Coming of Age

In the case of females, the coming of age ceremony occurs when the girl attains menarche. On the first day her movement is restricted and she is prevented from going to the forest or sea. She must remain seated on a bed of deoa leaves. Her body is covered with a mixture of alum, pigs fat and a gum extracted from a creeper plant. She is not allowed to take bath or use ood. She does not talk to any male members of the community. She is also not allowed to eat pig’s meat or honey and must subsist on fish, onog (mollusc), fruits and tubers. On the fourth day of her cycle, she can bathe and eat pig’s meat. That morning she must seat a baby in her lap and pray to her ancestors. In the evening she is decorated with ood, flowers and leaves and sits in the open. . Now all the women are decorated and dance and sing songs about adulthood and love. No men take part in this ceremony.

For boys the Coming of Age ceremony is called lepa. It is celebrated with great enthusiasm and joy and usually occurs between the ages of 13-16. In order to come of age the boy must hunt a wild boar entirely on his own and offer it to the members of his chadda (territory). After hunting the pig on their own they rub some of the blood on their chest and return to the settlement triumphant. They pray to the ancestors to thank them for the meat and then sing and dance to celebrate the kill. After the young boy has ood (white clay) smeared on his face and oil from pigs fat rubbed on his body by an unmarried girl. He then goes to sleep while the rest of the tribe prepares the feast.

In the evening when all the members of the local group return from their activities the young boy is woken up. He is then fed water with a leaf spoon and made to eat baked ripe bananas. He is made to wear yellow palm leaf band across his chest. An elder lady then rubs his face with baked leaves of a creeper to protect him from spirits and throws the leaves in the forest. He then stands in the center of the settlement, keeping his right foot on his left with his head bowed down. Then his father or another elder announces to the tribe his deeds and his new adult name. The senior warriors stand on his side with the pig’s skulls and sing songs related to the lepa. After this the women decorated with flowers and leaves sing songs describing his bravery and heroics and dance. After this there is a communal feast of pigs meat and liver. After the feast everyone smears ood in his or her mouth. This celebration continues for 2-3 days.

YOUNG MEN AFTER THEIR FIRST HUNT