tag:theconversation.com,2011:/ca-fr/topics/rites-of-passage-21235/articlesrites of passage – La Conversation2021-02-18T19:12:27Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1552952021-02-18T19:12:27Z2021-02-18T19:12:27ZFears loom for teens undergoing vital brain development during COVID. Telling stories might help<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/384414/original/file-20210216-14-1bxaidp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://unsplash.com/photos/WFBVn6fSgys">Unsplash/Priscilla Du Preez</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>“At the end of the war men returned from the battlefield grown silent — not richer, but poorer in communicable experience”, wrote Walter Benjamin after the first world war. So too, school students may reflect on the pandemic of 2020 and its effect on their experiences.</p>
<p>Almost every day, they heard anxiety-provoking news from across the globe, doled out in rapid fire. Yet many will be poor in the stories of their anticipated rituals and rites of passage to retell in later years. </p>
<p>They have other stories though, of cancellation and loss.</p>
<p>Gather any group of students together and they spontaneously tell different stories — of how their formal was cancelled or modified; how their classes were delivered remotely; how they adjusted to the rules of social distancing; or how they missed the opportunity to celebrate their milestone birthday with friends. </p>
<p>And they are instantly captivated by each other’s experiences. </p>
<p>The telling of stories is a <a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/two-takes-depression/201401/why-your-story-matters#:%7E:text=Research%20has%20long%20shown%20that,you%20emerge%20from%20the%20experience.">crucial coping device</a>, enabling individuals to situate themselves in relation to a bigger event and to gain perspective on the human experience. </p>
<p>We recommend storytelling using oral, written and creative arts formats, linking key events to form a plot, to adapt and improvise, and to share the story to reveal how very different people can share the same life experience. And how human nature can transcend this moment. </p>
<h2>Missing stories</h2>
<p>The loss of significant events — whether traditions such as school graduation celebrations, or more mundane everyday losses such as routine sport or other extracurricular activities — can have profound, <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7535346/">long-term impacts</a> on students. </p>
<p>Rite-of-passage events, such as formals, are <a href="https://theconversation.com/no-festivals-no-schoolies-young-people-are-missing-out-on-vital-rites-of-passage-during-covid-145097">important cultural markers</a>, cementing peer relationships and firming the foundations for ongoing well-being. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/no-festivals-no-schoolies-young-people-are-missing-out-on-vital-rites-of-passage-during-covid-145097">No festivals, no schoolies: young people are missing out on vital rites of passage during COVID</a>
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<p>They are the stories we tell again and again during our lives, locating our belonging with and for others. But it is not just a simple loss of moments and unmade memories. </p>
<p>At this crucial stage in the development of the adolescent brain, the foundations are laid for decades to come through their experiences. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/384416/original/file-20210216-15-1mfviv0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Silhouettes of young people on a beach, in the evening around a fire." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/384416/original/file-20210216-15-1mfviv0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/384416/original/file-20210216-15-1mfviv0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/384416/original/file-20210216-15-1mfviv0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/384416/original/file-20210216-15-1mfviv0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/384416/original/file-20210216-15-1mfviv0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/384416/original/file-20210216-15-1mfviv0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/384416/original/file-20210216-15-1mfviv0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Rites of passage events are important cultural markers. They’re stories we tell again and again.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://unsplash.com/photos/AZMmUy2qL6A">Unsplash/Kimson Doan</a></span>
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<p>The adolescent years, known as the <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26419496/">second sensitive period of brain development</a>, are important because this is when shaping of the brain occurs in earnest, in response to the unique environmental experiences of the individual. </p>
<p>This process of synaptic pruning — which starts with the onset of puberty and continues for at least the next five years — results in unused connections being removed. While those that are used are strengthened and “hard wired” with a coating of a substance called myelin. </p>
<p>Memory and <a href="https://theconversation.com/it-really-sucks-how-some-year-12-students-in-queensland-feel-about-2020-144004?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Latest%20from%20The%20Conversation%20for%20August%2018%202020%20-%201706316470&utm_content=Latest%20from%20The%20Conversation%20for%20August%2018%202020%20-%201706316470+CID_d508796947200e4a672361095036aefb&utm_source=campaign_monitor&utm_term=It%20really%20sucks%20how%20some%20Year%2012%20students%20in%20Queensland%20feel%20about%202020">processing are enhanced</a> and there is a <a href="https://theconversation.com/it-really-sucks-how-some-year-12-students-in-queensland-feel-about-2020-144004?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Latest%20from%20The%20Conversation%20for%20August%2018%202020%20-%201706316470&utm_content=Latest%20from%20The%20Conversation%20for%20August%2018%202020%20-%201706316470+CID_d508796947200e4a672361095036aefb&utm_source=campaign_monitor&utm_term=It%20really%20sucks%20how%20some%20Year%2012%20students%20in%20Queensland%20feel%20about%202020">heightened vulnerability</a> to risk-taking and sensitivity to mental illness because of the intense brain shaping under way. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-missing-middle-puberty-is-a-critical-time-at-school-so-why-arent-we-investing-in-it-more-150071">The missing middle: puberty is a critical time at school, so why aren’t we investing in it more?</a>
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<p>The spectre looms of brains shaped by unmet expectations, disrupted routines, missing significant events, ongoing anxiety, fear and stress about what may be ahead the next day, week, month or year. </p>
<p>Our understanding of neuroscience points to such experiences as paving the way for <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28982627/">lifelong reduced outcomes</a>, such as poorer health, lowered educational achievement and the loss of optimism and hope. </p>
<h2>Everything is different</h2>
<p>The United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund estimates 1.6 billion students and 91% of schools in 2020 <a href="https://www.unicef.org/coronavirus/keeping-worlds-children-learning-through-covid-19">experienced emergency education</a>. That means there was an adaptation to the usual routines of teaching, learning, attendance and curriculum, as a response to the COVID-19 disaster. </p>
<p>There is much talk of <a href="https://www.thecut.com/2018/05/how-to-be-happy.html">schools</a> and <a href="https://www.thecut.com/2018/05/how-to-be-happy.html">universities</a> needing to help our adolescents become more resilient, <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/the-limits-of-grit">acquire greater grit</a>, and to be equipped with positive psychology strategies such as learned optimism. </p>
<p>There is a physiological tipping point though, when toxic stress resulting from strong, frequent or prolonged activation of the body’s stress response system, can lead to adverse impacts on brain structures. And students will not learn as before, especially if their brains have become <a href="https://developingchild.harvard.edu/resources/wp3/">hardwired during times of stress</a>, anxiety and trauma.</p>
<p>How can we ensure our young people are happy and uncompromised along <a href="https://wellbeingindicators.stats.govt.nz/en/subjective-wellbeing/">well-being indicators</a>, including a person’s ambitions and understanding of the qualities of their life? </p>
<p>Meeting and slightly exceeding expectations is the key to happiness and well-being. When a person is <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/family/archive/2020/04/how-increase-happiness-according-research/609619/">happy there is an alignment</a>, or a slight increase between what is ideal or expected, and reality. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/384418/original/file-20210216-21-l678h1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Young person in the air while rollerblading." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/384418/original/file-20210216-21-l678h1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/384418/original/file-20210216-21-l678h1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/384418/original/file-20210216-21-l678h1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/384418/original/file-20210216-21-l678h1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/384418/original/file-20210216-21-l678h1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=498&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/384418/original/file-20210216-21-l678h1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=498&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/384418/original/file-20210216-21-l678h1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=498&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Meeting and slightly exceeding expectations is the key to happiness.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://unsplash.com/photos/qQtYfzT-99Q">Unsplash/ Nicolas Picard</a></span>
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<p>In a year of unmet expectations, negative impacts on well-being and subjective happiness are unavoidable. This can be seen with numbers seeking the support of mental-health providers <a href="https://www.who.int/news/item/05-10-2020-covid-19-disrupting-mental-health-services-in-most-countries-who-survey">increasing dramatically</a> during 2020. </p>
<p>There is a brooding concern identified globally and by the <a href="https://www.fya.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/localandvocal_National.pdf">Foundation of Young Australians</a>, that every aspect of how young people</p>
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<p>live, learn and work has been forever changed by COVID-19 and will continue to be felt by young people in the decade to come.</p>
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<h2>The importance of telling the stories of 2020</h2>
<p>Young people can benefit from opportunities to create and remember stories, and to use storytelling as a way to come to terms with their experiences of the pandemic, to aid healing and to create optimism for the future — both for themselves and their communities. </p>
<p>Storytelling requires a listener, and hence a community of shared experience emerges, building understanding and acceptance. These are crucial for <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/327482874_Engaging_Marginalized_At-Risk_Middle-Level_Students_A_Focus_on_the_Importance_of_a_Sense_of_Belonging_at_School">promoting a sense of belonging</a> and well-being. </p>
<p>The acceleration of change and the likelihood of a “new normal” points to the need to tell the story of how and why change has occurred, and how the individual has experienced this change.</p>
<p>Research in <a href="https://nsuworks.nova.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2970&context=tqr">health settings shows</a> storytelling can be therapeutic. People telling stories as a way of dealing with topics such as trauma, anxiety and illness, are “encouraged to work through their experiences and reflect on and deepen their understanding of what really matters in their lives”. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.patientvoices.org.uk/">Health professionals</a> have increasingly been drawn to collective storytelling for this reason. Now, more than ever, it is needed in schools and in universities, where teachers intersect with the lives of students constantly and have the capacity to make a significant impact.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/384419/original/file-20210216-21-1rwg9hu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Young woman lying on bed with photographs around her." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/384419/original/file-20210216-21-1rwg9hu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/384419/original/file-20210216-21-1rwg9hu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/384419/original/file-20210216-21-1rwg9hu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/384419/original/file-20210216-21-1rwg9hu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/384419/original/file-20210216-21-1rwg9hu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/384419/original/file-20210216-21-1rwg9hu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/384419/original/file-20210216-21-1rwg9hu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Storytelling helps young people make sense of memories.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://unsplash.com/photos/FgSyP02I0gw">Unsplash/ian dooley</a></span>
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<p>The lived experiences and disappointments can be shared through the development of <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3010736/">storytelling skills</a>, such as learning how to appreciate multiple points of view and that listeners and tellers can perceive events differently. These can provide us with a way to chronicle, share, and make meaning of experience, thereby enabling a retelling of the events, even when they reflect a poverty of expectations. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-stories-a-nation-tells-itself-matter-how-will-the-covid-generation-remember-2020-154367">'The stories a nation tells itself matter': how will the COVID generation remember 2020?</a>
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<p>Teachers are the pivotal gate keepers of the future in so many ways, not only in grade setting but in recounting stories of success, both personal and from near and far, opening new future-oriented windows of opportunity to think and act. </p>
<p>In doing so, we reconnect with the important processes of adolescent cognition to rewire the brain, leading to the potential for a more optimistic, hopeful perspective rather than one of disappointment, loss and regret. </p>
<p>The importance of storytelling for all students will continue to grow as we tread the uncertain path of 2021 and beyond.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/155295/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The adolescent brain is particularly vulnerable to experience. Puberty is is the time brain networks are hardwired around milestone events. We should help teenagers make meaning of the pandemic.Donna Pendergast, Dean, School of Educational and Professional Studies, Griffith UniversityStephen Dobson, Professor and Dean of Education, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of WellingtonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1523712021-02-01T13:12:29Z2021-02-01T13:12:29ZWhy rituals are important survival tools during the COVID-19 pandemic<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/380916/original/file-20210127-19-u9nku9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=4%2C0%2C2991%2C1985&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Rituals like hand-washing help spread hygiene practices that are essential to health and survival.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/indonesian-children-washes-his-hands-together-during-the-news-photo/1281434166?adppopup=true">Aditya Saputra/INA Photo Agency/Universal Images Group via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>COVID-19 has disrupted many aspects of daily life, including rituals both sacred and mundane. At the same time, the pandemic has opened a unique opportunity globally to adapt rituals to meet new needs and respond to new challenges.</p>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2019.0419">Rituals are social conventions</a> that range from religious ceremonies like <a href="https://www.vatican.va/archive/ccc_css/archive/catechism/p2s2c1a1.htm">baptisms</a> and <a href="https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/1918218/jewish/Bat-Mitzvah-What-It-Is-and-How-to-Celebrate.htm">bat mitzvahs</a> to simple greetings like handshakes. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.cristinelegare.com">I study what rituals reveal</a> about our minds, nature and culture. They are not arbitrary, capricious or random. Instead, they serve critical social functions such as welcoming newborns into families, celebrating graduations and marriages and mourning loved ones who’ve died. Rituals also <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0963721415618486">promote solidarity</a> by allowing communities to express their shared goals and values. </p>
<p>The pandemic has forced us to <a href="https://www.sciencenews.org/article/rituals-religion-coronavirus-covid-19-pandemic">change many of our most common rituals</a>, including how we celebrate rites of passage. Baby showers, birthday parties and <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/24/podcasts/daily-newsletter-funerals-virus.html">funerals are now held virtually</a>. Large celebratory <a href="https://www.nbcmiami.com/news/local/south-florida-company-adapts-to-pandemic-by-creating-grad-yard-signs/2222966/">signs on front lawns</a> announce graduations. Couples <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/25/fashion/weddings/how-to-livestream-your-wedding.html">livestream their virtual weddings</a> on social media, and families host <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/daily-life-coping/holidays/winter.html">holiday celebrations outdoors</a> to ensure social distancing.</p>
<p>Rituals around greetings and social support have also changed. Handshakes, kisses on the cheeks or lips and physical embraces have been replaced by elbow bumps, air kisses and virtual hugs.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/381137/original/file-20210128-19-buciuz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Vice President Kamala Harris and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin elbow bump." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/381137/original/file-20210128-19-buciuz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/381137/original/file-20210128-19-buciuz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=416&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/381137/original/file-20210128-19-buciuz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=416&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/381137/original/file-20210128-19-buciuz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=416&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/381137/original/file-20210128-19-buciuz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=522&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/381137/original/file-20210128-19-buciuz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=522&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/381137/original/file-20210128-19-buciuz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=522&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin elbow bumps with Vice President Kamala Harris during his swearing-in ceremony at the White House.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/secretary-of-defense-lloyd-austin-elbow-bumps-with-u-s-vice-news-photo/1230786764?adppopup=true">Doug Mills-Pool/Getty Images</a></span>
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<h2>Managing uncertainty</h2>
<p>During times of uncertainty and danger, people often use rituals to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2019.0431">reduce their stress and exert control</a> over their environment. That’s why rituals are common during periods of high risk, such as during pregnancy and after giving birth. </p>
<p>Consider <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2019.0433">Chhathi, a popular ritual</a> in northeast India that takes place on the sixth day after a child’s birth. During the ritual ceremony, the mother and child are bathed and fed. Black thread is tied around the baby’s waist or wrist and black eyeliner is applied around the baby’s eyes. This is meant to provide protection from supernatural threats such as the <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2019.0433">evil eye</a>. Chhathi initiates a new baby into the family, garners supernatural protection and reinforces social cohesion within the community.</p>
<p>A global pandemic is also a time of significant transition and uncertainty when people have <a href="https://www.who.int/news/item/05-10-2020-covid-19-disrupting-mental-health-services-in-most-countries-who-survey">greater need for physical and social support</a>. Over the past year, people have used electronic media to rapidly transform routine social rituals. Like the in-person rituals they replaced, these new interactions – such as virtual happy hours, Zoom business meetings and distance-learning classrooms – <a href="https://www.doi.org/10.1177/0963721415618486">strengthen social ties</a>.</p>
<p>Societies also use rituals for practical reasons, such as <a href="https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2019.0433">improving health and avoiding illness</a>. Records of rituals used in medicine date back to ancient Egypt and the <a href="https://www.ancient-origins.net/artifacts-ancient-writings/ebers-papyrus-0012333">Papyrus Ebers</a>, one of the oldest known medical texts. <a href="https://www.doi.org/10.1016/j.cognition.2012.03.004">It includes this ritual</a> to treat blindness: Crush, powder and blend the two eyes of a pig, mineral eye salve, red oxide and wild honey in a clay bowl. Inject mixture into patient’s ear and say, “I have brought this thing and put it in its place. The crocodile god Sobek is weak and powerless.” </p>
<p>Contemporary rituals are also used in this way to attempt to treat and prevent illness. <a href="https://www.doi.org/10.1016/j.cognition.2012.03.004">Rituals called simpatias</a> are used to treat pulmonary ailments in Brazil, <a href="https://www.doi.org/10.1080/03640210802066766">rituals based on traditional medicine</a> are used to treat HIV in South Africa, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2019.0433">rituals performed during pregnancy</a> are used to prevent birth defects in India and rituals using <a href="https://www.doi.org/10.1093/rheumatology/keq234">homoeopathic remedies</a> are used to treat rheumatoid arthritis in the U.K.</p>
<h2>Promoting hygiene</h2>
<p>Many religious rituals concern cleansing and purification. For example, it is <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-islamic-hygienic-practices-can-teach-when-coronavirus-is-spreading-133221">obligatory for Muslims</a> to wash their face, arms, head and feet before praying, a purification ritual called Wudu.</p>
<p>[<em>Deep knowledge, daily.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/the-daily-3?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=deepknowledge">Sign up for The Conversation’s newsletter</a>.]</p>
<p>The COVID-19 pandemic has also prompted people to adopt new rituals around personal and communal hygiene such as wearing face masks in public, rigorously cleaning shared surfaces and taking turns being inside businesses and workplaces.</p>
<p>Anthropologists believe such rituals may be part of a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2019.0439">hazard-precaution system</a>, a psychological system geared toward responding to threats in the environment such as pathogens or contamination. Since reducing contamination and promoting hygiene is essential to health and survival, having <a href="https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2019.0425">rituals to spread these practices</a> within a population is useful. </p>
<p>There are good reasons people spend time, money and energy engaging in rituals in the face of COVID-19 restrictions. They are essential to meeting our physical, social and psychological needs in the face of adversity.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/152371/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Cristine H Legare receives funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Economic and Social Research Council (UK), the National Science Foundation (US), and the Templeton Religion Trust. </span></em></p>People often turn to rituals to promote health and reduce anxiety during periods of high risk.Cristine H Legare, Professor of Psychology, The University of Texas at AustinLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1450972020-09-06T20:15:52Z2020-09-06T20:15:52ZNo festivals, no schoolies: young people are missing out on vital rites of passage during COVID<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/356017/original/file-20200902-24-3m2xbc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=15%2C350%2C4948%2C3707&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">www.shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>As we approach the end of a uniquely challenging school year, the class of 2020 look set to miss out on many of the usual highlights of year 12. </p>
<p>Graduation <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/national/a-really-tough-year-calls-for-covid-safe-graduations-as-year-12-suffers-20200820-p55nqy.html">ceremonies</a>, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/aug/17/nsw-bans-state-school-formals-graduation-ceremonies-and-choirs-under-new-covid-safe-rules">formals</a>, <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-08-28/schoolies-week-cancelled-due-to-covid-19-high-risk-pandemic/12605086">schoolies week</a> and <a href="https://www.nme.com/en_au/news/music/coronavirus-covid-19-australia-festivals-concerts-cancelled-postponed-2623326">summer music festivals</a> have either been cancelled or <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/terrific-outcome-bans-on-formals-and-graduations-to-be-lifted-after-hsc-20200904-p55shh.html">restricted</a>.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, those who may have been planning a gap year overseas are not able to leave the country. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/theres-a-ban-on-leaving-australia-under-covid-19-who-can-get-an-exemption-to-go-overseas-and-how-145089">There's a ban on leaving Australia under COVID-19. Who can get an exemption to go overseas? And how?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>So far, public discussion of these cancellations have understandably focused <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-08-28/schoolies-week-cancelled-due-to-covid-19-high-risk-pandemic/12605086">on the risks</a> posed by COVID and the possible <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/national/a-really-tough-year-calls-for-covid-safe-graduations-as-year-12-suffers-20200820-p55nqy.html">mental health impacts</a> on young people. </p>
<p>But young people aren’t just missing out on a chance to wear fancy clothes or party with their mates. Events like schoolies and formals also have a profound social purpose as rites of passage.</p>
<h2>What are rites of passage?</h2>
<p>Rites of passage are rituals that accompany changes in social status for individuals and groups. Their importance has been <a href="https://link.springer.com/referenceworkentry/10.1007%2F978-1-4614-6086-2_588">recognised by social researchers</a> for more than a century. </p>
<p>In ethnographer Arnold Van Gennep’s original 1909 work, which is still broadly accepted by researchers, rites of passage share three basic phases:</p>
<ul>
<li>a symbolic separation from normality, such as by travel or costumes </li>
<li>an in-between stage, in which social norms and hierarchies are cast off and people embrace a community spirit</li>
<li>a ceremonial confirmation of the new state of affairs, often with symbols like a ring or crown. </li>
</ul>
<p>This creates a transformative experience for people. It marks a change as special, by stepping outside ordinary life. </p>
<p>The brief upturn in the social order also allows the community to strengthen its bonds and reaffirm its support for the broader, existing social system.</p>
<h2>Traditional rites of passage are in decline</h2>
<p>For young people today, ceremonies like school graduations or schoolies trips are even more important than for previous generations. </p>
<p>Declining rates of <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/religion/religion-in-australia-what-are-the-implications-of-none-being-th/10094576">religious affiliation</a> means religious coming-of-age has also declined in importance. Changing social norms also mean events like <a href="https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/6047410/debutante-ball-no-longer-a-canberra-tradition/">debutante balls</a> and <a href="https://aifs.gov.au/facts-and-figures/marriage-australia/marriage-australia-source-data">weddings</a> are no longer common practice for teenagers and those in their early 20s.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, traditional economic markers of growing up - such as moving out of home, and starting full-time work - are also <a href="https://www.domain.com.au/news/one-in-four-australian-adult-children-move-back-home-new-data-shows-955703/">proving more elusive </a>for young people, thanks to challenging <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-next-employment-challenge-from-coronavirus-how-to-help-the-young-135676">job</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/first-home-buyer-schemes-arent-enough-to-meet-young-adults-housing-aspirations-121431">housing</a> markets. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/six-graphs-that-explain-australias-recession-145445">Six graphs that explain Australia's recession</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Schoolies, gap years are even more important</h2>
<p>This means other cultural traditions are a critical part of how young people transition to adulthood. </p>
<p>Often when we talk about <a href="https://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/parenting/school-life/sydney-hsc-student-suspended-after-encouraging-muckup-day-prank/news-story/5207d51c93e1f9b6163a00197c518cb5">“muck up” days</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/is-your-teen-off-to-schoolies-heres-what-to-say-instead-of-freaking-out-126203">schoolies</a> and <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/11603791/Gap-year-takers-less-likely-to-finish-university.html">gap years</a>, debates focus (not always fairly) on the risks involved with young people who are celebrating and testing boundaries. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A crowded Cavil Mall on the Gold Coast during schoolies." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/356018/original/file-20200902-16-kmvipj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/356018/original/file-20200902-16-kmvipj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/356018/original/file-20200902-16-kmvipj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/356018/original/file-20200902-16-kmvipj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/356018/original/file-20200902-16-kmvipj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/356018/original/file-20200902-16-kmvipj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/356018/original/file-20200902-16-kmvipj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Queensland government has cancelled official schoolies celebrations due to COVID.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Dean Saffron/AAP</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But research has shown how <a href="https://doi.org/10.1108/IJEFM-02-2016-0008">schoolies</a> and <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02508281.2017.1292177?journalCode=rtrr20">gap year travel</a> act as rituals to mark and manage the otherwise often unremarkable transition to adulthood.</p>
<p>These episodes provide a meaningful break with normal life and past identity. They see young people leave their comfort zone to experience a sense of community with their peers, before moving to the next stage of life. </p>
<p>Similarly, music festivals, while not one-off events, can also <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02614361003749793">provide these experiences</a>. <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13676260500523580">Nightclubs</a> and parties - which have also been significantly curtailed during COVID - are also spaces to escape everyday rules and experience communal energy within the broader period of emerging adulthood.</p>
<h2>Lasting impacts?</h2>
<p>In addition to the <a href="https://theconversation.com/victorias-year-12-students-are-learning-remotely-but-they-wont-necessarily-fall-behind-143844">impact on education</a> - which has yet to be fully understood - there are other ways in which the class of 2020 may be roundly disadvantaged. </p>
<p>COVID-19 has changed so many of the cultural experiences young people use to make their way into adulthood.</p>
<p>So, what might be the lasting consequences for this year’s school leavers?</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Nightclub, with disco ball, smoke machine and people dancing." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/356020/original/file-20200902-14-1jes83x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/356020/original/file-20200902-14-1jes83x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/356020/original/file-20200902-14-1jes83x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/356020/original/file-20200902-14-1jes83x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/356020/original/file-20200902-14-1jes83x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/356020/original/file-20200902-14-1jes83x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/356020/original/file-20200902-14-1jes83x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Nightclubs are a place for young people to escape everyday rules.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">www.shutterstock.com</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Missing out on rites of passage like schoolies week and festivals could mar the transition into adult society in subtle but palpable ways. </p>
<p>Without such cultural experiences it is harder to know when this change has really happened, to respect its significance and feel a sense of belonging in one’s new social role. </p>
<p>As per Van Gennep’s work, this cohort of young people is also missing chances to bond as a community and to reaffirm their commitment to the social order by temporarily disrupting it. </p>
<p>This is why, in the absence of formal rites of passage, people develop their own replacements, for better or worse. Recent reports of an impromptu rave inside a kebab shop show that young people will <a href="https://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/national/queensland/brisbane-kebab-shop-fined-after-customers-break-out-in-impromptu-3am-rave-20200824-p55oum.html">find other ways</a> of crossing boundaries together - testing both legal and social norms.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/it-really-sucks-how-some-year-12-students-in-queensland-feel-about-2020-144004">'It really sucks': how some Year 12 students in Queensland feel about 2020</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>On a more positive note, our <a href="https://apraamcos.com.au/events/2020/june/call-out-for-volunteers-music-makers-during-covid-19/">ongoing research</a> with young people about making music during COVID-19 is showing their resilience and creativity in balancing safety with social needs. <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/triplej/news/musicnews/livestreaming-music-adapt-overcome-coronavirus-feature-read/12071726">Online performances</a> are providing some missing ritual and social media also allows a level of community experience.</p>
<p>While we maintain our focus on community health and safety, we must recognise that what might look like frivolous or risky activities can have huge significance for young people as they move into adulthood. </p>
<p>This means they also have huge significance for our society more broadly.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/145097/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>End of year celebrations will be very different for the class of 2020. Thanks to COVID, they are missing out on more than just the chance to party.Ben Green, Postdoctoral resident adjunct, Griffith Centre for Social and Cultural Research, Griffith UniversityAndy Bennett, Professor, Griffith UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/980152018-06-18T13:36:13Z2018-06-18T13:36:13ZWhy women should have more of a say in male rites of passage<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/222743/original/file-20180612-112596-mi5wj8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">AmaXhosa women want to play a bigger role in cultural rituals.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">South African Tourism/Flickr</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Each year scores of boys from the <a href="http://www.sahistory.org.za/article/xhosa">amaXhosa</a> nation take part in <a href="http://vital.seals.ac.za:8080/vital/access/manager/Repository/vital:3271">ulwaluko</a> in South Africa’s Eastern Cape province. This involves the boys living in secluded areas away from their homes. They undergo circumcision and take part in a number of rituals. All of this entails the boy’s <a href="https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/145051396.pdf">journey to manhood</a>.</p>
<p>Unfortunately the process can be problematic. More than 1000 initiates <a href="https://ulwaluko.co.za/Problems.html">have died</a> in the province between 1995 and 2017. Complications from <a href="http://www.samj.org.za/index.php/samj/article/view/2271">botched circumcision procedures</a> – including penile amputations – are common. There are also frequent reports of dehydration and physical violence in initiation schools. </p>
<p>These negative stories tend to make headlines. But for the most part, ulwaluko is shrouded in secrecy. And amaXhosa women tend to be among those who are the most excluded from this secretive set of rituals.</p>
<p>The participation of women in ulwaluko is <a href="http://www.koersjournal.org.za/index.php/koers/article/view/42">considered taboo</a> among amaXhosa. The Congress of Traditional Leaders of South Africa has in the past <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13691050701861447">rejected</a> any suggestion of women’s involvement. </p>
<p>When the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs tried in 2016 to legislate for some involvement by women in ulwaluko, it was labelled “<a href="http://www.dispatchlive.co.za/news/2016/03/19/ribal-chiefs-reject-draft-bill-on-circumcision-rite/">a serious mistake</a>” by men opposed to the idea. The department retracted the controversial clause.</p>
<h2>Men and women’s roles</h2>
<p>Traditionally there’s a <a href="http://theconversation.com/changes-in-gender-norms-are-making-initiation-safer-for-south-african-boys-46488">significant split</a> in gender roles during ulwaluko. Women cook and prepare for the related ceremonies while men are responsible for the customary practices and the decisions required in the process.</p>
<p>I wanted to understand women’s feelings and perceptions about ulwaluko. I also wanted to establish whether their rights to gender equality, as outlined in the <a href="http://www.justice.gov.za/legislation/constitution/SAConstitution-web-eng.pdf">Constitution</a> and <a href="http://www.hrcr.org/docs/CEDAW/cedaw.html">other pieces</a> of South African and international <a href="http://www.justice.gov.za/legislation/acts/2000-004.pdf">legislation</a>, were being compromised in the name of protecting cultural norms.</p>
<p>I explored these issues in <a href="http://vital.seals.ac.za:8080/vital/access/manager/Repository/vital:28059">my PhD thesis</a>. The study found that although women embrace and celebrate ulwaluko as a rite of passage, they also view it as a practice that perpetuates patriarchy. </p>
<p>The findings suggest there’s a need for relevant government structures and traditional leadership to give women a voice in discussions around ulwaluko. Women believe that certain things can be done differently to help make initiation safer. They also want to be part of the discussions and decision-making process around ulwaluko.</p>
<h2>Women feel excluded</h2>
<p>I conducted eight focus group discussions and 10 in-depth interviews in the Eastern Cape towns of Mdantsane, Flagstaff and Grahamstown with women aged between 31 and 82. Most had sent at least one son to initiation school.</p>
<p>Women told me their role in ulwaluko merely involved labour intensive tasks such as preparing food and traditional beer for the initiation ceremonies. They were barred from decision making processes. </p>
<p>One of the interviewees, Mavuyi*, expressed frustration with this exclusion:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>We are not even allowed to speak about it! This is why some things fail, because sometimes this woman has good advice but is scared she will be asked why she is getting involved in this business.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Another participant, Lulu*, complained that “nobody tells you anything, because you are a woman”.</p>
<p>A few women told me, however, that there was nothing untoward about the exclusion of women from the initiation process. They argued that the tradition should be respected and accepted as men’s territory in the same way that child birth was historically considered women’s terrain by amaXhosa. It is worth noting that there have been some shifts here, in that modern amaXhosa men observe their children’s birth in hospital and give their wives support.</p>
<h2>Harmful cultural practice</h2>
<p>However, my research and others’ suggests that on the whole ulwaluko can be viewed as a <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09720073.2011.11891187">harmful cultural practice</a> because it puts women in harm’s way and causes them great distress. For instance, women who are seen in close proximity to an initiation school are accused of <a href="https://scholar.sun.ac.za/bitstream/handle/10019.1/86595/ncaca_yithi_2014.pdf">practising witchcraft</a> – and <a href="https://www.dispatchlive.co.za/news/2017-12-28-three-initiates-up-for-murder/">even killed</a> as a result.</p>
<p>Women are also vulnerable to a practice called <a href="http://vital.seals.ac.za:8080/vital/access/manager/Repository/vital:3271">ukukhupha ifutha or ukosula</a>. This encourages newly-initiated men to have sex with any woman who is not their girlfriend; they believe this will cleanse them of any bad luck they may have acquired during the initiation. The result is frequently coercive or non-consensual sex.</p>
<p>Initiates’ mothers also suffer tremendous distress and worry, particularly in the Eastern Cape’s Mpondoland region. They are denied information about their sons’ health. In some instances, boys died during the initiation period and their mothers were not told. Women weren’t even told where their children were buried. This weighed heavily on them.</p>
<p>Despite these issues, women don’t want ulwaluko to be scrapped. They understand its <a href="https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/145051396.pdf">significance as a cultural practice</a>. </p>
<p>It is a deeply entrenched, age-old practice that has stood the test of time among amaXhosa. Initiates undergo this rite in the belief that it will transform even the most wayward boy into a dignified, self-respecting, and socially responsible man. </p>
<p>However, while respecting this history and culture, it’s also important to implement new ways of addressing the evident clash between ulwaluko and gender equality. </p>
<p>This is happening slowly in some areas. In parts of the Eastern Cape, mothers and female relatives who were traditionally denied information about initiates’ deaths are <a href="http://theconversation.com/changes-in-gender-norms-are-making-initiation-safer-for-south-african-boys-46488">no longer kept in the dark</a>. This allows them to grieve properly.</p>
<h2>Room for change</h2>
<p>Ulwaluko, like all other traditional practices, must be allowed to exist. However, custodians of the culture should be willing to part with the harmful aspects identified in this study. </p>
<p>Awareness must be created around initiation legislation and existing tensions. Awareness campaigns can also be used to modify the norms and values of the custom that are outdated. </p>
<p>At the heart of this is the need to incorporate the voice of women in ulwaluko processes. Gender equality programmes should be established at community level. But these initiatives will work only if they are grounded in law and involve all stakeholders.</p>
<p>Lastly, initiation practices that have been successful in other Xhosa regions need to be documented and shared with communities that continue to experience persistent problems and fatalities during the initiation season. </p>
<p><em>*Not their real names.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/98015/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mmampho KB Gogela received a small research grant from Walter Sisulu University for her PhD study. She is affiliated with the Democratic Alliance. </span></em></p>Women don’t want to be reduced to ceremonial roles; they believe they can add value in making decisions.Mmampho Gogela, Manager: Centre for Learning and Teaching Development, Walter Sisulu UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/768112017-04-27T17:08:30Z2017-04-27T17:08:30ZDid Europe’s leading fire festival do a deal with the Devil to stay alight?<p>In the heart of Edinburgh on the eve of May Day every year is an ancient Gaelic fire festival called Beltane. Set on the imposing <a href="http://www.edinburghguide.com/parks/caltonhill">Calton Hill</a>, opposite the headquarters of the Scottish government, this year marks 30 years since the ancient tradition was revived by a group of alternative artists. </p>
<p>It is now one of the most celebrated spectacles in the city’s events calendar, and the biggest of its kind in Europe. It is sometimes attended by more than 10,000 revellers – and it also happens to be 20 years since I first took part as one of the drummers. </p>
<p>Beltane has certainly paid a price for its current status, having professionalised and to some extent sanitised along the way. So was the journey worth it, and can alternative festivals go mainstream and still matter?</p>
<p><a href="http://www.newgrange.com/beltane.htm">Beltane</a> was originally one of four ancient Gaelic festivals that took place throughout Europe to celebrate the passage of the seasons (along with <a href="https://www.digitalmedievalist.com/opinionated-celtic-faqs/samain/">Samhuinn</a>, <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/paganism/holydays/imbolc.shtml">Imbolc</a> and <a href="https://www.scribd.com/document/296380946/Lughnasadh-Research-PDF">Lughnasadh</a>). Its <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/the-golden-bough-9780199538829?q=The%20golden%20bough&lang=en&cc=gb">origins</a> lie in the celebration of spring and the fertility of land, livestock and people. </p>
<p>The name is thought to originate from a Gaelic-Celtic word meaning “<a href="https://beltane.org/about/about-beltane/">bright/sacred fire</a>”, and a common element of these festivals was the “Neid-Fire”, lit by a spiritual figurehead. From this source, communal bonfires were lit and individual home fires were re-lit as a purifying rite – with “<a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/the-golden-bough-9780199538829?q=The%20golden%20bough&lang=en&cc=gb">plenty of beer and whisky</a>” swallowed along the way. </p>
<p>These festivals were discouraged in later, God-fearing centuries and were mostly discontinued in the prim Victorian era. In Scotland, only Edinburgh’s Beltane survived into the early 20th century until its beacon was extinguished, too. </p>
<h2>A new flame</h2>
<p>Then came a group in the late 1980s led by <a href="http://nva.org.uk/about/">Angus Farquhar</a>, then of industrial band <a href="http://testdept.org.uk">Test Dept</a>. Others included the poet <a href="http://www.scottishpoetrylibrary.org.uk/poetry/poets/hamish-henderson">Hamish Henderson</a> and the folklorist <a href="https://www.margaretbennett.co.uk">Margaret Bennett</a>, then of Edinburgh University’s <a href="http://www.ed.ac.uk/literatures-languages-cultures/celtic-scottish-studies/archives">School of Scottish Studies</a>, and choreographers <a href="http://lindsayjohn.weebly.com/index.html">Lindsay John</a> and <a href="http://www.elizabethranken.com">Elizabeth Ranken</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/167060/original/file-20170427-15105-p7f22y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/167060/original/file-20170427-15105-p7f22y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/167060/original/file-20170427-15105-p7f22y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=688&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/167060/original/file-20170427-15105-p7f22y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=688&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/167060/original/file-20170427-15105-p7f22y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=688&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/167060/original/file-20170427-15105-p7f22y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=864&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/167060/original/file-20170427-15105-p7f22y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=864&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/167060/original/file-20170427-15105-p7f22y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=864&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Calton Hill.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Calton_Hill_from_a_kite.jpg#/media/File:Calton_Hill_from_a_kite.jpg">Wikimedia</a></span>
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</figure>
<p>While the old Beltane had taken place on <a href="https://www.scottishsport.co.uk/walking/arthurseat.htm">Arthur’s Seat</a>, the hills that overlook the city, these organisers chose nearby Calton Hill because permission was easier. It is the site of Edinburgh’s unfinished acropolis the <a href="http://www.edinburghguide.com/parks/caltonhill">National Monument</a>, which at the time had a negative reputation as a no-go part of the city come dusk. The hill also acts as the symbolic seat of power for the Scottish government, which added to the sense of playful subversion they had in mind. </p>
<p>The original free all-night festival was attended by just a couple of hundred people. It was about protest as celebration, against the black and white politics of 1980s Britain. It overlapped with the wider British <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/01438300600625408">free festival scene</a> that had led to the era of Stonehenge as <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/the-battle-of-the-beanfield-the-violent-new-age-traveller-clash-with-police-at-stonehenge-remembered-10287028.html">contested site</a>, later culminating in acid house raves, road protests and the controversial <a href="http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1994/33/part/V/crossheading/powers-in-relation-to-raves">Criminal Justice Act 1994</a>. </p>
<p>The core has always been a procession of the <a href="https://beltane.org/2017/04/14/whos-who-on-the-hill/">May Queen</a>, the death and rebirth of the <a href="https://beltane.org/2016/12/27/calling-our-next-green-man-for-beltane-2017/">Green Man</a>, and the lighting of a bonfire, all set to the beating of drums, fire and acrobatics. Among the additional characters are <a href="https://beltane.org/category/reds/">the Reds</a>, who embody the carnivalesque, the fools who become kings for a night, and the need in all of us to let loose and go wild. </p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/167090/original/file-20170427-15102-c8rc2l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/167090/original/file-20170427-15102-c8rc2l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/167090/original/file-20170427-15102-c8rc2l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/167090/original/file-20170427-15102-c8rc2l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/167090/original/file-20170427-15102-c8rc2l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/167090/original/file-20170427-15102-c8rc2l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/167090/original/file-20170427-15102-c8rc2l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/patrickdown/17141150920/in/photolist-s7GSYQ-27RCY-27RFV-4KWjHj-4HLhs-4HLhA-D6CpG-6jNnCL-Jp6Zu-6kGAAa-EBDVz-6juUxW-Jp6ZJ-6jqJtR-9fBRmh-6jqJJ2-6jqJDH-6juUvC-6jqJqr-6juULs-6juUrE-6jqJxx-6juUzm-6juUHb-sqhXNR-6jqJyk-6juUF7-6jqJrM-6jqJog-6jqJAn-numX8T-aaWBb-JoZWz-Joo42-6jqJM8-6jqJBZ-dbf2K-7XKZ8W-JoZWx-dbf2N-JpCdY-6juUPS-6jNjoJ-EBDTF-dbgoR-JpBNN-dbgoS-6juUNA-6jJ6xt-sqad5J">Patrick Down</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
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</figure>
<p>I joined as one of the Beastie Drummers, who accompany the Reds, having been recruited through a djembe drumming class at Edinburgh University. It was a liberating experience, both primal and modern, all dancing and chanting to the beat of the drums. It would fragment into smaller hillside gatherings until dawn, as boundaries blurred with the audience and we all celebrated a sense of belonging to something forgotten</p>
<h2>Changing times</h2>
<p>The festival has overcome numerous hurdles over the years – the first when Angus Farquhar stepped down in 1992 and the <a href="https://beltane.org/about/">Beltane Fire Society</a> was formed. The new board still had to contend with a darker undercurrent linked to the location and the free nature of the festival, relying on year-round fundraising and bucket donations on the night.</p>
<p>“There were a lot of rougher people when it was free,” says one organiser. “[There was a] violent undertone which never manifested too often but it was there.” The police presence steadily grew and negotiations with the city council became increasingly fraught amid perceived fears about drug dealing, fights and health and safety regulations. </p>
<p>In 2002, I took part in what was to be my final Beltane drumming performance before leaving Edinburgh to work abroad for a time. It also turned out to be the end of the first era since the revival. The festival was <a href="http://www.scotsman.com/news/one-capital-event-we-must-reignite-1-873108">forced to cancel</a> in 2003, reduced to a low-key private ritual elsewhere. In the post-9/11 world, health and safety costs had gone through the roof and bucket donations were no longer adequate. </p>
<p>It returned the following year with low-cost ticketing and a 1am curfew. This removed the minority undercurrent but also “that sense of controlled anarchic freedom”, according to a former organiser. Some more activist supporters felt the spirit had gone, though the performance certainly retained that sense of temporary freedom, transgression from convention and wild abandon. </p>
<p>There was another milestone in 2008 when the Beltane Fire Society was granted charitable status. It now has a mutually respectful relationship with the council and works hard to encourage audience/performer engagement through workshops and additional groups and characters. </p>
<h2>A rite of passage</h2>
<p>The modern Beltane has always been a <a href="https://www.academia.edu/6960759/Tinsley_R._and_Matheson_C._M._2014._Layers_of_passage_The_ritual_performance_and_liminal_bleed_of_the_Beltane_Fire_Festival_Edinburgh">rite of passage</a>. It relies heavily on students and young people from around the world, and the <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0261517714000247">audience</a> too is nearly 80% first-time attenders with most resident but not born in Scotland. This has always meant that new performers and organisers have been able to rejuvenate the society’s vision along the way. </p>
<p>Since my Beltane days, I have been through a fair few subsequent rites of passage of my own, one of which will accompany me to my first family-friendly Beltane community open day this weekend. I’ve also secured tickets to attend the main event this year with the school friend I originally signed up with 20 years ago. </p>
<p>The broader political climate too has come full circle for this 30th Beltane, with the Tories dominant and even threatening a comeback in Scotland. The festival might have had to compromise to be embraced by the Edinburgh establishment, but you can expect this year’s celebration to include nods to recent global events and the society’s activist roots. In an era that has forgotten so much of its ancient traditions, better a May Day cup that’s mostly full than nothing left at all.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/76811/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ross Tinsley does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Edinburgh will this year host the 30th Beltane.Ross Tinsley, Lecturer, Tourism, Edinburgh Napier UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/743082017-04-17T08:34:02Z2017-04-17T08:34:02ZMaking circumcision safer for young men with bleeding disorders<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/164798/original/image-20170411-31911-dw2quo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Haemophilia impairs the body's ability to make blood clots causing excessive bleeding.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>Circumcision is the <a href="http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/302234.php">oldest and most frequent</a> surgical procedure in the world. In some cultures, it marks a clear break from childhood to adulthood. But, reports of young men <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/aug/25/male-circumcision-ceremonies-death-deformity-africa">dying</a> during traditional initiation rites due to spontaneous bleeding are devastating. The Conversation Africa’s Health and Medicine Editor Joy Wanja Muraya asked Dr Peter Kibet Shikuku for his views on a safe circumcision programme in Kenya for boys with haemophilia – a bleeding disorder.</em></p>
<p><strong>How prevalent is haemophilia in Kenya?</strong></p>
<p>Most patients with haemophilia are born with it, <a href="https://www.rarebleedingdisorders.com/bleeding-disorders/congenital-hemophilia.html">congenital</a>, while others <a href="http://www.haemophiliacare.co.uk/acquired-haemophilia.html">acquire it</a>.</p>
<p>Patients must see a specialist, a haematologist, before any surgery to control their bleeding. While circumcision is not a major operation, it can lead to <a href="https://www.hemophilia.org/Bleeding-Disorders/History-of-Bleeding-Disorders">death</a> because the bleeding is slow, consistent, continuous and prolonged.</p>
<p>The prevalence of haemophilia is the same in all communities and remains at <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4181156/">1 per 10,000</a> in any population. As a country we have only reached awareness of the disease at 14% of those affected.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.hemophiliaprince.com/myths-about-hemophilia.html">Superstitions </a> are driven by lack of awareness in the communities forcing some parents to hide or lock away their children from the general public due to associations of the condition with bad omen.</p>
<p>During circumcision by traditional healers, the injured young men and those slow to heal are abandoned in the forest to die. Circumcision, they say, is not for weaklings.</p>
<p><strong>How different is circumcision for haemophiliacs?</strong> </p>
<p>Circumcision carries different meanings in Africa and globally. In most communities in Kenya, it’s a <a href="http://www.cirp.org/library/cultural/marck/">rite of passage</a> practiced by most communities on boys and/or girls.</p>
<p>It involves either the removal of certain <a href="https://kenyastockholm.files.wordpress.com/2008/08/luocircumcisionrites_03.pdf">teeth</a>, tattooing parts of the body, piercing of earlobes, removal of the <a href="http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/302234.php">foreskin</a> or a combination of practices.</p>
<p>During these rites blood is lost, with a few complications occurring. But, some young men die due to lack of adequate testing for <a href="https://www.haemophilia.org.au/about-bleeding-disorders/haemophilia">haemophilia</a> - a genetic disorder that impairs the body’s ability to make blood clots.</p>
<p>This is complicated by <a href="http://www.who.int/bulletin/volumes/88/12/09-072975/en/">lack of information</a> within the circumcising communities on the bleeding disorder. The uninitiated are often <a href="http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0083998">stigmatised</a>, ridiculed and bullied by their peers.</p>
<p>Because of this, some young men do not disclose that they’re haemophiliac and undergo circumcision without the precautionary measures, leading to complications, and even death. </p>
<p>Blood clot elements that manage haemophilia during circumcision are not readily available and are <a href="http://www.hemophiliafed.org/bleeding-disorders/hemophilia/treatment/">expensive</a>. The missing factor protein is <a href="http://www.hemophiliafed.org/bleeding-disorders/hemophilia/treatment/">injected</a> into the affected person’s vein enabling the body to continue the clotting and hence stop the bleeding.</p>
<h2>First case study</h2>
<p>A 23 year old man in high school was under peer pressure to get circumcised. They threatened to forcibly circumcise him themselves. He knew he had haemophilia and needed the <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/hemophilia/treatment.html">factor concentrate</a>.</p>
<p>He travelled from one health facility to another to accumulate enough of the concentrate . But, it wasn’t enough and he was circumcised with these expired products in one of the health facilities. </p>
<p>He developed antibodies to factor eight on the fifth day after the operation and ended up with a by passing agent to overcome the antibodies till he healed. It’s not even possible to establish the reason behind antibody development in this patient.</p>
<figure>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Dr Kibet Shikuku talks about the impact of working with the World Federation of Hemophilia.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Second case study</h2>
<p>A young man in his 20’s with haemophilia had suicidal tendencies. Being “uncut” was unacceptable and demeaning in his community.</p>
<p>He got clinicians to take him through the procedure even though they had very limited resources. A group of consultants decided to use blood components, a few factor concentrates and tranexamic acid. This combination worked despite the shortcomings associated with it. He recovered and is now one of Kenya’s paralympic sportsmen. </p>
<p><strong>What strategies and technologies are used to ensure safer circumcision amongst haemophiliacs?</strong></p>
<p>There are 450 young men attending the haemophilia comprehensive care clinic at Kenyatta National Hospital and Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital. They make up about 10% of all haemophiliacs countrywide. </p>
<p>Most of them are not circumcised despite coming from circumcising communities, because of haemophilia. That is because of the lack of factor concentrates which are essential in <a href="http://www.businessdailyafrica.com/Special-circumcision-knife/539444-3437776-8odmfo/">preventing bleeding</a>.</p>
<p>At <a href="http://knh.or.ke/">Kenyatta National Hospital</a>, circumcision was the least of procedures to be offered to haemophiliacs due to lack of factor concentrates. The clinical team opted to use tranexamic acid alternating it with cryoprecipitate to stop heavy bleeding, commonly used in peripheral facilities by uninformed surgeons. </p>
<p>This seemed to have worked though in case of any inhibitor development, there were almost no alternative treatment and fatalities were almost the norm.</p>
<p>Towards the end of 2015, <a href="http://haemophilia-kenya.org/index.php">Kenya Hemophilia Association</a> initiated a “safe” circumcision programme in the two health facilities, that has led to circumcision of about 30 haemophilia patients. All the young men were prepared before the surgery by getting clotting factors and later followed up in the wards until they got fully healed.</p>
<p><strong>What challenges do you face running this safer circumcision programme? What lessons have you learnt?</strong></p>
<p>The lack of cost effective drugs to manage patients during circumcision is the most urgent concern.</p>
<p>The shortage of factor concentrates in public hospitals and clinics forces us to rely heavily on <a href="http://humanpathology.uonbi.ac.ke/node/4270">donations </a>from the World Federation of Haemophilia. The availability of the concentrates in select health facilities locks out families with haemophiliac young men from safe circumcision.</p>
<p>Since the safe circumcision programme started, parents are bringing <a href="https://www.standardmedia.co.ke/evewoman/article/2000120029/silent-medical-condition-that-kills-quietly">their sons </a> for registration. This has enabled the programme to schedule with the surgeons all procedures annually. </p>
<p>We are creating <a href="https://www.standardmedia.co.ke/health/article/2000209632/victim-of-blood-disorder-lends-hand-to-those-with-same-condition">public awareness </a> of the signs and symptoms associated with the disease so that people can seek help early, before the young men reach circumcision age.</p>
<p>For young men who wish to keep to their cultural initiation rites, we have trained nurses to deliver the clotting factors at the village during circumcision supported by the traditional surgeons, elders and other decision makers.</p>
<p>Overall, fewer cases are now being brought to the hospital as emergencies following circumcision as compared to before. The programme intends to determine the best protocol which is cost effective and easily implemented at the lower health facilities in the counties.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/74308/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kibet Peter Shikuku receives funding from.get funding from Novo Nordisk Hemophilia Foundation and world federation of hemophilia
</span></em></p>Circumcision is a rite of passage in various African communities. However, for initiates with haemophilia, extra caution needs to be taken to ensure their safety.Kibet Peter Shikuku, Lecturer, School of Medicine (SOM)University of Nairobi (UON) and Consultant Haematologist, University of NairobiLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/464882015-10-07T04:10:42Z2015-10-07T04:10:42ZChanges in gender norms are making initiation safer for South African boys<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/97434/original/image-20151006-7337-1g5gtvb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Initiates undergoing the traditional passage to manhood in Qunu, in the Eastern Cape, South Africa. Many either die or get maimed during the winter practice. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Reuters/Siegfried Modola</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>At least <a href="http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/Initiation-Government-wants-to-do-away-with-traditional-surgeons-20150909">30 initiates</a> are known to have died by the time the traditional male initiation season ended in South Africa this winter (2015). Most were from Xhosa communities in the Eastern Cape province. </p>
<p>Male initiation is a rite of passage from boyhood to manhood for some ethnic groups in South Africa. <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/13691050701861447">Ritual male initiation</a> includes circumcision and the initiates spending about a month or longer in seclusion in the bush. </p>
<p><a href="http://tcn.sagepub.com/content/20/4/395.full.pdf+html">Initiation</a> is deemed a necessary rite of passage marking a developmental phase for boys to adulthood among the <a href="http://www.sahistory.org.za/people-south-africa/xhosa">amaXhosa</a>, <a href="http://www.bapedikingdom.co.za/history_bapedi.html">Bapedi</a>, <a href="http://countrystudies.us/south-africa/47.htm">Basotho</a>, <a href="http://www.gaabomotho.co.za/tswana.html">Batswana</a>, <a href="http://repository.up.ac.za/handle/2263/17089">amaNdebele</a>, <a href="https://intercontinentalcry.org/indigenous-peoples/vhavenda/">VhaVenda</a>, <a href="https://vatsonga.wordpress.com/about/">VaTsonga</a> and <a href="https://books.google.co.za/books?id=vRU9AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA7&dq=Amaswazi&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CEQQ6AEwCTgKahUKEwj7zpuRsa3IAhVBohQKHW5gAUA#v=onepage&q=Amaswazi&f=false">amaSwazi</a> ethnic groups. The initiation process is typically run by the family, with the boy’s father directing proceedings.</p>
<p>Traditional initiation involving circumcision remains an important topic in South Africa for several reasons. At the top of the list is the public health discourse and debates around prevention of initiates’ deaths. But initiation is also important because the practise is still relevant and employed in a range of urbanising communities across the country.</p>
<p>Deaths of initiates resulting from botched circumcisions, related infections and dehydration during this rite of passage are <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2009.11.016">nothing new</a>. And there is some evidence that they may be <a href="http://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2015-07-30-sa-is-making-progress-on-making-initiation-schools-safer/#.Vb9jeE8w_4Y">declining</a>.</p>
<p>Deaths of initiates have attracted heightened attention from the government, civil society and the traditional custodians of the <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2009.11.016">practice</a>. </p>
<p>Save for girls, who are related to and who cook for the initiate, women are generally not involved in the traditional process. Women’s role could be described as that of cheer leaders. They participate significantly in the ceremonies to welcome the new men back home. Discussions around the meaningful involvement of women in the initiation process have been met with resistance from custodians of <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277953609008119">culture</a>.</p>
<p>But gender politics, changes in family formations and the high number of single mother households are increasingly pushing some of the traditional boundaries around initiations. </p>
<h2>Role of women</h2>
<p>South Africa has a higher rate of single, women-led families than households led by men. Most South African children under five live with <a href="http://www.statssa.gov.za/?p=2007">only their mothers</a>. </p>
<p>As a result, the practises around male initiation are changing and beginning to encompass women.</p>
<p>We conducted interviews in the Eastern Cape to understand people’s perceptions and experiences of sexual and reproductive health rights. </p>
<p>The study is conducted in collaboration with the AIDS Foundation of <a href="http://www.aids.org.za">South Africa</a>, a non-governmental organisation that supports community-based initiatives to strengthen men and women’s access to sexual and reproductive health rights. </p>
<p>We interviewed men and women of different ages, but older that 16, in single-sex focus group discussions. We also interviewed key stakeholders such as officials in the departments of health, education, social development, a traditional healer and a traditional leader in the Flagstaff district of the Eastern Cape. The people of Flagstaff identify as <a href="http://www.sahistory.org.za/places/pondoland">amaPondo</a> and their traditions slightly differ from those of amaXhosa in the Eastern Cape. </p>
<p>Our study (yet to be published) found people have mixed feelings about initiation. Some feel it is good but that the tradition has changed. Some felt as soon as an initiate required medical attention and went to hospital, they were no longer considered a traditional initiate. </p>
<p>They attributed the change and the undesirable outcomes to:</p>
<ul>
<li>underage initiates, </li>
<li>incompetent traditional nurses, and </li>
<li>substance use at the <em>Ibhoma</em>. The <em>Ibhoma</em> is a temporary hut built for the initiate in the <a href="http://tcn.sagepub.com/content/20/4/395.full.pdf+html">bush</a>. </li>
</ul>
<p>Some problems were related to what the community perceived to be uncanny behaviours by the new men. For example, engagement in violent behaviour, disrespect for adults and increased alcohol drinking and use of other substances. One of the major findings was a concern about the health impacts of the initiation, chief amongst these the death of the initiate.</p>
<h2>Dealing with the death</h2>
<p>Our study shows that men and women are demanding that the government protect the boys and curb the death of initiates. One of the participants explained: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>We are trying to end these deaths out there. I am saying everybody (should) start at (the) hospital and then go (their) separate … ways where a person is going to learn his own isiko (custom).</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The custodians of traditional practices are speaking out against distortions or misinterpretations of culture that threaten young men’s lives. </p>
<p>The House of Traditional Leaders in the Eastern Cape has started advocating for <a href="http://www.gov.za/speeches/leadership-visit-initiation-schools-lusikisiki-18-jun-2015-0000">safe initiation</a>. In one case, traditional leaders openly endorsed and supported women’s involvement in pre-initiation camps to educate and socialise boys and ensure stakeholder commitment to the legal and safe operation of initiation lodges.</p>
<p>Historically, boys who died at initiation lodges or camps were buried there. The boy’s father would take care of the burial ritual while his mother would find solace knowing her husband had buried their child. These deaths were less likely to be reported to the general community. </p>
<p>But as times have changed, so has this practice. As burial rituals, including funerals, have been modernised, bereaved families wish to see and bury their loved ones.</p>
<p>We found that in the event of a death, the mother now demands to know how her child died, to see his body and hold the funeral in the community. The circumstances surrounding his death are now disclosed, despite the fact that the custom stipulates that initiation should not be discussed with the female relatives. </p>
<p>Historically, a father would know what cultural instruction had been imparted to his son during initiation. He could sanction disrespectful behaviour towards women. Research shows that in the absence of male authority figures and role models, women are speaking out against this and demanding that boys are taught respectful and risk-reducing behaviour. </p>
<p>This study’s findings are important in crafting a way for more research to better understand the role of women and mothers in initiation. As society changes, so are there changes in our cultures. </p>
<p>Dialogues are needed at a community level to find ways to include women in the initiation process. These dialogues should involve men and women, children and parents and custodians of culture, in particular the duty bearers within the House of Traditional Leaders.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/46488/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mzi Nduna receives funding from the National Research Foundation and the COE-HUMAN</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Anele Siswana works for Dr George Mukhari Academic Hospital. He receives funding from the Canon Collins Legal Trust. He is affiliated with the Father Connections Study Team at Wits University.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Deborah Lesley Ewing is affiliated with the AIDS Foundation of South Africa.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Esmeralda Vilanculos is affiliated with the University of the Witwatersrand </span></em></p>The practices around the traditional passage to manhood in South Africa are changing and beginning to encompass women as family patterns change. But, there are mixed feelings about the changes.Mzi Nduna, Associate Professor in Psychology, University of the WitwatersrandAnele Siswana, Clinical Psychologist, University of the WitwatersrandDeborah Lesley Ewing, Visiting Scholar, School of Human and Community Development, University of the WitwatersrandEsmeralda Vilanculos, Research Assistant: Sexual and Reproductive Health rights, University of the WitwatersrandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.