Rite of Passage

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Penaia (Ben) Moa The Rite of passage The Rite of Passage is a ceremony or a completion of a task that changes a person’s status in society. Many societies have different rites of passages, and the purpose of these rites of passage is to show that young women and young boy is finally becoming a warrior. Most of the rite of passages could be very brutal towards the kids but to show that they are adults, and want to become a warrior they have to endure the pain inflicted to them. The rite of passage I decide to research on is the Matis Trail in Brazil’s Amazon jungle. Men here are to undergo 4 trails. First is the dumping bitter poison into the eyes, next is beating and whippings, and then poison from a frog is injected into the warrior, the final ritual is being touched with a posus leaf. The warriors go through unbearable lightheadedness, vehement vomiting, and violent relieving of the bowls, and last frog poison is injected into the warrior’s body. Men who undergo this four step trail have to withstand a great amount of pain. The first step steps in this trail are Squeezing poison into the men’s eyes, and then have to go through a very intense beatings and whippings. Squeezing the poison from the frog is believed to improve vision, increase stamina, and running ability during the hunt. The intense beating and whippings are said that the whipping received helps decrease laziness. This ritual was not only used on the men but was also used to correct the behaviors of children and pregnant woman. Compared to the first two steps the last two steps of the trail look like a Matis massage. The next stage to the ritual is to inject frog poison from green tree frogs directly into the blood stream with needles made from wood. The poison is also placed onto open incisions on the skin. If the hunter does not throw up it shows great resistance and in the tribe
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