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The Nandi: Their Language and Folk-Lore
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Historical SummaryPrevious definitions of the situation thus stood in the way of stepping up the custom as a test of fortitude. But among the Nandi of eastern Africa, where the age grade system is prevalent, circumcision of the classical Semitic type is practiced with the addition of an excruciating secondary feature:
The operator, who is called poiyot-ap-tum, kneels in front of the boy, and with a deft cut of the kipos [knife] performs the first part of the operation, the foreskin being drawn forward and severed in front of the tip of the glans penis. The boy’s face is carefully watched by the surrounding crowd of warriors and old men to see whether he blinks or makes a sign of pain. Should he in any way betray his feelings, he is dubbed a coward and receives the nickname of kipite. This is considered a great disgrace, and no kipite may ever attend another circumcision festival or be present at children’s dances. . . . This done, all the friends and relations make merry whilst the second part of the operation is performed, at which only barren women and women who have lost several brothers or sisters in quick succession may be present. The skin of the penis is retracted well back, and the inner covering of the glans is slit up, peeled off, and cut
away behind the corona. The skin is next pulled tightly over the glans, and a transverse slit is made on its dorsal surface about half an inch long and about the same distance from its bleeding edge. Through this slit the glans is pushed, and the final stage of the operation is the trimming away of the resulting pucker of skin thus formed. During this part of the operation many boys collapse from the pain. Only cold water is administered to the lacerated parts.1
The Australians, while one of the lowest races, have the most complicated practices. The Arunta, for example, have ceremonies for boys beginning about the age of nine and continuing at intervals to the age of twenty-five or thirty. They have scarification (which is decorative and self-imposed), then circumcision, then subincision, in addition to fire ordeals, imposition of food tabus, head biting, long mythological instruction, etc. Australia is the most pronounced gerontocracy in the world and the older men use all conceivable rituals over a long period of time for the subordination of the younger men. It is notable, however, that usually, in Australia, where circumcision and subincision are practiced the teeth are not knocked out.
1Hollis, A.C.n/an/an/an/a, , 54–55 (Clarendon Press. By permission).
Contents:
Chicago:
"The Nandi: Their Language and Folk-Lore," The Nandi: Their Language and Folk-Lore in Primitive Behavior: An Introduction to the Social Sciences, ed. Thomas, William I. (New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc., 1937), Original Sources, accessed July 1, 2025, http://www.originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=YFRU72QF7B947SY.
MLA:
. "The Nandi: Their Language and Folk-Lore." The Nandi: Their Language and Folk-Lore, in Primitive Behavior: An Introduction to the Social Sciences, edited by Thomas, William I., New York, McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc., 1937, Original Sources. 1 Jul. 2025. http://www.originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=YFRU72QF7B947SY.
Harvard:
, 'The Nandi: Their Language and Folk-Lore' in The Nandi: Their Language and Folk-Lore. cited in 1937, Primitive Behavior: An Introduction to the Social Sciences, ed. , McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc., New York. Original Sources, retrieved 1 July 2025, from http://www.originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=YFRU72QF7B947SY.
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