Part 2

2.  Last week, there was a party in my village for women who completed the circumcision school.  Now, I didn't get quite as thorough an explanation of the women's school as I got of the men's in July, but I gather that they are quite different.  For one thing, the women's school only lasts a week.  For another, the women appear to be generally older than the boys who participate in the men's circumcision school—one of my acquaintances who completed it this year must be at least in her late twenties of early thirties, and none of the women being celebrated at the party seemed particularly young.  Finally, I don't think that the women actually get circumcised; at least, they all seemed very happy and active at the party.

 

I wasn't actually sure what the party was for while I was there, and given the general explanation only as I was leaving.  I came home on Saturday in the early afternoon from doing some grocery shopping, and there were a bunch of people sitting quietly in our yard and some more in one of the buildings.  I couldn't find anybody in my family, but my mom had called me while I was in town to make sure that I was coming back that day.  Since I had told my sister that I was going into town that morning and I always let the family know if I'm going to be away overnight, I was really worried by this phone call—I thought that maybe someone we knew had died this week and I was missing their funeral or something else equally grave.  The number of people sitting relatively quietly around our yard didn't make me any less worried.

 

Eventually my mom got back home—someone had explained to me that she was at Mavis's and would be returning—and she didn't seem too upset or worried, and after we had all eaten a comparatively elaborate meal (not just vuswa and huku!*) we all migrated to the party, which was very clearly a celebration of something.  In addition to the dancing and the skirts that happen at all celebrations, there was a ritual for the women being celebrated where they are covered with clothes, blankets, and headscarves.  The party went on for hours, people eventually coming back to our house to continue talking even after the main event was over.  Even though it wasn't too late, my mom was exhausted from the day and falling asleep in her chair, but she couldn't go to bed until all of the guests left; eventually, they took the hint.

 

*vuswa=pap; huku=chicken