Mardudjara Aborigine Male Initiation Ritual

Imagine a boy who is a member of the Mardudjara aborigine tribe of Australia. It is time for him to become a man.  The first rite of passage he must endure is nasal septum piercing. Two elders of his tribe hold a spear and bird wing bone to either side of his septum. A hole is carved with the spear and the bone is pushed through his nose.

Sometime later, the boy is taken on a journey with many members of his tribe. There is great ceremony and the performance of many rituals with wailing, singing, and dancing. At the end of traveling he is surrounded by a group of men and made to lay down by a fire. He will now be circumcised. One specially chosen man sits on his chest, pulls up his foreskin and twists it. Another holds his head and gives him a boomerang to bite. Two other men then take turns cutting away his foreskin while he remains motionless. Once they are finished, the boy is lead to a small fire and made to kneel on a shield over the smoke. He is then given a piece of “good meat” and told to eat it without swallowing. Once he does this, he is told he has eaten his own boy, his foreskin. When the rite is over, the boy is considered ceremonially dead and must remain in seclusion without talking until he is healed.  After this time he returns to society reborn, a man. But there is one more thing he must endure.

He is seized one day without warning and again brought into a group of men. There is more ceremony. He is again made to lie down. Elders gather around him and one gives him a boomerang to bite. He is going to be subincised. Two men are chosen to perform the task. One sits on his chest and holds his penis, the other puts a wooden rod in his urethra and then slices through to the rod until the underside of his penis is cut open.  After this operation is finished, he is brought to another fire and made to stand over it so the smoke can cleanse his wound. He is now a man and may participate in the sacred tribal rites.