Chapter 8 Female Initiation Rituals and Sexualities in Northern Mozambique Brigitte Bagnol Initiation rites have been described as representing the step to adulthood and the ultimate loss of a child’s innocence. They are seen as an important moment in the socialization process of individuals and the acquisition of gender, sexual, and linguistic/ethnic identities. During the rites, the young people are viewed as in a transition phase characterized by abnormality, noncooperation, and inversion of behavior (Moore, Sanders, & Kaare, +1999) that expresses the anti-structural state displayed by participants and is part of the “savoir faire” of ritual (Turner, 1969). The children are de- scribed as undergoing a transformation that affects their pereonalities. The separation of their social life and the cutting of old ties give rise to a rebirth often associated with the assignment of a new name (Martinez, 1989; Rich- ards, 1956). This passage often involves body modification, such as in the ‘ase of circumcision, or physical punishment, accompanied by pain and fear. The body processes are done in concordance with cosmology and so- Gal rules (Bourdieu, 1999; Devisch, 1993; Jacobson-Widding, 1991; Snyder, 1999), Children receive information about etiquette, comportment, sexu- ality, death and burial, and sometimes about history (Beidelmen, 1993;144 ‘The Essential Hancbook of Women's Sexuality Hamdani, 2001; Spring, 1976; White, 1953). This knowledge is often not unknown by the young people, but itis revealed during this segregation period in a different form, which is protected most of the time by secrecy. Earlier conceptions, inspired by ethnographic work, looked a rites as stereotyped acts emanating from an unchanging and rigid tradition im- posed on individuals (Spiegel & McAllister, 1991). Current anthropologic thought, informed by feminism and postmodernism, stresses the polyse- mic characteristic of the notion of rite, not exclusively as acts that regulate the conduct of individuals but a5 resources, directories of gestures, mes- sages, and songs that people can use to make sense of certain phenomena or express their resistance. In this sense, the rites are not limited to the re- production of existing cultural figures. They are contested, appropriated, and reinvented by individuals and groups (Goffman, 1967; Mottin-Sylla & Palmieri, 2011). They are enacted to give sense to people's experiences and existence, to establish roles and status, and as a manifestation of a belong- ing. They express a symbolic order (Bourdieu, 1989, 1991, 1999) and the highly complex and multifaceted cultural constructions of gender catego- rizations and ideologies (Meigs, 1990). Women are agents of the transfor- ‘mation, defining the forms they relate to each other and with their bodies, depending on the historical and cultural contexts (Bordo, 1993). There is thus a dynamic interrelation between the initiation rites and the various spheres—social, economic, religious, legal, political, and cultural—the rituals being an expression of these interactions, contradictions, and ne- gotiations, In Mozambique, as is the case in other countries, with slavery and the colonial and Christian penetration and independence, many economic, social, and religious aspects have changed, thus transforming the gender subjectivities and the rituals (EI Saadawi, 2005; Fernandez, 2011; Green, 1999; Nnaemeka, 2005). Initiation rites, in particular, and aspects related to sexualities were the targets of a violent repression. A similar condem- nation took place after independence, when the Frente de Liberag3o de Mocambique! (FRELIMO) government sought to abolish the traditional structures and practices, including initiation rites and circumcision, con- sidering them obscurantist. These were identified as being an instrument of oppression and an obstacle to the construction of a “new” man and ‘woman and an egalitarian society. In the early 1990s, several pressures, such as the war with the Resisténcia Nacional de Mocambique® and peas- ant insistence on maintaining certain practices, caused the FRELIMO government to become more tolerant of traditional culture and to assume that its political agenda should be harmonized with local beliefs. After the peace agreement in 1993, infrastructures were rehabilitated and economic life resumed, opening the country for new forms of development and in- teraction in a globalized world, Its in this context of continuous tension and negotiations that the rites are analyzed, Female Initiation Rituals and Sexualting Mas This study aims to identify how the requirements embedded in the structure of the rituals that relate to gender relations and sexual behavior— in conjunction with other social markers—are reflected, rejected, manipu- lated, and/or appropriated by women. Aware of the risk of generalization and of describing undifferentiated African cultures (Salo, 2010), I seek to trace the morphology of the teachings of initiation rituals highlighting how women reject, keep, and incorporate the social norms. This paper focuses on the rituals as a symbolic rebirth into womanhood, and a prepa- zation for sexual life and reproduction as practiced in two provinces of northern Mozambique (Cabo Delgado and Niassa). It analyzes how ritu- als express patterns of intimacy, sexual involvement, notions of risks, and reproductive goals. It shows how, from an emic perspective, girls are em- powered by the secret knowledge they acquire during the rituals, thus contributing to their maintenance. While some authors emphasized the complicity of women in their op- pression by their acceptance and reproduction of gender ideology, by fol- lowing authors such as Ortner & Whitehead (1981), I try to identify the multiplicity of gender discourses and the ongoing construction of mul- tiple, and sometimes contradictory, gender identities within the same culture and the same ceremony (Amadiume, 1987; Boris, 2007; Miescher, Manub, & Cole, 2007; Mohanty, 1997). Lalso take into account the different, and sometimes conflicting, interests among women (Collier, 1988; Lam- phere, 1974; Wolf, 1974). In addition to looking at women’s potential trans- gressions, I identify forms of resistance as well as complicity. I recognize how women express their agency in the context of initiation practices. | argue that women create situations in which they can maneuver to maxi- ize gains (Baal, 1975; Collier, 1988). NORTHERN MOZAMBIQUE Mozambique is a poor country, with 74.7 percent of the people Ii on ess than one US. dollar per day (African Development Bank, 2010). It is estimated that 27 percent of the population walk more than one hour (nstituto Nacional de Estatistica, 2010) to reach an often inadequately equipped health unit with poorly qualified staff. With 2.4 medical doc- tors per 100,000 people, only half of the population has access to services offered by the national health system (African Development Bank, 2010). The total fertility rate in the country is 5.5 children per woman—with 61 children in rural and 44 children in urban areas. The infant mortal- ity rate is 93 for every 1,000 children younger than one-year-old (Instituto Nacional de Estatistica, 2009). With half the population under the age of 15, the two provinces of northern Mozambique where the study took place are mainly rural, with its inhabitants surviving through subsistence agriculture. All linguistic ing46 ‘The Essential Handbook of Women’s Sexuality ‘groups are polygynous and trace descent through the female line (matri- linear). While the Kimwani linguistic group on the Indian Ocean coast and the Yao (also called Ajaua) in the Niassa province are predominantly Islamic, the Emakhuwa and the Shimakonde populations are influenced by the Catholic and various evangelical churches. However, many forms of beliefs and practices exist which combine these values with African re- ligion. Beliefs in their ancestors thrive and orient attitudes and actions, de- spite colonial conquests, missionary Christianity, and globalization. Since the beginning of last century, authors working in the southern African re- gion have shown the importance of reciprocity and exchange and the role of gifts to control rain, to ensure human and soil fertility, as well as to ap- pease ancestors and promote their benevolence toward humans (see Ber- glund, 1976; Blokland, 2000; Feliciano, 1998; Janzen, 1992; Ngubane, 1977) ‘The Demographic Health Survey from 2003 indicates an infant mor- tality rate of 140 in Niassa and 177 in Cabo Delgado, which is superior to the national rate—indicating poor nutritional and health status in this re- gion (Instituto Nacional de Estatistica and Ministério da Satide, 2003). The same study points to poor access to primary education and illiteracy af- fecting mainly women and girls (83.4% and 84.5% women do not read and write in any idiom, respectively, in Niassa and Cabo Delgado, compared to 44.6% and 46.7% for men). ‘The median age at first sexual relation is 15.9 years in Niassa and 15.1 in Cabo Delgado. Most of the men are circumcised (88% in Niassa and 93.3% in Cabo Delgado). Among the youth between 15 and 24 years of age who have already had sexual relations, the percentage of those who used a condom during their frst intercourse is 32 percent and 3.6 percent among, females and 71 percent and 18 percent among males in Niassa and Cabo Delgado, respectively (Instituto Nacional de Estatistica and Ministério da Satide, 2005). In Niassa, 43.5 percent of women consider that a husband has the right to assault his wife physically if she refuses to have sexual relations with him; only 27 percent have the same opinion in Cabo Delgado (Instituto Nacional de Estatistica and Ministério da Satide, 2005). These data inform about the relation of power between men and women, women’s ability to negotiate their sexuality, and highlight the context of inequality in which the initiation rituals takes place. METHODOLOGY In order to study the initiation rites of the four main language groups (Kimwani, Shimakonde, Emakhuwa, and Yao) of the two provinces, three villages in the Cabo Delgado province were visited (see Table 8.1) in De- cember 2010. Another two villages in the Niassa province were visited in ‘December 2011. This offered the opportunity to do participant observation Female Initiation Rituals and Sexualities Mar Table 8:1 Summary of main characteristics of girls’ initiations Linguistic Participa- Province District Village groups ‘Age Duration tion Tndividval Macomia Pangene Kimwani Fist 2aays 023 menstruation ails Nangede Ntamba Shimskonde 6-9cannot 2months Individual be initiated with after giving collective birth phases Montepuez Nairoto Emakhuwa 542 2months Tbidem Niasea —-Majune—-Malangs Emabiwway 815 TRdays Collective and Yoo Macanga Um Sang Malulo Yeo sat Aweeks Collective in many of the different phases of the rituals. With November and De- cember being the months of the longest school holidays, a significant proportion of initiation rituals are carried out at this time, following the recommendation of the Ministry of Education. Involvement with men and women in their social environment and in the rituals was combined with formal and informal interviews. | inter- acted in Portuguese. In each village, a female colleague and a male col- league, who had been initiated following the practices of the area or in a way that was closely related to it, facilitated the contacts, gave their interpretations of events, and provided translation in the local Bantu lan- guage. Informed consents were obtained and confidentiality ensured. A total of 19 traditional leaders, health and education staff, and masters of initiation took part in individual interviews. Focus groups, totaling 27, were attended by 3-40 people, generally of the same sex. Male and female masters of initiation rites, godfathers, godmothers, boys and girls initi- ated or being initiated were involved, adding up to a total of 12 men and 142 women. DYNAMIC INSTITUTION While in some regions of southem Africa initiation rituals have de- clined or even disappeared, in other regions they have endured (Rasing, 2001) undergoing transformations (Tamale, 2006). In Northern Mozam- bique, there is a great diversity of practices between linguistic groups, within the same linguistic group, between villages, or depending on the master of the initiation. There are also areas of merging and adaptation ofM48 ‘The Essential Handbook of Women's Sexuality certain aspects of the rituals to allow more interactions and intermarriage between groups. Female initiation rites might be performed at adoles- cence or earlier (See Table 8:1). When girls are initiated at their first men- struation, the rituals usually involve a single child or very few and can be carried out during different periods of the year (Pangane village). Rituals may concentrate on large groups of youth of a similar age group (in all other villages visited), depending on the size of the village and distance or arrangements between villages. However, even when large groups of girls are undergoing their initiation in the same period, they might be seg- regated for long periods on their own (Ntamba village). Tn the last few decades, in the north of both Cabo Delgado and Niassa provinces, the rituals went through significant changes. In the beginning of the 1980s, when I arrived in Mozambique, despite FRELIMO interdic- tions, these rituals were often carned out in secret, in the dry season, after the harvest, when people had food and money to afford the expenses and to allow for major festivities (Martinez, 1989; Organisacéo da Mul- her Mocambicane, 1982-1983). Following government recommendation to ensure that children attend school, in most of the capitals of the districts visited, since the mid-1990s, the rites are held in December and January, during the hot and rainy season and school vacation. Concomitantly, i Ntambo and Na:roto, the male period of reclusion reduced from up to six months to two months to coincide with these holidays. ‘Another significant transformation of the ritual is that the age of initia- tion has been reduced from 12-14 to 6-8 years of age both for boys and girls, in the last two decades. For boys, this was mainly justified by the ‘Muslim influence from Tanzania and Malawi, as in Islam the total removal, of the prepuce—in contrast with the partial removal undergone previ- ously —should te carried out at a young age. ‘On their side, women strive to keep their good reputation, with one of their younger female relatives initiating them before their sexual debut. Access to television and video in the main villages is seen as the main cause of their early sexual involvement. For the Shimakonde speakers, pregnant girls or girls with children cannot be initiated at all, and thus would keep the status of child, a varamako, a person without value all their life. In such a context, women, in an effort to avoid this situation, initiate girls ata younger age. Although girls in these two villages can be initiated even if pregnan!, Malanga and Nairoto register a similar trend with the rituals, which were previously performed after menstruation shifting to before menstruation. Accordingly, in both villages, the girls’ rituals that ‘were carried out in small groups during the whole year matching the out- set of the first menstruation evolved to bigger concentrations occurring in the same period as boys’ initiations. Nowadays, girls and boys come out of the ritual on the same day in the main annual village feast. The duration of the rituals increased in some cases (Emakhuwa in Macanga Um) and Female Initiation Rituals and Sexualities “9 Due to the reduction of the age of initiation, most informants feel that girls are not able fully to assimilate the teaching from the initiation and that there is a disconnection between the content of the teaching, and the age of the girls. The ritual is not anymore the ultimate step to adulthood. While in the past girls would often get married soon after initiation, these days some girls stay single for a while. Interestingly, showing a new ap- proach both from the education system and from local communities, who previously forbade pregnant girls to attend school, in all the villages— and particularly in Pangane on the Indian Ocean ccast—a few initiated youth were still studying. Even a few pregnant girls and girls with chil- dren were able to pursue their education after a ministerial decree was passed in 2003 encouraging them to do so and banning schools from ex- pelling them, as happened in the past in a practice overtly discriminat- ing against women and violating their right to study. While the education system pointed toward initiation rituals as the reason for girls to drop out cof school, by expelling pregnant girls from education, it was establish- ing inequality between boys and girls. The motive for such discrimina- tion was pregnancy, thus enshrining inequality due to the consequences of a sexual act and stating that a mother should not be allowed to study. Such regulation tums sexuality into a space through which state control ‘can be deployed. Notions related to childhood/adulthood and connection between sexuality and appropriateness to study are being transformed locally and nationally. As a matter of fact, most of the young novices stated that they wished to proceed with their studies after their initiation. Similarly, most women desired to see their daughters continue to attend school. They justified their position by explaining that now even the edu- cation ministry was letting pregnant girls go to school, Being an adult and/ or being a mother is/are not anymore an obstacle to girls’ education. In a certain way, sexuality is starting to be accepted in the formal education system, While in the past primary and secondary school were seen as a space exclusively for children (the term being understood in opposition to initiated, to being sexually active, or being a mother), currently, female students can be young initiated, sexually active, and mothers. While the notion of childhood and the implication of sexuality have been transformed in the last decades, similarly the conception of what it means to be a woman was deeply amended in Ntamba, because the young Shimakonde girls no longer observe the practice of stretching the labia mi: nora, which represented an important aspect of their femininity (Bagnol & Mariano, 2008, 2011). This alteration was recent, as women aged 60 or 70 had elongated labia. Emakhuwa-speaking women still consider this prac- tice a must and an important element of sexual foreplay. Another vaginal practice that disappeared three or four generations ago, among the Yao~ speaking people of Malanga and Malulo, is the cutting of the clitoris. The reasons for the discontinuation indicate that girls were dying as a result150 ‘The Essential Handbook of Women's Sexuality practice included the removal of the clitoris (clitoridectomy) or only some cutting and pricking of the clitoris. The changes in the ages of the initiated, in the duration of the ritual, in the period of the event, in the practices associated with femininity, and in the teachings registered in the last few decades illustrate the dynamism of the rituals and the continuous influence of political, social, economic, and religious factors. The possibility for young initiated mothers to con- tinue to study and the introduction of sexual education in school also are recent transformations. Many fundamental elements of the rituals have been adapted to the changing socioeconomic situation of the region and THE SECRET Initiation rituals are surrounded by an aura of secrecy and, as Beidel- ‘man (1993) noted, for a secret to have a social existence while the core of the secret might be kept hidden, its concealment needs to be well known. ‘Men cannot come close to the house of the female initiation ritual, can- not see the girls who cover their faces when going out, although in some cases they can hear the songs which are rich in sexual metaphors. Aspects related to pain, corporal punishment, psychological distress (humiliation, isolation, separation from family and friends, and restriction of move- ments and behaviors) are hardly verbalized and described. The rule is not to reveal to people of the opposite sex. to persons not initiated in that specific tradition or not initiated at all, what happened during the ceremo- nies and how youth experienced it. Infraction of that rule is said to imply disease and death in the family of the person who breached it. While most adult people are aware that itis a way to protect the secret, the reason for the secret itself is not clearly explained. Ambiguities and ambivalences prevail. As a matter of fact, in all linguistic groups in the villages visited, girls and women of foreign groups could be initiated in exchange for pay- ‘ment to the master of initiation of an amount often superior to the amount requested for girls from the same linguistic group as the master. The for- eigners are seen to be “learning the secret” and likely to reveal it. ‘The most difficult aspects to get information about, or to participate in, are the teachings and practices related to sexuality. For example, it was not possible to see the clay penis of the Makonde master in Ntamba as she argued that she had broken it and had not yet replaced it. In Nairoto village, the master claimed that she had forgotten to perform the part of the ritual concerning sexuality. This wasin order to explain why it was not part of the final ceremony I attended. Distortion, concealment, lies, and misinformation were the communication and methodological fieldwork dilemmas. Fear and uncertainty dominated the research: fear of miss- ing the core of the secret and uncertainty about how to navigate within Female Initiation Rituals and Sexualities 151 and at the margin of the secret. I acknowledge that knowing what not to know is a powerful form of social knowledge (Taussig, 1999) and an ethnographer's puzzle. How to reveal what cannot be said? I also have been perplexed in trying to grasp if this concealment was the result of the past negative experiences with Catholicism, colonialism, and FRELIMO’s postindependence policies or only an expression of a deeper aspect of the rituals, Why were death, sexuality, procreation, and gender relations at the heart of the secret? Although I am a white woman, by taking part in 2006 in the Lomwe? female initiation in Ecole village in the district of Alto Molocus in the province of Zambezia, Ihave acquired knowledge that allows me to dem- onstrate that I have been initiated. Fieldwork in 2008 in the Tete province ‘on vaginal practices also familiarized me with teachings related to sexual- {ty (Bagnol & Mariano, 2008). As a matter of fact, the opportunity given to me, to a female colleague of a neighboring linguistic group, and to a male coresearcher to be part of some of the female ceremonies on distinct occasions demonstrate some flexibility and willingness to open the doors. Similarly, I was allowed with my female colleague to see the secret mapiko masks owned by Makonde women in Ntamba. However, as Beidelman (993) also mentioned, the secrets were never revealed casually and with- out payment or gifts. But, intriguingly, while there is much talk about secrecy, most men and women of a specific linguistic group and geographic area who went through the rites know in general what happens in the initiation of the op- posite sex. What is revealed is not completely new. People know the gram- ‘mar of their culture (Beidelman, 1993), where and how certain knowledge is acquired, but are not allowed to express it publicly. This has :mplica- tions when it comes to discussing gender relations or sexuality around various issues, such as girls’ school attendance, commercial and intergen- erational sex, or domestic violence. The rituals are pointed out to be the comerstone for any interpretation and understanding of gender relations. A SECRET: GENDER COMPETITION The initiation ceremonies are the subject of much dispute, suspicion, and tension. The men say that women are holding many secrets and are dangerous. I heard many men and women saying: “We do not know what they are told during the initiation or what they do there” to elude responsibility for the teaching and behavior of young people of the op- posite sex. It implicitly suggests that it is exactly in the ritual that young people receive the teaching. This situation of apparent competition—as opposed to collaboration—between genders and with other linguistic groups is the secret domain, a zone of nondialogue. The secret thus marks an area of tension between genders and a form of gender confrontation000 0,0(°S° I SSSNSV!ISESS 182 ‘The Essential Handbook of Women's Sexuality and nonsharing between women of different linguistic groups, between ‘men and women, and ultimately between the ones who know and the ‘ones who do not. However, as I mentioned earlier most men know what ‘women do in the initiation rituals in their region and women from other region can be introduced, like myself, into the secrets with gift exchange. ‘During the rituals, I observed in many instances that there are role plays of the other sex with cross-dressing, In Malanga (Majune) older women play male roles when they mimic intercourse between themselves or with the nov- ices. In the process, roles and gender identities are transformed by individu- als who adopt, resist, adapt, challenge, and create new roles and identities. Among the Shimakonde linguistic group in the district of Nangade, «xoss-dressing dancers perform female sexual roles. Joking confrontation between men and women can be seen in the references to sex in public events, which are part of the rituals. In songs that precede the entry of boys in the initiation house, men mock women for “being nothing” and “having nothing,” The songs establish power relationships between en- gendered people. Through songs, we are told that men have something that women do not have: the penis. These songs provide information about relations between men and women that influence everyday behav- iors, including sexuality. Through circumcision, boys’ masculinity is en- hanced and adulthood achieved. Similarly, female initiation allows a step toward adulthood. But, contrary to the boys, the girls have other steps to reach. Itis only when women give birth that they attain the highest female status. They become “mother of.” This difference between boys and girls stresses the role of maternity. Having children is seen as a central part of women’s lives and often the only route to full adult status. Gender and personhood are experienced as a process of transformation through ritu- als and life events. The gir! child becomes a novice, an initiated (nai), a ‘mother, an infertile woman, and a spirit. Similar to what happens in the male rituals, in their ritual women also confront or mock masculinity. It seems that Makonde women are the ones who challenge men the most. They did so by acquiring the mapiko mask, which is worn over the top of the head. It is the most valuable of all the ‘masculine symbols because it expresses the connection with the esoteric, gender relations, male initiation ritual, male power, and the history of the country and the region. The masks are usually carved in secret and used in dances by the members of male secret groups. The dancers represent mysterious and terrifying spirits. Only initiated men should know that it is a human being. This secret was the main secret of the male initia- tion ritual. Boys, in a form of ordeal, have to come close to the mask and uncover it, finding out that it is a male dancer. Dias and Dias, a pair of ethnogtaphers who studied the Makonde in the mid-20th century, wrote: ‘we are brought to affirm that mapiko has been the most powerful Female Initiation Rituals and Sexualities 153, and supremacy; and that they transmitted it, from generation to gen- eration, through puberty schools. (Dias & Dias, 1970, Vol. Il, p. 393) Women unveiled the secret of the mapiko dance on discovering that it was a male masked dancer and not a spirit. Women, in addition to dis- covering the men’s secret, took ownership of the mapiko masks in the late colonial period (P. Israel, personal communication, May 2011) and aban- doned their clay mask to perform the mapiko dance in the female initia- tion rituals in a clear defiance of men. This situation is kept in total secrecy, a feat which women feel extremely proud of. They get their masks pro- duced in secret by male sculptors. They need to get a written authoriza~ tion from the village administrative authority to carry mapiko masks from place to place and avoid being beaten or even killed if they are caught with them by men, By appropriating in secret the most significant male symbols, the women demonstrate the desire that they nurture to under- mine masculinity and male status. In dance, mime, and drama that are part of the rites, men and women play the roles of both sexes, demonstrating gender performativity and that gender identities are not fixed and homogeneous (Amadiume, 1987; Mohanty, 1997). The female mapiko dancer has a special position and re- spect in the female initiation group. She is the one who plays the male role and personifies the mockery. In the initiation ritual, women display differ- ent gender identities and power. They mimic the power relation between gendered individuals, the sexual relation, and by doing so they mock the reality, they empower girls to control their body and their sexuality and play with men, They are both accomplice and reproducing gender ide- ology, but at the same time they perform a contradictory point of view and different gender identities and gender roles. While symbolic violence and women’s complicity in their oppression seems to limit their agency as Bourdieu (1999) emphasizes, Foucault (1988) points out the possibility for individual agency as the result of power and as an historical product. By stealing the male secret, Makonde women are transgressing the gender norms. They show their power and educate girls to express their freedom. There cannot be relations of power unless subjects have some degree of freedom, as Foucault (1988) argues. He also stresses that, for the individ- ual, freedom consists of exploring the limits of subjectivity through trans- gression: refusing to be what you are. Inthe initiation rituals, Makonde women teach girls to subvert gender roles and power relations. A SECRET: GENDER COMPLEMENTARITY In addition to tensions, envy and provocation between genders, and, to add another layer of complexity, the initiation rituals are aimed at stress- ing complementarity between men and women. An example of this can34 ‘The Essential Handbook of Women's Sexuality In the initiation, boys are taught that they “are coming from the vagina and they are going back in the vagina” in sexual encounters. This image conveys not only the reproductive role of the sexual act, but also the cen tral place that the vagina and the women have in this process. Everything starts with the vagina and continuity is given by it. Because the parents will be remembered as ancestors by the children and grandchildren in the family rituals, children are the continuation of life after death. People will have their names assigned to the individuals of the new generations, within a process of reincamation. From birth to the passage to spirit form, a complete cycle occurs. This holistic concept of sexuality in which death and reproduction are fundamental elements strongly links to Bataille's (1957) reflection on eroticism. Sexual complementarity in reproduction and eroticism are key elements of initiation. Medeiros (2007), in his book about the initiation rites of the Makhuwa Lomwe, establishes the relationship between menstruation and circumdi- sion, comparing the blood shed during circumcision with menstruation. He also states that, while women are considered naturally fertile, the boys need circumcision and drugs provided during the ritual to enhance their virility and fertility. As Moore phrases it, rituals can be seen “as moments or events where images and narratives about the nature of gendered iden- tities, the relation between women and men and the powerful nature of sexuality are being reiterated and repeated” (Moore et al,, 1999, p. 28). Through the performance of the rituals, individuals and groups find a space where their agency can be exercised and where their experience and interpretation of the body and the world is enacted. Through rituals, a symbolic order is displayed that establishes a connection between knowl- edge, social practice, and the cultural symbols within which individuals and groups have been socialized. The performance of initiation rituals is an expression of a biological and social world, in which groups celebrate and propitiate reproductive capacity (Rasing, 2001) The transformation and the new relationships developed between in- dividuals depend on the capacity to go through this rite of passage. The complementarity of gender (masculine and feminine) and the reversal of gender roles (women assuming masculine roles and vice versa) are constitutive elements of this ritual (Gennep, 1960; Moore et al., 1999; Turner, 1969). ‘A SECRET: EVERYBODY HAS SEX ‘The sexual act is both complementarity and secret. The banality of sex- uality and its common widespread practice is one of the main revelations of at least some of the initiation rituals I was allowed to witness. In Niassa province, specifically in Majune, the capital of the homonym district, the Female Initiation Ritual and Sexualisies 188 ‘Master of Initiation Speaking about Sexuality. © Brigitte Bagnol. Used by permission. ‘Yao female master in initiation had a session during which she showed the ‘wood penis to the young girls (see image above) and she explained: Long ago, when there was an initiation ritual, they used to say that you had to look for men; but now, you cannot do this because you will catch HIV/AIDS. If you look too much for sex you will catch the disease, AIDS. You cannot advertise, talk to dad or talk to mom about this. This has to stay with you. You cannot go out and say I ‘was in the initiation (uryango) and they told me to have sex. You can- not say anything, Your mother, your sister, your aunts, your grand- mothers have sex, but nobody says they do. But they do! Do not tell anyone! Because if you do, your parents would die, your mother, all ‘yon brothers wonld die if yon reveal these things out there. Did you understand? Have you understood well? From the female master’s talk, it seems clear that the secret revolves around sexuality. It is forbidden to speak about sexuality with anyone, even if sexual relations are commonly practiced by the young girls’ rela- tives. The youth learn from the master that, although sexual intercourse is a general practice, itis a secret. Its the secret of the initiation. Breaching the secret has a very dire consequence as it involves the death of relatives.156 The Essential Handbook of Women's Sexuality Public reference to sexuality undermines the authority of the individuals within the group. Reference to sex or a body part is an insult. To speak about the unspoken is to proclaim that people are no more related. The ‘masters of initiation are usually women who have reached menopause, and thus are associated with less sexual heat and reproductive power. They are seen as cold. Speaking about the unspoken stresses their ritual potency that allows them to deal with the secret. The secret is thus em- bedded in the familiar life and daily experience, but it is revealed in a specific way in the context of the ritual—in exchange for payment and gifts, and never casually. The master of initiation has a different status from any other women, both during the initiation and in general. As with the traditional leader who, in some of the villages, evocates his ancestors to propitiate the good process of the ceremony, the female master also 4s responsible for connecting with her ancestors to ensure success in the ritual. Many gender roles are not related to the sex of the individual or his/her physique, but are influenced by other markers of identity, such as, in this case, age and the knowledge the master acquired from her own ‘mother and then passing the knowledge on to her daughter. Therefore, relations of power are not fixed and based solely on perceived differences and culturally constructed between sexes, but rather processes that occur throughout life (Mohanty, 1997). Gender relations are situational because they vary, depending on specific contexts. An aspect, also worthwhile noticing, is that in her speech the master stresses that while in the past young girls were encouraged to look for sex, these days they have to be aware of HIV/AIDS. In this sense, she contextu- alizes the messages transmitted during initiation and adapts them to the current reality. Showing her agency by introducing the issue of sexually transmitted disease, the master transforms the teaching and the messages given in initiation rituals in the past—forging a new notion of sexual in- volvement and risk. A SECRET: SEX IS GOOD Ina certain way, contrasting with the warning of the master advising the novices that they should not look too much for sex, an important secret of boys and girls initiation is that sex is good. As stressed by the men in Ntamba (Mueda Plateau, Cabo Delgado): "The rite is to instill in girls the idea that sex is good.” One of the dances taught during the female rituals in Niassa is called the sieve or sieving, This alludes to the circular move- ‘ment that women should perform during sexual intercourse to ensure pleasure and maintain the man’s erection. Similarly, in Nairoto, in Cabo Delgado, a song says: “If you're in bed you should do so [in reference to the movements]. Ifthe man sees that you are not doing it he'll think you're cold.” As happens with most of the secrets revealed during the rituals, Female Initiation Rituals and Sexualities 157 while the girls know the dance, its meaning is only disclosed during the rituals. Sexual knowledge, such as penetration, positions, movements, cleaning of the penis and the vagina after sexual intercourse, massaging of their partner, avoiding sexual contact during menstruation, and caring of menstrual fluids, are topics that are learned by girls. While in Nairoto and Pangana education regarding menstruation and the importance of avoiding sexual contact in this period is given only to girls who already menstruate, in Malanga, this information was part of the initiation of all girls, even before menstruating. Black-white-red triads of primary colors are recognized as basic symbols which underline a model of thought (Jacobson-Widding, 1979). The importance of controlling the color of the vaginal fluids is taught to girls with the use of threads of beads of the three colors (Malanga). In the color system, white is associated with coolness (ancestors, rain, sperm, milk, semen, snake) and femininity. Red is associated with danger and infertility (witches, blood, miscarriage, fire, lightning) and is related to heat. A menstruating woman cannot cultivate the fields as she would compromise the harvest. The blood of a dead per- son on the soil can dry the land and provoke drought. Women and female sexuality are considered hot and dangerous, and able to compromise ag- ricultural production and threaten death to cattle and men. Black is the color of the night, dry blood, and night witches (Feliciano, 1998; Kuper, 1982). Only when vaginal fluids are white are women allowed to have sexual intercourse. Failure to comply with these rules can have health con- sequences for the couple. In Macanga Um, elderly men explained that during initiation boys are also taught that “they have to have sex.” This is one of the main pieces of advice. After going out, they can wait for a while, but as soon as they have an erection they should have intercourse with a person of their age but outside the family to heal completely, “to shake the ashes.” “They are cleaning to get the new fire.” Like girls, boys are usually taught that they should have sex. In this case, intercourse is even seen as a definite way of healing from circumcision. The metaphor of the fire is usually associated with sexuality and heat. This heat is not only a physical heat, but is also a state of power in which the woman finds herself ata given time in her life. This power may be connected to the possibility of reproduction, to birth, and also to death. ‘A SECRET: WOMEN ARE POWERFUL An important aspect of the teaching given during initiation ritual relates to the gender and sexual empowerment that are claimed to be provided to the girls (Kakonge & Erny, 1976; Rasing, 2001). As boys are taught not to be afraid of girls, girls are also encouraged not to be afraid of them.138 The Essential Handbook of Women's Sexuality During the rite in Nairoto, the novices dance and sing the song of the butterfly. With joined feet, they hold their capulana, open it, and separate the knees, then close the feet and the cloth in rhythmic movements. They sing: “What is here? It is a butterfly! What is here? It is a butterfly!” The butterfly is the metaphor of a vagina with elongated labia. Like a butterfly that opens and closes its wings, the elongated labia needs to be open (to allow penetration) and closed (for women to feel complete and in good health; Bagnol & Mariano, 2008). Other songs educate girls not to fear big men: “Just grab the man’s penis and introduce. It does not matter if it's big or small. Just introduce, introduce in the vagina.” This song aims at advising the young girls that there are penises of different sizes, but they should not be afraid of any. Another song explains: “Here [in the vagina] there js all. There is com. Now if you distribute [sex] for free, this is with ‘you. If you do not wash it, itis with you.” In these lyrics, the girls are ad- vised that they should be provided with food and shelter from the person they get involved with sexually. But, if they have no return from their sexuality or if they do not have hygienic practices, it is their problem. In another song that relates to the previous perspective of an elderly woman is given: “My vagina is old, [cannot get anything, I cannot get corn, beans. Your vagina is beautiful, you will get com, beans.” The message is that sexuality is something precious that needs to be handled with care and cannot be spoiled as it ends, Old women do not manage to get food and shelter thanks to their vaginas, while young girls can. Girls are advised to find a partner who will care for them and to stick to him. Young girls are educated to expect economic support in exchange for their sexuality. Giels agency is stressed. In the initiation ritual, young girls learn how important sexuality is and how to take control over their body so that it contributes to their livelihood. Sexuality, in this context, is thus seen as empowering. Girls are pic- ‘tured as being able to get what they want and men not being able to resist. ‘The female child is liable, by virtue of her conduct, to provoke sexually the male adult. In Malanga, the night of the entry of the girls in the ritual, one song explained that when the gi! sits with her mother she closes her legs. But, when she sits with her father, she normally sits with the legs open, revealing her panties. The song goes on to tell that usually the father does not resist and invites the child: “Let’s have sex in the house” (Malanga), This teaching conveys information about the relationship between an adult male and female child. The adult cannot resist because he “cannot control himself.” The rules of social behavior and gender relations are es- tablished based on the notion that a female child is responsible for her sexual involvement with an adult. She is dangerous even to her father because she is powerful and can provoke him sexually. The fact that a girl child is seen as provoking sexually an adult shows how a human rights perspective with definitions of childhood, age of consent, and sexual Female Initiation Rituals and Sexualities 159 abuse enshrined in national and international legislations might conflict with local perceptions. Although the initiations rituals are carried out in a context of gender inequalities, with women often lacking access to land, education, politi- cal power, and so on, the rituals highlight their symbolic power. As re- ferred to by Casimiro and Andrade (201), there is an oversimplification around the term power, and its symbolic dimension is often ignored or under-valued. Notions of power, therefore, particularly those presented by Foucault (1994), constitute a reference point. Power can be looked upon as a network in which individual and social identities are made. Power is a form of subjectioation. Foucault argues that the social system makes differences between sexes seem natural, which hides oppressive social systems (Foucault, 1994). Along this line, perceived differences between ‘men and women are taken as a basis to establish power relations in the context of the initiation processes. Women are powerful symbols because they are the only ones who can give birth. Controlling this capacity with both the complicity and resistance of women is what initiation ritual is about, as sexual reproduction is central to social reproduction. Women, as Baal (1975) and Collier (1988) have argued, create situations in which they can maneuver and fight to maximize gains. In this case, women use their sexuality to secure their livelihood and educate the youth to do so as well This, as I havenoted earlier, does not mean that itis in opposition to other strategies, such as getting educated and being employed—very remote possibilities ir rural areas. However, in places where access to informa- tion, education, social, and economic options are limited, very often the only alternative for girls is to get married and to have children. Women are often educated in a way in which the aim of their life is limited to pro- creation over valorizing their sexuality. Their education and professional careers are often seen more from an economic perspective than as a per- sonal achievements. MULTIPLICITY OF GENDER In order to maintain themselves, societies seek to convey to future gen- erations their organizational and survival aspects, including, scientific, political, philosophical, metaphysical, and aesthetic. In their daily prac- tices, and in order to carry out and reproduce everyday actions (habits), people incorporate the dominant discourses, even when they oppress them, and begin to reproduce them without realizing the mechanisms that sustain the oppression. Attending the rites, children and adults ex- press their agency and their adherence to a certain social organization and sharing of certain fundamental values for life in society. Most parents and children want the performance of the initiation rites. Parents want to feel the satisfaction of having sons and daughters growing older and getting60 ‘The Essential Handbook of Women's Sexuality properly educated. The children of both sexes want to move as quickly as possible to be treated as responsible people worthy of respect and able to live with the adults. But men and women confront and resist the domi- nant discourses and, as seen earlier, for religious, political, ethical reasons, strive to modify and adapt them to their views. Girls, also, although going through the initiation ritual, might oppose some of the teachings. During the rites, women do not all occupy the same positions and do nothave the same powers. The age, the status they hold in society, and the passage through certain rites throughout life define the power relations between women. In this case, gender relations are not the most important markers. Age and passage through rites take precetience over gender (Mi- escher et al, 2007). Many feminists and academics stressed that to charac- terize women as a homogeneous category of disempowered people is a simplistic reduction (Mohanty, 1997). There is no homogeneous category of “woman” or “man” with a fixed identity. There are men and women who assume different positions and different ways of exercising power. These depend on different moments of existence and the functioning of several factors, including social class, race, ethnicity, education, religion, residence, age (not being initiated, having children, menopause, etc.), lin- eage (belonging to the royal line, etc.), the order in the offspring (first or last child, etc), and the order in marriage (first or second wife, etc.) in cases of polygynous marriages, and so on. During the initiation ritual, I witnessed in Nairoto a group of four girls who had been through their initiation in the previous year, and as they had reached menarche, went back in December 2009 to learn how to care for themselves during menstruation. As part of the education process, two of them were beaten by the older women. One was beaten because she ‘was married and wanted to part from her husband and the other because she did not want to get married. Despite the education they receive and the social pressure, the youth are able to stress their own views and con- tend their relative opting to rule their own lives. This particular aspect shows the power relations between women of different generations. Older women often try to impose their ideas on the younger ones. The different, and sometimes conflicting, points of view among women (Collier, 1988; Lamphere, 1974; Wolf, 1974) are expressed in these episodes. The sexual and reproductive options available to an individual depend on the context, and usually decisions are made under a lot of pressure from relatives and peers. Thus, choices are never completely free or individual (Osério, 2004). In Age, Race, Class and Sex: Women Redefining Difference, Audre Lorde (1984, p. 123) stresses that “the true focus of revolutionary change is never merely the oppressive situations we seek to escape, but the piece of the oppressor which is planted deep within us.” ‘The incorporation of the dominant discourses and their reproduction are issues that the initiation ritual raises. But, in fact, initiation rituals also Female Initiation Rituals and Sexualities ra give women of different ages and status an opportunity to ponder, reflect, transform, and reproduce forms of respect and obedience, as well as con testations. CONCLUSION Individuals are not born men and women, but are transformed by soci- ety intomen and women. Forexample, many Makhuwa and Kimwani girls should lengthen their labia minora to become women and the Makonde must go through initiation rites, marry, and procreate, Only after procre- ation are they awarded the highest status by becoming the “mother of.” ‘The boy should be circumcised, thereby demonstrating through a physi- cal change the modification that occurred in his personality and social sta- tus (Martinez, 1989). Gender identity is built on relationships that each one establishes with the family and society. To this is added the insight that is gained about their own bodies. The new relationships developed between individuals after the ritual depend on their capacity to go through this rite of passage (Gennep, 1960). The confrontation and complementarity of gender (masculine and feminine) and the reversal of gender roles (women assuming masculine roles and vice versa) are constitutive elements of this transformative ritual (Moore et al, 1999; Turner, 1969). The content of the secret and the transmission of the secret evolve and express the tensions around the most adequate ways to educate children in current society. The existence of initiation rituals is not the result of an immutable tradi- tion transmitted from generation to generation without an individual and collective reflection by participating adults and children. The rites are an expression of resistance by individuals and groups to the various forms of subjugations. In this learning how to belong to one of the two sexes, both, or neither, individuals embody the different gender subjectivities accepted as a norm ot resist and create others. The same applies to sexual identity and linguistic identity/ethnicity. So, there are a variety of subjec- tivities between men and women, between women, and between men ex- pressed in the initiation rituals. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This study was made possible through the generous support of Inter ‘mén Oxfam and the Gender Unit of Cabo Delgado and Niassa provinces that invited me to undertake this work and to the Provincial and District Directors of Education that welcomed this research program. Specifically, 1 acknowledge the support of Joana M. M. Ou-chim who was in-charge of the program of education, gender, and women rights. A special thanks also to the male and female administrative leaders, traditional lead- saul Geter of fhe tie wii esc riences i SE162, ‘The Essential Handbook of Women's Sexuality experience. I have profited from the help of research collaborators Tima Amade, Anténio Francisco Sousa, Justina Hilério Eugénio, Joao Sadat, Isabel Almeida, Jodo Jonas Assane, Agostinho Mafuta, Canela Pastola, Amancio Maunde, and Juliana Monteiro during the fieldwork carried out under difficult conditions and long hours. 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