Social Studies

Aliyah Leach

2 May, 05:32

A very remote tribe of people lives in the highlands of Papua, New Guinea. Boys are expected to undergo a blood initiation, which to outsiders would seem quite cruel and inhuman. For example, elders stick long canes into the young initiates' noses and a sharp arrow pierces their tongues a number of times. Members of the tribe believe that these rituals are necessary to expel the contaminated blood received from their mothers when they gave birth to them. Men may not marry or assume adult responsibilities unless they undergo these rituals. What do these rituals represent to these young men?