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Female initiation rituals and sexuality in northern Mozambique

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FEMALE INITIATION RITUALS AND SEXUALITY IN NORTHERN MOZAMBIQUE

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Brigitte Bagnol

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Introduction/Background Introduction/Background From the female master's talk it seems clear that the secret revolves

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A Dynamic Institution around sexuality. It is forbidden to speak about sexuality with any one,

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Initiation rites represent the ultimate step to adulthood and the ultimate even if sexual relations are commonly practiced by the young girls'

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loss of a child's innocence. They are an important moment in the relatives. The girls learn from the master that, although sexual

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In the last few decades, in the north of both Cabo Delgado and Niassa
socialization process of individuals and the acquisition of gender, sexual intercourse is a general practice, it is a secret. It is the secret of the

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provinces, several changes were observed:
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and linguistic/ethnic identities. During the rites, the young people are in initiation. Breaching the secret has a very dire consequence as it involves

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a transition phase, characterized by abnormality, non co-operation and the death of relatives. Public reference to sexuality undermines the

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A reduction of the age of initiation - attributed by participants mainly to

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inversion of behavior (Moore, Sanders & Kaare, 1999:126) that expresses authority of the individuals within the group. Reference to sex or body

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the Muslim influence from Tanzania and Malawi - was observed both for

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the anti-structural state displayed by participants and is part of the parts is an insult. To speak about the unspoken is to proclaim that people
boys and girls. Among the Emakhuwa girls of Malanga and Nairoto, the

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"savoir faire" of ritual (Turner, 1969: 201-202). Children receive are no more related.
ritual which was performed in the past after menstruation, shifted to

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information about etiquette, comportment, sexuality, death and burial
before menstruation.

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and sometimes about history (White, 1953; Spring, 1976; Beidelman, Another worthwhile aspect to notice is that, in her speech, the master

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stresses that, while in the past young girls were encouraged to look for

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1993; Hamdani, 2001). This knowledge is often not unknown by the

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Since the beginning of the 1990s, the rituals that were often carried out in sex, these days they have to be aware of HIV/AIDS. In this sense she

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young people, but it is revealed during this segregation period in a

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the dry season (after the harvest in July/August) are now held in contextualizes the messages and adapts them to the current reality.

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different form, which is protected by secrecy most of the time.

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December and January in most of the capitals of the districts visited. This Showing her agency by introducing the issue of sexually transmitted

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follows government recommendation to ensure children attend school, disease, the master transforms the teaching and the messages given in
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In Mozambique, as is the case in other countries with slavery, the colonial

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as December and January are holiday months.

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and Christian penetration and independence, many economic, social and initiation rituals in the past – thereby forging a new notion of sexual

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religious aspects have changed, thus transforming the gender involvement and risk.

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subjectivities and the rituals (Green, 1999). Initiation rites, in particular, Due to the reduction of the age of initiation although the girls are socially

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A Secret: Sex Is Good

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adults, there is an understanding that they are not yet really adult and not

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and aspects related to sexuality were the targets of a violent repression.

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able to assimilate fully the teaching and should not marry immediately.

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In a certain way, contrasting with the warning of the master advising

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Aware of the risk of generalization and of describing undifferentiated

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the novices that they should not look too much for sex, an important

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African cultures (Salo, 2010) I seek to trace the morphology of the The conception of what it means to be a woman was deeply amended in
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secret of boys' and girls' initiation is that sex is good. As stressed by

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teachings of initiation rituals - highlighting how women reject, "keep" and Ntamba, since the young Shimakonde girls no longer observe the practice men in Ntamba (Mueda Plateau, Cabo Delgado), "The rite is to instill in
incorporate the social norms. This paper focuses on the ritual as a of stretching the labia minora - which represented an important aspect of

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girls the idea that sex is good." One of the dances taught during the

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symbolic rebirth into womanhood and a preparation for sexual life and their femininity (Bagnol & Mariano, 2008; 2011). Another vaginal
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female rituals in Niassa is called the sieve or sieving. This alludes to
reproduction as practiced in two provinces of northern Mozambique practice that disappeared three or four generations ago among the Yao-

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the circular movement that women should perform during sexual

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(Cabo Delgado and Niassa). It analyses how it molds patterns of intimacy, speaking people of Malanga and Malulo is the cutting of the clitoris. intercourse to ensure pleasure and maintain the man's erection. In

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sexual involvement, notions of risks and reproductive goals. It shows how

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Nairoto in Cabo Delgado similarly a song says: “If you're in bed you
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girls are empowered by the secret knowledge they are acquiring during The Secret should do so (in reference to the movements). If the man sees that you are

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the rituals, thus contributing to their maintenance. not doing it he'll think you're cold.” As happens with most of the secrets

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Initiation rituals are surrounded by an aura of secrecy. This has revealed during the rituals, while the girls know the dance, its

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Northern Mozambique implications when it comes to discussing gender relations or sexuality meaning is only disclosed during the rituals. Sexual knowledge such
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around various public issues such as girls' school attendance, commercial as penetration, positions, movements, cleaning of the penis and the

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With half of the population under the age of 15, the two provinces of
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and inter-generational sex or domestic violence. The rituals are pointed vagina after sexual intercourse, massaging of their partner, avoiding

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northern Mozambique where the study took place are mainly rural, its out to be the cornerstone for any interpretation and understanding of sexual contact during menstruation and caring of menstrual fluids are
inhabitants surviving through subsistence agriculture. All linguistic
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topics that are learned by girls.

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gender relations.
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groups are poligynous and trace descent through the female line

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(matrilinear). While the Kimwani linguistic group on the Indian Ocean

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A Secret: Women Are Powerful
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A Secret: Gender Competition
coast and the Yao1 in the Niassa province are predominantly Islamic, the
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Emakhuwa and the Shimakonde populations are influenced by the I claim that an important aspect of the teaching given during initiation

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Catholic, and various evangelical, churches. However, many forms of The initiation ceremonies are the subject of much dispute, suspicion and ritual relates to the gender and sexual empowerment that are provided to
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tension. The men believe that women are holding many secrets, are

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beliefs and practices exist which combine these values with African the girls (Kakonge 1976; . As boys are taught not to be afraid of girls, girls
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dangerous and do things during the rituals that they ignore. I heard many

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religion and the cult of the ancestors. are also encouraged "not to be afraid of them."

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men and women saying: "We do not know what they are told during the
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The Demographic Health Survey from 2003 indicates an infant mortality initiation or what they do there" to elude responsibility for the teaching
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and behavior of young people of the opposite sex.

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rate of 140 in Niassa and 177 in Cabo Delgado, which is superior to the
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Individuals are not born men and women but are transformed by society

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national rate, indicating poor nutritional and health status in this region
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Among the Shimakonde linguistic group in the district of Nangade, in into men and women. The new relationships developed between
(Instituto Nacional de Estatística and Ministério da Saúde, 2005). The
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their ritual women also confront or mock masculinity. Makonde women individuals after the ritual depend on their capacity to go through this

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same study points to poor access to primary education and illiteracy

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challenge men by acquiring the mapiko mask, which is the most valuable "rite of passage" (van Gennep, 1960:11). The confrontation and
affecting mainly women and girls (83.4% and 84.5% of women do not
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of all the masculine symbols. Women perform the mapiko dance in the complementarity of gender (masculine and feminine) and the reversal of
read and write in any idiom respectively in Niassa and Cabo Delgado;
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gender roles (women assuming masculine roles and vice versa) are
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compared to 44.6% and 46.7% of men). female initiation rituals in a clear defiance of men. Appropriating in secret

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constitutive elements of this transformative ritual (Turner, 1969:92-93;
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the most significant male symbols, the women demonstrate the desire
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Moore et al., 1999: 126). The content of the secret and the transmission of

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The median age at first sexual relation is 15.9 years in Niassa and 15.1 in that they nurture to undermine masculinity and status. By stealing the
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male secret, Makonde women are transgressing the gender norms. the secret are evolving and expressing the tensions around the most

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Cabo Delgado. Most of the men are circumcised (88% in Niassa and 93.3%
adequate ways to educate children in current society.
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in Cabo Delgado). Among the youth between 15 and 24 years of age who
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have already had sexual relations, the percentage of those who used a A Secret: Gender Complementarity
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The existence of initiation rituals is not the result of an immutable
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condom during their first intercourse is 3.2% and 3.6% among females;
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tradition transmitted from generation to generation without an

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and 7.1% and 1.8% among males - in Niassa and Cabo Delgado
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In addition to expressing tensions, envy and provocation between individual and collective reflection in its respect by participating adults
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respectively (Instituto Nacional de Estatística and Ministério da Saúde,

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genders, the initiation rituals are aimed at stressing complementarity and children.
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2005). between men and women. An example of this can be found in Niassa
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province in Macanga 1 village, in the Majune district. In the initiation, Bibliography

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boys are taught that they “are coming from the vagina and they are going
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Methodology
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back into the vagina” in sexual encounters. This image conveys both the Bagnol, B., & Mariano, E. (2011). Politics of Naming Sexual Practices. In S.

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reproductive role of the sexual act, but also the crucial place that the Tamale (ed.), African Sexualities: A reader. Fahamu Books and
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In order to study the initiation rites of the four main language groups

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vagina and the women have in this process. Sexual complementarity in Pambazuka Press.
(Kimwani, Shimakonde, Emakhuwa and Yao) of the two provinces, three reproduction and the role of men and women in sexuality are a key Bagnol, B., & Mariano, E. (2008). Vaginal Practices: Eroticism and
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villages in Cabo Delgado province were visited (see Table 1) in December element of initiation. The complementarity of the male and female bodies Implications for Women's Health and Condom Use in Mozambique.
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needs to be achieved to allow reproduction. Culture, Health & Sexuality, Volume 10, 6, 573 – 585.
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2010. Another two villages in Niassa province were visited in December
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Beidelman, T., O. (1993). Secrecy and society: The paradox of knowing and
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2011. With December being the month which has the longest school the knowing of paradox. In M., H., Nooter (ed.), Secrecy: African Art
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holidays, a significant proportion of initiations are carried out at this time, A Secret: Everybody Has Sex that Conceals and Reveals. New York: Museum for African Art.
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following the recommendation of the Ministry of Education. This offers Gennep, A. (1960). The Rites of Passage. London: Routledge and Kegan
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In Niassa province, specifically in Majune, the capital of the homonym Paul.

the opportunity to observe participants in many of the different phases of
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district, the Yao female master in initiation had a session during which she Green, M. (1999). Women's work is weeping. Construction of gender in a
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the rituals. showed the wood penis to the young girls and she explained: “Long ago, catholic community. In L.H. Moore, T. Sanders & B. Kaare (eds), Those
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when there was an initiation ritual, they used to say that you had to look for who Play with Fire. Gender, Fertility and Transformation in East and
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men but now, you cannot do this because you will catch HIV/AIDS. If you Southern Africa. London: The Athlone Press, 225–253.
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look too much for sex you will catch the disease, AIDS. You cannot advertise, Hamdani, S. (2001). Female adolescent rites and the reproductive health
Table 1: Summary of main characteristics of girls' initiation of young women in Morogoro, Tanzania. Bulletin of the International
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talk to dad or talk to mom about this. This has to stay with you. You cannot
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go out and say I was in the initiation (unyango) and they told me to have sex. Committee on Urgent Anthropological and Ethnological Research, 41,
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You cannot say anything. Your mother, your sister, your aunts, your 165-181.
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grandmothers have sex but, nobody says they do. But they do! Do not tell Instituto Nacional de Estatística and Ministério da Saúde. (2003).
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anyone! Because if you do, your parents would die, your mother, all your Inquérito demográfico e de saúde 2003. Maputo: Instituto Nacional de
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brothers would die if you reveal these things out there. Did you understand? Estatística and Ministério da Saúde.
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http://www.measuredhs.com/hivdata/surveys/survey_detail.cfm?s
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Have you understood well?”

urvey_id=420
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Kakonge, M., & Erny, P. (1976). The sexual behavior among the Baushi of
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Kinama (Shaba, Zaire). Psychopathologie Africaine, 12, 1, 5-33.

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Moore, L., H., Sanders, T. & Kaare, B. (eds). (1999). Those who play with
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fire. gender, fertility and transformation in East and Southern Africa.

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London: The Athlone Press.

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Rasing, T. (2001). The Bush Burnt, the Stones remain: Female Initiation
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Rites in Urban Zambia. Leiden: African Studies Centre.

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Salo, E. (2010) Men, Women, Temporality and critical ethnography in

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Africa – The Imperative for a Transdisciplinary conversation.

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Involvement with women in their social environment and in the ritual Anthropology Southern Africa, 3, 3&4, 93-102.
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was combined with formal and informal interviews carried out mainly in
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Spring, A. (1976). An indigenous therapeutic style and its consequences

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the Bantu language of the participants, with the contribution of female for natality: the Luvale of Zambia. Culture, Natality, and Family
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and male assistants who also translated the interactions. Informed Planning, 108, 101-114.
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White, C., M., N. (1953). Conservatism and modern adaption in Luvale

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consents were obtained and confidentiality ensured. A total of 19

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female puberty ritual. Africa, 23, 1, 15-23.

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traditional leaders, health and education staff and masters of initiation

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took part in individual interviews. Focus groups, totaling 27, were

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Acknowledgment: The study was made possible through the generous

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attended by 3 to 40 people - generally of the same sex. Male and female

support of Intermón Oxfam and the Gender Unit of Cabo Delgado and
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masters of initiation rites, godfathers, godmothers, boys and girls

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Niassa provinces that have invited me to undertake this work and to the
initiated (or being initiated) were involved, adding up to a total of 121
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Foto 1: Initiation: You cannot say anything. Your mother, your sister, your aunts, Provincial and District Directors of Education that welcomed this
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men and 142 women. your grandmothers have sex but, nobody says they do. research program.
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