North African Masai Tribe

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The Emorata

This rite of passage is one of the most important Masai festivals - it marks the coming of age of Masai boys who are 12-25 years old. The planning for this ceremony itself takes
two months. First, the boys must give away everything that they own. Then, on the day of the ceremony, the boys shave their heads and paint their faces with white chalk. They put on black cloaks and ostrich feather headdresses. Then, the village elders perform the initiation rights on each boy inside a small tent, where they are circumcised.The circumcision is done without anesthetic , which makes it quite painful. The boy must endure this pain in silence, and expressions of pain bring dishonor. The healing process takes about 3-4 months, and the boys much remain in black clothes for a period of 4-8 months. After this ritual is performed, the boys are now considered to be warriors. These warriors are in charge of the society's security, and during the drought season, both warriors and boys are responsible for herding livestock.
There are many myths about this ceremony, but one is that before each boy can undergo the ceremony and become a warrior, he must kill a lion . Although lion hunting has been banned from East Africa, lions are still hunted when they attack Masai livestock, and the young warriors who engage in this tradition of killing a lion do not face major consequences.
When analyzing this, we can see the three stage process quite clearly. The first stage is the separation stage. This can be either when the boys are taken to kill their lion (according to the myths), cloaked and painted, and then taken into the tent. The second stage is the transition stage. This can be seen as what the boy goes through when he is inside that tent. He is circumcised, and this marks his transition from boy to man. It can also be said that the 4-8 months of having to wear black clothes could be also part of this transition; it can mark the spiritual transition of the boy into man. The third and final stage is the incorporation stage, where the boys are re-admitted into society as warriors. These warriors have a different job to do than the boys (they can now be seen as protectors of the village), and they are also ranked higher on a social scale (are more important, in other words).

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