COMING OF AGE

Coming of age is a transition from childhood to adulthood. We will talk about two ceremonies: Ukuli Bula that is
a ceremony that takes place in Hamer, Africa, in harvest season, a transition make it to the boys and girls of the
community, boys jump over bulls and women. The other one is the dance of the dawn, in Apache culture, North
of United States, only make it by women (they aren´t called girls because have a big physical change,
menstruation, this is already a synonym of maturity for the community. Those ceremonies are important for the
community because these are a symbol of representing to the children the acceptance of their origins, to
demonstrate to their group that they want to be part of the community, to prove that they are able to solve any
problems in life, overcoming the challenge, and to prove that they have a strong mind.

There are some aspects that are so similar that make both transitions special. One of them are the instruments
for the ceremonies that have to be done by the children. Women of dawn dance and boys of Ukuli Bula make a
process of preparing some mixtures days before the ceremony to put it on their bodies. In the case of women's
of Ukuli Bula, they make a whip with sticks. In both ceremonies all the people make a circle like a symbol of
union and interest to the ceremony. All jump, dance and enjoy the transition like a cultural concept of their
history. In both ceremonies women are the most that dance and sing. During the process, the community use
specific clothes, and accessories are so striking. Ukuli Bula women use a top with stripes and a leather skirt with
a yellow and red helm to attract attention. They wear gold and silver bracelets, white necklaces, and headbands
with red and green stripes. They also Paint their hair red mud color. Boys use bright colors in their bodies, they
also wear bracelets or paint their bodies. In the case of the other community, people wear country music hats,
yellow garments and long dresses (women's attire), and some indigenous clothes like the poncho. In both
communities, they show seriousness and don't show a pain or surprise.

But not all are similarities, let's talk about differences. When both ceremonies paint their body, the women of
dawn dance that are in the prosses of the transition are the only one that paint their body with a specific
mixture of white clay and sacred cornmeal, in the other ceremony, the paint is for all the boys and men in the
community, showing through their bodies the social status for each one. Other aspect is the time of transition,
the ceremony of the Dawn dance happens in a specific moment, when women have their first period. In the
other ceremony, Ukuli Bula boys and women wait all their lives until the community decide they are apt to the
transition depending the maturity of the social group they are from, and also taking into account the age that
the family of the boy had when each one makes their transition. During ceremonies, in the case of the dawn of
dance the women receive food and gifts. In Ukuli Bula ceremony the children don’t receive anything.
Additionally, the women of Ukuli Bula suffer more in the process, supporting the blows given by the boy who
jumps over the bulls (the one of the traditions), and in dawn dance the women not have to pass to a paint, only
a celebration of their body change (as a symbol of maturity). For last one, the children of Ukuli Bula celebration
were more accompanied by the ones that already made it and all the children that were during this transition.
The ceremony of the dawn dances all the community accompanied the women's that were making the
transition.

In conclusion, both traditions makes that history, culture, and union, build a concept that marks the existence of
the community. As in this case the coming of age, where the internal growth is not the only one that
strengthens, also the responsibility, commitment and the respect for the customs that are reflected in the way
each individual in the communities’ acts. Although both celebrations are different, their union is the acceptance
that the community give to the meanings of their own