Mandiwa initiation ceremony in Numbulwar

Two young boys from Numbulwar in eastern Arnhem Land go around the community in their traditional attire, carrying small spears with which they try to hit young men who later that night then will have to dance for them. Towards the evening the boys stay with their fathers and the other men while the men and boys who will that night dance for them enter the ceremonial ground, decorated with cotton wool stuck on their bodies. They will dance until daybreak, when the boys will be circumcised.

Category:

Travel & Events

Tags:

• australia
• indigenous
• aboriginal
• child
• boy
• initiation
• ceremony
• culture
• tradition
• ritual