T H E E N D C O M M U N E

Mardudjara ― Rites of Agony & Initiation

There is an Aboriginal (native Australian) rite of male passage known as the Mardudjara. The boy is led by village elders to a secluded spot in the wilderness. One man then proceeds to sit on the boys’ chest while another man performs circumcision of the boys’ foreskin (without any form of anesthesia); the foreskin is then ingested by the boy. Symbolically, he has then ingested his own “boyhood”, being reborn through this a grown male. Once the circumcision is healed, the underside of the penis will be cut down to the scrotum under ceremonial circumstances. He then spills his blood over a fire, allowing the flames to purify it, making the boy apt for adulthood and, effectively, for sexual intercourse. Such is a rite of passage amongst the Australian Aborigines.