a very complex tradition!
Posted by Catherine Cartwright Jones on January 14, 2000 at 14:21:31:
In Reply to: Henna, foreskins and dates? posted by Michelle on January 14, 2000 at 08:40:37:
Boys between the ages of 8 and 13 were hennaed and circumcised across
all of the Islamic world until very recently when infant circumcisions
and smaller circumcisions became allowable in religious doctrine.
The practice dates from at least 2000 B.C.E. in Egypt, where most
scholars beleive the practice began, (there's a bas relief that shows
the technique, one boy being restrained and grimacing and another
passing out )....and girls were circumcised also. I don't know if
there was henna involved in the Ancient Egyptian practice, but there
is certainly a henna celebration connected with circumcision in all
other places and times.
Generally speaking, a family has a circumcision party for a boy that
is very similar to a "night of the henna" party, and the child is
dressed as a bride and hennaed for the occasion. The bridal veil,
kohl, jewelery and henna are considered great deterrants to the djinn
who are apt to attack and infest a child during this fragile and
crucial period of transition. Djinn are particularly attracted to
genital blood. In many societies, the barber, or barber's wife is the
traditional circumciser, and the traditional henna artist. They are
of very low social status, as they must touch blood, and people's
feet.
The boys were often given a sedative or something narcotic to chew,
smoke or drink before the circumcision, to deaden the pain. I have
wondered if the many Middle Eastern men I know who have said they
loathe the smell of henna associate henna scent with circumcision
which must be a deeply unpleasant memory. I was talking to a Moroccan
family recently, and at the mention of circumcision, the teenage boy
blanched white and froze, and the mother patted him and said "don't
worry, I TOLD you nobody does that sort of thing here (Cleveland,
Ohio)". Looked to me like there were some really serious adolescent
issues going on there.....
The family goes to great expense for a boy's circumcision, hiring
entertainers, and parading through the streets carrying the foreskin.
At most boy's circumcisions, sheep or goat was sacrificed for the
occasion, and a feast was given for the relatives.
The foreskin is a deeply magical thing, and may be worn by the
grandmother for the duration of the party (Sudan). If a woman
(Persian tradition) has been unable to get pregnant, swallowing a
foreskin is a sure cure for infertility. The child may be fed the
foreskin (Persian) so the integrity of the body is not lost. Sometimes
the foreskin is kept as a personal amulet, and will be buried with the
original owner.
The blood from a circumcision was very dangerously magical also... if
a pregnant woman saw blood spattered on a man's shirt from a
circumcision she would be apt to miscarry (Sudanese tradition) and the
only way to prevent this would be to gaze into a bowl of Nile water
with a gold coin at the bottom of the basin.
The girl's circumcision was far less elaborate, but nearly as
widespread geographically. Uncircumcised girls were scorned as early
as Byzantine Greece. Uncircumcised women were regarded as too
sexually voracious and dangerous to have around a civilized house.
Girls did not get to have a big party, though they were sometimes
hennaed and dressed as brides ... there was usually only a small
morning tea party with cookies, or at most a chicken would be
sacrificed (Sudanese traditon).
There was a considerable conflict in the ancient world over the
foreskin .... the cultures who circumcised felt it was a crucial
covenant with man, society and god that the "animal" bit be cut away,
and that no properly civilized man (or woman) should be
uncircumcised....but the ones who left their foreskins intact,
(Greeks, Romans) took care to insure that they were as long and
elegant as possi