls, they wore a beaded chain called “Egetinti” on their ceremony which was used in rites to make an imaginary animal Called “Enyamweri” where girls acquired maiden names.During the initiation the girls going to be initiated would wake up her mother at dawn and ask her for a hen or two shillings as a payment for the operator and the mother typically pinched her and told her she was still young and this was to test her seriousness and courage and if the girl insisted the mother accompanied her together with the agemates while naked except for a cloth on her shoulder.

The operator was usually a middle aged woman with a reputation for skill in female circumcision, the mother and girls met during a chilly dawn then sung towards the operator’s home.A crowd of women surrounded a stone in which the girl was to be operated on was seated, the operator applied some flour to the girls private parts and expertly cut off the head of the clitoris the girl was led to squat and bleed.

After the process the operator was paid then the girls were led to their respective home as the woman sung obscene songs. At home the girl was asked to squat behind a granary until the mother cooked for her then the girls gathered in one of their mother for a month-long seclusion and after seclusion the behavior of each girl was supposed to be like one of the adult.For boys circumcision age spread between the age of 8 to 12 years and nobody wanted to be left by his age-mates. 

All the Gusii boys were eager to be circumcised as they wanted to join the worriors and participate in men’s activity and even have sexual relation with girls.The boys were supposed to choose their sponsors the day before circumcision who was initiated but unmarried who were to take care of them during circumcision.

The day after circumcision the boys shared their head and slept in the hut of the sponsors who escorted them to the operator the following dawn.Older boys treated the candidates rough to test their bravery and if determined he was led to bathe in a chilly river and then taken to the home of the circumciser, the ceremony was not attended by parents but brothers and unrelated women. As the time came the boys was led to a special tree and put his hands on the head leaning his head on the tree for support and not supported by anybody also not supposed to show any signs of pain as the older boys stood with clubs and spears threatening to kill them if they showed any signs of pain.After circumcision the boys were led away holding their bleeding penises with one hand holding a bush, “ekerundu”, a fertility symbol with the other hand.In the afternoon the novices were led into a seclusion by sponsors who sung obscene male circumcision song.

The mother of the novices prepared food daily and sent to them as a lot of food was needed to heal their wounds and nobody was aloud to take the leftovers.Boy’s life in seclusion was comfortable and enjoyable as they were not aloud to fight nor quarrel.After seclusion there were several cycls of cleansing, anointing and feasting which launched the novices into adulthood.

In the modern generation female circumcision has been daclared illegal as it causes many problems more especially during birth but some communities still practice it, so you as an individual is it fair to stop the practice or we are supposed to continue with the practice?

By WILLIS MOTURI