The Ticuna Indians in the Brazilian Amazon pay a lot of attention to their ceremonies and rituals. These ceremonies go a along way in defining their identities, and one of such ceremonies is the coming of age ceremony where a girl is said to become a woman after starting her menstruation.
Once a girl starts her first menstrual cycle, she is put into a period of isolation, which can last up to three years. Only her mother and respected women are allowed to see her and train her on what it means to become a woman.
After the isolation period, a large ceremony is performed in her honour. The ceremony is called “Pelazon’’ in Spanish, translating to ‘hair cropping’ or “Moça Nova’’ in Portuguese, meaning ‘new girl’.
At the end of the ceremony, the girl is provided with an intoxicating drink to numb her senses and get ‘high’.
Whilst there are differing accounts of the experience, in most cases, the father pulls each strand of hair from the daughter’s head, this violent act of hair pulling symbolises that the girl has become a woman and is ready for childbirth and to have a family of her own.
It should be noted that in the past, the case was that they would always pull out the girl’s hair strand by strand, but apparently now, in some cases, scissors are used.
However, this does not detract from the fact that through this process the girl undergoing puberty has effectively been made a scapegoat by the tribe by being secluded from the community.
The girl’s entire body would be painted black and she is required to wear feathers (usually eagle feathers) and wear a crown so that her visibility is reduced.
The girls are also required to wear snail shells hanging from their belt. These snail shells represent fertility, so this ceremony is significant not only because it is a coming of age rite, but also as it is a fertility ritual.
This is another depiction of why some customs may just have to go with the tides of civilization and modernization. Some things might be better left in the past.
