Jando. Part I: The Constitution and Organization of the Jando

Boys' circumcision and girls' puberty rites among the Swahili of Mafia Island, Tanzania

“…In both rites, millet is a very important symbol-millet is planted when the girl begins to menstruate, the novices and their attendants are smeared with millet flour during the course of the rites, and the boys 'ask for millet' when their wounds are healed. Villagers say that millet shoots symbolise pubic hair, and accounts of unyago elsewhere on the coast (Cory 1947) suggest that millet seeds symbolise sperm. Yet it is interesting to note that millet is grown only to a very minor degree in northern Mafia, where the staple foods are rice, cassava and sweet potatoes, although millet does, of course, form a staple over much of East and Central Africa.…”