New Guinea is inhabited by over twenty tribes with their traditional tribal villages and their own languages.
The Sambia people (also known as the Simbari Anga) are a tribe of mountain-dwelling, hunting, and horticultural people who inhabit the fringes of the Eastern Highlands Province of Papua New Guinea.
Blood initiation and fellatio are what every boy must go through before he becomes a man in the Sambia tribe.
If a boy doesn’t go through with this scary initiation, he will never be called a real man.
Initiation
The full initiation is reported to start with members of the tribe being removed from their mothers at the age of nine. This process is not always voluntary and can involve threats of death.
The children are then beaten and stabbed in their nostrils with sticks to make them bleed. In the next stage, the children are hit with stinging nettles.
They are then dressed in ritual clothing and an attempt is made to force them to suck on ritual flutes.
These boys are then taken to a cult house and older boys dance in front of them making s3xual gestures.
Once it gets darker the younger boys are taken to the dancing ground where they are expected to perform fellatio on the older boys as it is believed that “without this ‘male milk’ they will fail to mature properly.”
Upon reaching adulthood men marry and engage in heteros3xual behavior.
First requiring their brides to fellate them and later perform s3xual intercourse.
American anthropologist Gilbert Herdt extensively described the Sambian tribe by their strange cultural anthropologists in his publication, ‘The Sambia: Ritual, S3xuality, and Change in Papua New Guinea’.
In his studies of the Sambia, Herdt describes the people in light of their s3xual culture and how their practices shape the masculinity of adolescent Sambia boys.
Male rites of passage
Maku:
This is the first rite of passage for the boys. They are separated from their mothers at this stage, they participate in bloodletting (the process in which they stick long sticks up their nostrils to make them bleed), and therefore rid themselves of their mothers’ presence in them.
The Sambia people don’t believe that males are born with semen and so, during Maku, the boys participate in “fellatio”.
They are also required to stick to a strict diet during this time period which is from age 7-10. This stage lasts for three years, from the age of 10–13 years old.
Imbutu:
Imbutu is filled with camaraderie, male bonding, and rewards for making it through the first set of Rites.
Ipmangwi:
During this stage, the boys begin to go through puberty, and they no longer need to participate in “fellatio”.
They also learn gender roles, and how to have appropriate intercourse. Once they have learned this they look for a wife and marry during this stage.
It lasts for three years as well, during the ages 13–16.
Nupusha:
During this stage, the men get married and have appropriate intercourse. This stage happens once the others are completed, however, they must be at least 16 years old.
Taiketnyi:
They undergo bloodletting again during this stage when their wives have their first menstrual cycle as married women.
Moondung:
This stage is when the women give birth to their first child. This is the final step and signifies the completion of the Rites of passage. They can now be considered full-grown respectable men.
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