Sexual rites of passage

Certain rites of passage involve sexual activities.

Sexual cleansing after menarche

Sexual "cleansing" is ceremony where girls have sex as a cleansing ritual following their first menstruation. This is known in some regions of Malawi as ''kusasa fumbi'', meaning "brushing off the dust." This is also sometimes performed after an abortion. This practice of sexual cleansing is largely confined to Salima, Chikwawa, and Nsanje Districts in Malawi, as well as parts of Zambia, Malawi, Uganda, Tanzania, Mozambique, Angola, Ivory Coast, and the Congo.

Prepubescent girls are often sent to a training camp where women known as ''anamkungwi'', or "key leaders", teach the girls how to cook, clean, and have sex in order to be a wife. After the training, a ''hyena'' (not to be confused with the animal), a traditional position held by a man, performs the cleansing for 12- to 17-year-old females and gets paid for 4-7 dollars each time. The rite lasts for three days. Sometimes, the girl is required to perform a bare-breasted dance known as ''chisamba'' at the end of their initiation in front of her whole community.

The practice can place young girls at risk of HIV infection because the hyena has sexual intercourse with all the girls and condoms are not used as the ritual requires the exchange of sexual fluids. The rite is claimed by traditionalist Malawians to be able to prevent disease. Hyenas are usually selected for their moral character and are often erroneously believed to be incapable of catching diseases such as HIV/AIDS, though there is documented evidence of practicing, HIV-positive Hyenas.

Sex training tests

In a three month ritual known as ''Chinamwali'', in the Eastern province of Zambia, female initiators known as ''Alangizi'' teach sex skills to girls as young as 12. Much is underreported and those undergone the ritual are sworn to secrecy. After the training, they are sent to an older man from the community who is a tester for their sexual skills and sees if they need to go back to training.

Sexual cleansing after widowhood

Sexual cleansing after widowhood is a tradition requiring a woman to have sex after widowhood as a cleansing. It is found in parts of Kenya, Zambia, Malawi, Uganda, Tanzania, Mozambique, Angola, Ivory Coast, and the Congo. This is known as ''Kulowa kufa'' in Malawi.

It is often forced upon the woman by the deceased husband's family. Those refusing to be cleansed risk getting beaten by superstitious villagers, who may also harm the woman's children. It is argued that this notion arose from the idea that if a husband dies, the woman may have performed witchcraft against him. Cleansing can be done by the deceased husband's brother or other relative or otherwise by a paid sex worker. Typically, after sex, the widow burns her clothes, and the man shaves the widow's hair, often outside so that the neighborhood can witness that the widow is now cleansed. A chicken is slaughtered at the end of the ceremony, which usually lasts from three to seven days. Widow cleansing was outlawed in Kenya in a 2015 domestic offences bill.

Boy insemination initiation rites

Initiation rites of prepubescent boys as young as seven among groups in the highlands of New Guinea involved sexual acts with older males. Fellatio and semen ingestion is found among the Sambia, the Baruya and Etoro. Among the Kaluli people, this involves anal sex to deliver semen to the boy. These rites often revolve around beliefs that women represent a cosmic disorder. This rite of ‘boy insemination’ was also found among societies in aboriginal Australia, ancient Greece and Tokugawa Japan.

References

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Rites of passage
Superstitions of Africa
Sexuality in Africa