What kind of inhuman ceremony is African circumcision?

Circumcision is an ancient custom widely popular in Africa. In some countries, almost every ethnic group is very popular, and some ethnic groups have to knock out one or two front teeth of the recipient when circumcision. Hold a grand adult ceremony. According to the local traditional concept, only the circumcised young people are eligible to get married, enter the adult society and participate in social activities, which is undoubtedly a major turning point in their lives. Today, in western, eastern and northern Africa, at least millions of people are circumcised every year, but the specific practices vary from country to country and region.

Circumcision refers to male circumcision and female clitoris or labia minora circumcision. One of the contents of initiation ceremony. The custom of circumcision originated from the Chaldeans. Ancient Egypt already existed. The custom of circumcision is said to have originated from Judaism and has a history of more than 2,000 years. Among Jews, circumcision is actually a sign of fulfilling the Covenant with God, confirming Jewish identity and entering the scope of marriage permission. Nowadays, circumcision is not limited to Jews or men, but is common among boys and girls of many nationalities in the world. In Africa, more than 30 countries in more than 50 countries practice circumcision in different ranges. Among them, Kenya, Uganda, Ethiopia, Somalia, Sudan and other countries, about 80% of men and women have had this kind of surgery. Circumcision is to cut off the long foreskin on the boy's penis, which is a major life etiquette of all ethnic groups who believe in Islam. Circumcision is equivalent to the baptism of Catholicism and Christianity. After circumcision, the little boy became a Muslim. At present, someone is doing circumcision in the hospital. Of course, it is safe and painless to have surgery in the hospital, but circumcision is an important ceremony, so most people still do it in the traditional way at home. Boys are circumcised at the age of five or seven, and the age cannot be even. Time is in spring and autumn, and the wound is easy to heal. The children's family will hold a grand circumcision ceremony, and neighbors and relatives will come to congratulate them. Circumcision is presided over by experienced religious figures, who pray solemnly and perform a strict procedure. Relatives and friends will also give some expensive gifts to circumcised people. In many African countries, whether boys and girls are adults is not judged by their age, but by whether they have held adult ceremonies. The so-called rite of passage is circumcision. When a man reaches a certain age, he must cut off the foreskin of his penis, while a woman must partially or completely cut off the clitoris and labia minora, and even sew up the vaginal opening. The custom of circumcision is widely circulated. The time of circumcision varies from culture to culture, and it is usually held before adulthood or a few days after birth to before marriage. There are different opinions about its meaning: for sacrifice, for pain test, for marriage, for purifying genitals, for symbolizing the danger of sexual life, for sanitary measures, or for symbolizing castration. Others think it shows the sacredness of genitals and warn against promiscuity. Female circumcision is prevalent in black Africa. Some anthropologists believe that it is to deprive women of sexual enjoyment and keep them chaste forever. The medical level in Africa is generally low, and the instruments for circumcision are usually ordinary knives and scissors or even unsterilized glass fragments. No anesthetic drugs were used during the operation, and no drugs were used to stop bleeding after the operation. Whether male or female, circumcision may bring disastrous consequences. Some people often bleed or become infected with pus after receiving the ceremony, and some women may suffer lifelong pain or even disability because of long-term unhealed wounds. Especially for women, circumcision is neither scientific nor hygienic, and it is a cruel and backward custom. The time and reason why circumcision originated in Africa have been debated for a long time. However, according to archaeological research, there are circumcised women in Egyptian mummies, which shows that circumcision has a history of at least thousands of years in Africa. There are many explanations in Africa about why circumcision is necessary. It is said that circumcision can help girls get through dangerous sexual maturity and adolescence, reduce the possibility of losing their virginity, and thus maintain their virginity. It is said that a girl who is circumcised will become extraordinarily docile, which will bring endless happiness to the sexual life of married couples. In some parts of Africa, people insist that a woman is a real woman only if she is circumcised. Circumcision is regarded as a proof of a woman's chastity and a sign of entering society. An uncircumcised woman is unclean. They have no right to marry and have children, thinking that children will bring misfortune to their neighbors and even the whole tribe. Some girls who refuse to be circumcised will be condemned by public opinion and discriminated by people around them, so they are called "pheasants". In such an environment, it is difficult for them to find a satisfactory husband. It is under the control of such a concept that the custom of circumcision has been passed down to this day. For African women, circumcision is only the first pain they suffered in their lives, and they will experience many hardships on the long road of life. After marriage, vaginal closure caused by circumcision will bring unbearable pain to women's sexual life, and many people have to cut their vaginas again. Many women have to have a cutting operation when giving birth to a child because of the narrow vaginal opening. During the operation, the baby's head is often injured and leads to death. In some parts of Africa, if a husband leaves home for a long time, he has the right to ask his wife to do an operation called chastity protection, that is, sew up the vagina again, leaving only a small hole, and this woman has had endless pain since then. According to local traditional customs, boys are usually circumcised at the age of seven or eight, while girls are mostly circumcised at the age of 10- 15. Before the ceremony, parents should educate their children about the significance of circumcision and encourage them to have the courage not to be afraid of pain. Relatives and friends congratulated them and presented gifts. Choose an auspicious day, and young men and women who receive gifts will gather on a lawn in the village and be hosted by an old man to hold a celebration. Young men and women dressed in traditional festival costumes, drumming, singing and dancing, all in high spirits, immersed in a happy atmosphere. With the approach of circumcision day, the atmosphere of celebration becomes more intense. For several days, there were many banquets, songs and dances, and stayed up all night. Circumcision is an important activity of the tribe, and the place to accept the ceremony is decided by the elders in the village through consultation. And send someone to clean it up in advance. On the morning of the official ceremony, the relatives of the young people who accepted the ceremony slaughtered cattle and sheep to sacrifice their ancestors. All the young people who received the gifts gathered in one place, took a bath and cleaned themselves. When everything was ready, they went to the receiving place collectively. Men, women and children in the village also gathered at the reception site from all directions. People are wearing brand-new national costumes, talking and laughing, as if celebrating a festival. The young people who accepted the ceremony were arranged to sit in the center of the venue, with men and women sitting separately. Boys were accompanied by male relatives and girls by female relatives. When a boy is standing for surgery, he must not have any fear and anxiety when he receives a gift, let alone make a hullabaloo about, otherwise he will be looked down upon. The operators are experienced and prestigious elders in the village. With the help of the assistant, the operator cuts the foreskin of the recipient with a blade and throws it on the ground. The blood recipient kept jumping on the ground, and at the same time kept rubbing the wound with his hand to prevent blood from clotting on the urethral orifice. Subsequently, the elder who performed the operation bandaged the wound for the patient. Before giving gifts, the girl's hands were tied behind her back, lying on the straw mat on the ground, her eyes were blindfolded, her lower body clothes were stripped, and her head and legs were tightly pressed to the ground by her relatives. An experienced old lady had an operation. People outside the stadium beat drums and shouted loudly to attract the attention of the recipients and help them alleviate their pain. In an instant, the shouts of villagers and the shouts of military salute were intertwined and echoed over the ceremony site. At the end of the operation, the old woman applied a white paste-like liquid to the patient's wound. With the help of relatives and friends, the donor dragged the bloody body around the field for a week to show the public that he was already a donor. Finally, the blood recipients took off their blood-stained clothes and put on clean clothes, and those changed clothes were treated centrally. It takes about half a day for a person to receive a gift. If there are many people receiving gifts in the village, they often have to receive them for many days in a row. On the evening after the ceremony, all the young people who accepted the ceremony were divided into two groups, men and women, and concentrated on rest. Operators should disinfect their bodies every day, spray them with a strong bactericidal wine, let them wash their hands with wine, and send them food regularly, usually chicken nuggets, beef and so on. After all the recipients' wounds healed, the whole village slaughtered cattle and sheep and held a big banquet to congratulate them. Loud gongs and drums, carnival songs and dances, and deafening laughter are intertwined, forming a warm and moving scene. In addition, in rural areas where Arabs live in concentrated communities in North Africa, there is a custom similar to circumcision called "virginity", that is, on the wedding night of young men and women, an old woman cuts off the bride's clitoris with a blade and pierces the bride's hymen with her fingers. According to local tradition, only when the bride shed enough blood and stained a large piece of white cloth on her wedding night can she prove that she is a virgin. This custom not only has a strong feudal color, but also brings unspeakable pain to girls. Sometimes, if the old lady pushes too hard, she will break the uterine wall of the girl, even break the uterine wall, damage the bladder, and lead to massive bleeding and death. The vast number of Arab women hate this custom and have long called for its abolition. With the sympathy and support of people from all walks of life, this custom began to die out. For thousands of years, the custom of circumcision has brought great pain to countless men and women, especially women. More and more people are aware of the harm caused by the custom of circumcision, and people demand the abolition of this bad habit. Many young men and women take various measures to avoid circumcision, and some African governments have promulgated legal provisions prohibiting circumcision. Today, in many African countries, circumcision has been basically eliminated in urban and coastal areas, but it is still prevalent in remote rural areas. This custom has also attracted the attention of the international community. The World Health Organization and relevant United Nations agencies have held many meetings to discuss the issue of eradicating circumcision in Africa. It can be predicted that with the economic and social development and the popularization of science, technology and culture in Africa, the practice of completely eliminating circumcision in Africa will not last long. & lt/p & gt；