The areas of the South Seas where circumcision is
practiced are as follows:
1. Biak Island in Cendrawasih Bay, West Papua.
2. Isolated pockets on the north coast of Papua New Guinea, including the
Maprik area of East Sepik and formerly but no longer in the Madang area
3. West New Britain
4. Formerly, New Hanover and New Ireland
5. Vanuatu
6. Fiji
7. All Polynesians
[Derived from Chapters 9 and 12 of Circumcision: an Ethnomedical Study, by A. Thomas (3rd edition, 1995)
£25 from The Acorn Society, "PO Box 296, IPSWICH IP2 8SH, UK
In the western Pacific operations akin to but not the same as circumcision are performed on the foreskin as part of the initiation of boys to the status of manhood.
To mark the distinction they are referred to in the literature as incision, supercision, superincision or circum-incision.
The operations
(1) A hardwood stick is inserted between the foreskin and the upper or dorsal side of the glans penis and a longitudinal incision is made in the foreskin by cutting onto this with a knife. The foreskin is not removed but remains attached to the corona and, as the wound heals, hangs down exposing the glans. This operation thus resembles the 'dorsal incision' of which instances are very occasionally observed in Britain and which is sometimes suggested in surgery textbooks as a preliminary or an alternative to circumcision. There are several variations.
(2) On some Pacific islands, two slits are made, one on the upper (dorsal) side and the other on the lower (ventral) side.
(3) In Tanna, after making the dorsal slit as described in (1), 'the foreskin is cut down on either side of the penis so as to leave a wing of skin on each side. This gathers under the penis where after it has healed it forms a lump nearly as large as the glans.
The larger the operation, the more of a man it makes the boy.'
(4) Finally, these lateral incisions may be extended to remove the whole foreskin. The relationship of the last of these operations as a logical progression from the foregoing operations has led it to be termed circum-incision. The effect of operation
(3) is to
produce a result very similar to the one achieved by the Masai in East Africa. The circumstances in which the Pacific islanders perform these operations will next be described more fully.
Minimal incision in Tuamotu
In the Tuamotu islands near Tahiti, in Polynesia, the incision of the foreskin is minimal. Candidates are at the age of puberty and a boy is judged ready at about the age of 12-14, when 'the foreskin has grown long enough to completely cover the glans penis'. Shame attached to applying for the operation too early, so a father made sure that his son had reached the proper stage of development before arranging the operation and deciding how long the incision would be. There was no special time of year, but usually three or four boys were done at the same time. A boy went to see the operator and his assistant. The operator used a tool called a kaufau, made of whalebone or wood, about three inches long and roughly pointed. The thicker end was about 1.5 inches in diameter and the thinner end was about half that and convex.
The operator retracted the foreskin partially to form a free folded edge.
The kaufau was inserted between this fold and the glans. It was pushed back until the end reached the attachment of the foreskin to the penis at the coronal sulcus.
The foreskin was then pulled forward so that it doubled on itself, presenting a folded edge for the incision. This was made in the middle of the folded edge on the dorsal side, using a shark's tooth or a sharpened thumb-nail, and was either 1/16th or 1/8th inch long, as decided by the father. The longer cut allowed the skin to be parted to make a V-shape.
The foreskin was then retracted smooth and tight on the penis to open the cut, which was covered with a small wad of chewed grass and firmly bandaged to keep it open, normally healing in 3-5 days (Shapiro 1930). The effect of this very minor operation would be to loosen the tight band at the tip of the foreskin, and thus to make retraction easier; but the glans would normally remain covered unless the foreskin was unusually short.
Uninfluenced by Islam, in Malaya the Sembrong tribe practiced incision but did not circumcise. The Madek used to once, but on a disastrous occasion several of the tribe died because the knives used had been accidentally put in a pot of poison.
The Benna (or Jakun) of Johore made a single incision or slit but did not practice circumcision (Skeat & Blagden 1906: 52).
The Northern New Hebrides
Layard (pp. 476-7) describes the range of operations (1-4) practiced in the Small Islands of Malekula in the Northern New Hebrides. They are preliminary to the wearing of the penis-wrapper. This is the sole article of male clothing, a plaited band of leaves 2-3 inches wide and 16 inches long which is wound tightly round the penis, round and round again, with the free end then tucked under a string belt so that the penis is held upwards in line with the belly. No effort is made to cover the testicles or the base of the penis, and the sole purpose is apparently to conceal the foreskin and the glans penis which would otherwise be exposed. The operation, accompanied by a series of elaborate hoaxes, serves to initiate into the status of manhood, the badge of which is the nakedness of the modified foreskin and glans. A separate initiation into sex occurs later.
The Big Nambas of the Northern New Hebrides practice circum-incision. It is accompanied by a highly developed set of homosexual practices: after he has been cut, the boy's guardian has exclusive sexual rights over him, although access is forbidden during the thirty days' convalescence period after the operation.
As a rationalisation it is said that the boy's penis is caused to grow strong and large by the homosexual acts of his 'husband'. This is taken as one expression of extreme reverence for the glans following the sacrifice involved in the circumcision operation, with male power being transmitted by the physical means of the homosexual act.
Southern New Hebrides
In the Southern New Hebrides the boys are aged 5-8 and the operation is compulsory (Humphreys, pp.75-6). In Tanna, too, the operation begins as a dorsal incision but is extended to become true circumcision. The longitudinal incision is made. A thin strand of cane is then tied round the penis on the outside at the level of the coronal sulcus. One side of the split foreskin and then the other is taken up and cut round at this level so as to remove the whole foreskin, with great care being taken as the frenal area is approached. The group observed was of 16 boys aged 5-11. The operation marks the start of the wearing of penis wrappers: while healing the wound is washed and the wrapper changed every day (Mills, 1961).
In Fiji the operation is one of incision, performed at an age when hair begins to show in the pubic region: afterwards strips of white bark-cloth are bound very tightly around the penis so as to cause a painful erection (Brewster, 1919). In Malekula the boys are stung with nettles and beaten as a preliminary to 'circum-incision', which forms part of their initiatory ordeals.
The operation in Tikopia
In Tikopia the incision operation is done on a few lads at a time each year, and accompanied by feasting. The actual operation consists of a longitudinal slitting of the upper surface of the distal portion of the foreskin. The technique is simple. A small stick is cut, about 5 inches long, eliptical in cross-section and about half an inch in greater diameter. This is pushed underneath the foreskin down the top of the penis, and the foreskin is then stretched to make it as thin as possible over the wood and gathered down on either side. 'It is smoothed out so that the path of the knife may be thin', say the Tikopia people. The expert operator then cuts straight down the top of the foreskin towards the tip, careful to keep the line straight and not to cut a vein. The cut is as much as two inches long, and made from far back on the penis. When cutting, the stick is levered up hard while considerable pressure is applied by the fingers to keep the skin pushed down on either side. After the cut is made it is parted completely and the skin is folded back in two flaps. The result is that the foreskin, while still attached to the corona, hangs down exposing the glans.
In the old days the sharp edge of a shell was used to make the cut and it was done at a later stage, when the lad's beard began to grow 'as otherwise he would not be able to bear the pain'. Sometimes a single incision was sufficient but for others a second cut was needed to divide the inner skin, and occasionally five or six cuts were required. In modern times a razor blade is used and the lads are younger, usually about nine to fourteen. In Taiohae scissors are used because they are said to make a cleaner cut. For a small boy, particularly if he is afraid, it may be necessary to pull the end of the penis first to extend it.
After the cut has been made a strip of fresh soft bark-cloth half an inch wide and 24 inches long is wound round the foreskin and penis so that the two edges of the wound are kept apart. The cutting hurts very much but the wound is not very painful afterwards. The boys are encouraged not to show fear, but it is not designed as an ordeal and they are not disgraced if they do. The operation serves as a milestone in the social development of the lad. It is enforced by social pressures in the form of constant oblique joking at the expense of anyone old enough who has not had it done (Firth 1936: 423-4). A similar operation is performed on Vao, Atchin and all the neighbouring islands (Stone Men of Malekula).
Supercision in the Philippines
The Bontoc Igorot people live in the north of Luzon island in the Philippines. Most boys are cut at from 4 to 7 years of age, privately without feasting or rite. One or two old men in each village understand how to do it, and the only formality is payment of a few leaves of tobacco to the operator. The foreskin is cut lengthwise on the upper side for half an inch. Either a sharp blade-like piece of bamboo is inserted in the foreskin which is cut from the inside, or the backpoint of a battle-axe is stuck firmly in the earth and the foreskin is cut by being drawn over the sharp point of the blade.
The origin of the operation is not known, [and is apparently unconnected with Islamic or other religious observance] but the people say that unless the foreskin is cut it will grow long 'like an unclipped vine' (Jenks 1905: 63).
Negrito lads acquire scar designs on their arms and chests during adolescence, made by rubbing ashes into little cuts in the skin. Part of the ceremonial requires the boy himself to go out alone, thrust the end of his hunting knife beneath his foreskin, and give it a sharp blow with a piece of wood. After that his mother no longer requires him to do household tasks and he is considered a man in the group.
In Cebu the boys are aged 9-11 when they are supercised. A sliver of bamboo is used as a striking base over which the foreskin is stretched; onto this a knife blade is pressed hard. Coconut powder is used to cover the wound and the boys bathe in the sea daily until healing is complete. The whole procedure lacks either religious or secular ritual but is done very much at the boys' request. Men who have not been supercised are called pisut, meaning cowardly and lacking cleanliness. A girl who found that her fiance had not been supercised would encourage him to have it done and might break up the relationship if her suggestion was not followed. The reasons given by girls to explain the importance of supercision include:
(1) it is a Christian custom;
(2) it makes a man complete, a he-man, not a coward, not sissy;
(3) it is healthy and lessens susceptibility to cancer of the genitals;
(4) it hastens physical growth;
(5) if not done, a man is dirty and smells bad;
(6) it improves sexual pleasure and satisfaction because the operation makes 'it' bigger and fuller;
(7) it is unnatural not to be supercised.
In consequence mature males who have migrated from provinces where it is not the custom will apply to be supercised (Rubel et al, 1971).
Indonesia
Among Indonesian tribes a related operation called batotak is done on boys in secret.
The foreskin is 'split gradually by squeezing the upper part between two pieces of bamboo.' Splitting the foreskin is the old form of operation, co-existing beside the Muslim form of circumcision, which of course involves cutting off the foreskin (Loeb, 1933: 45).
Muslim influences
The interaction of Muslim and other religious influences on the spread of cirumcision is next discussed. The link between circumcision and Islamic religious obligation is made in Malaysia by arranging that it is performed after the boy has completed learning to read all the 30 chapters of the Koran, usually at about the age of 10-13. The parents fix a date some time in the school holidays and arrange the two-part ceremony. The first part consists of sitting-in-state. Dressed in finery and seated on a specially made bridal couch before a gathering of guests, the boy reads out the last chapter of the Koran, kisses the hands of his religious teacher, his parents and guests and then joins them in a feast.
The operation itself follows next day. Very early he takes a cold bath, which has a mild anaesthetic and haemostatic effect, and is then seated astride a banana-tree stem. The operator prepares the boy's penis by using a blunt wooden probe to separate the glans from the foreskin. He applies wooden clamps and quickly cuts off the stretched end of the foreskin. He then removes the proximal pair of clamps, stretches the skin backwards and dresses the raw wound with calcium hydroxide and powdered turmeric, covering it with tissue paper and a cloth bandage. This dressing is not always proof against sepsis. Some 80,000 Malay boys are circumcised in this way each year by traditional native operators (Chen 1973). Uninfluenced by Islam, the Sembrong tribe practiced incision but did not circumcise. The Madek used to once, but on a disastrous occasion several of the tribe died because the knives used had been accidentally put in a pot of poison. The Benna (or Jakun) of Johore made a single incision or slit but did not practice circumcision (Skeat & Blagden
1906: 52).
Muslim merchants, whether Arab, Indian or Persian, were active traders to 'the Spice Islands' of Malaysia and Indonesia since the 7th century AD. Marco Polo reported a Muslim community in Sumatra in 1292, and Islam made extensive conversions in the 14th and 15th centuries, after the arrival of Sufi teachers who rejected the dry and complex legalism of medieval Muslim scholastics in favour of a more mystical view and a willingness to syncretise their own teachings with native ones. Santris, devout adolescent students, moved between rural Muslim schools, linking religious and trading communities and practicing the faith with pious orthodoxy in a rather alien, Arab style of life. But in the central Javanese heartland of Hinduized civilisation, Islam was syncretized with Hindu, Buddhist and animist beliefs in a blend known as abangan. Penetration of Islam seems to correlate with changes in the ritual structure of the life cycle. Pious Muslim groups generally circumcise in childhood, whereas non- or partially-Islamised groups circumcise at puberty. The Muslim view seems to be that early circumcision quickly nudges sons out of the arms of their mothers and into the Islamic world of their fathers and other pious men.
Abangan Muslims may take the oath that there is only one God, but they don't practice the five prayers, nor fast during Ramadan; they eat pork, pay no religious tax and have no desire to make the pilgrimage (haj) to Mecca.(Peacock 1973:
23-31).
Javanese abangan boys are circumcised at age 12-14 and a substantial family celebration is made of the event, with shadow plays, a gamelan orchestra, and elaborate offerings prepared by females; and it is the mother who supports the often-queasy initiate. Parents wait until the boy himself asks to be circumcised - i.e.
when he feels himself to be reaching puberty - and usually he does so when he begins to feel ashamed before his peers (Geertz 1961: 120). Javanese sunatan is their pronunciation of the Arabic sunnet. Balinese have never accepted circumcision and could not even bring themselves to discuss it.
By contrast Islamic purists, santri, try to persuade boys to be circumcised as young as 6-8: the Javanese aged 6-9, the more Islamised Sundanese aged 4-9, and the staunchly Muslim Atjenese at age 8. Boon described a severe individualistic and painful rite without images, flowers, or incense, or holy water, an exclusively male ceremony for three boys aged six. At the last circumcision rite in the neighbourhood one boy had told his father that he was 'ready' and, by the time the funds were available, two of his peers had elected to join him. Each boy was held down by three or four men, including the proud father. The first boy suffered most acutely; although the foreskin was stretched and clamped and partly anaesthetised, the cuts provoked uncontrolled screams. "Too much blood with this one", the operator murmured.
He quickly finished cutting, applied an antiseptic and bandage, and attached a protective brace to keep the boy's formal sarong from irritating the wound. A second initiate fared better, and the third was exemplary. The boys' suffering was intended to impress the importance of the occasion upon them (Boon 1977: 210-14).
Physiologists, both traditional and modern, argue (Edwardes, 1976: 82) that it is wise to defer circumcision until just before puberty. This allows the penis to develop significantly (so that the operator can work more accurately), but still leaves time for the final stages of its development; the boy is old enough to withstand the physical shock, and delaying until this stage allows full development of the blood vessels essential to normal coagulation.
Islam is less specific than Judaism about methods of circumcision, and techniques vary in detail. Religious law holds that 'it is obligatory to cut off the whole skin which covers the glans so that it is wholly denuded', but Egyptian and Turkish operators (sünnetci) have a reputation for removing only a small portion of the foreskin at the tip, leaving the glans rim covered but the rest of the glans unhooded.
The purpose of this partial circumcision is to observe religious requirements yet preserve the sensitivity of the penis. This practice is much despised by Arabs, who regard Turks and Egyptians as unclean for that reason (Edwardes, 1976, p.84). In some parts of Java the operation is an incision rather than circumcision, which also has the effect of only partially baring the glans.
'Menstruating' Men in Wogeo
The island of Wogeo, off the north coast of New Guinea, has been termed The Island of Menstruating Men by Hogbin (1970: 88, 115). The idea is held that the entire population is perpetually weakened, liable to disease and misadventure - males because of their association with females, females because of their association with males. The females, however, are the more fortunate in that they are regularly freed from contamination by the normal physiological process of menstruation, when the alien elements flow away of their own accord. The males, on the other hand, are obliged to take positive measures to ensure such a periodic disinfection.
Therefore the
elders have the job of taking a boy who is on the brink of puberty and scarifying his tongue. Later, after attaining maturity, all men have to make a practice of gashing the penis to induce profuse bleeding, an operation known as sara.
Females retain their purity by natural menstruation, and men regain theirs by artificial menstruation. The actual process of menstruation is held to be cleansing.
The blood discharged, however, is polluting, and every precaution must be taken both by the bleeder and by others to avoid contact with it.
The technique of 'male menstruation' is as follows. First the man catches a crayfish or crab and removes one of its claws, which he keeps wrapped up with ginger until it is required. He also collects various soothing leaves. From dawn onwards on the day that he has fixed he eats nothing. Then late in the afternoon he goes to a lonely beach, covers his head with a palm spathe, removes his clothes, and wades out until the water is up to his knees. He stands there with legs apart and induces an erection, either by thinking about desirable women or by masturbation. When ready he pushes back the foreskin and hacks at the glans, first on the left side, then on the right. Above all he must not allow the blood to fall on his fingers or his legs. He waits until the cuts have begun to dry and the sea is no longer pink, and then walks ashore.
After wrapping the penis in leaves he dresses and goes back to the village.
Sexual
intercourse is forbidden until the next new moon - the soreness, in any event, may take that long to wear off.
Young people in Wogeo are sexually promiscuous before marriage. Initiation to scarification follows puberty, when a boy 'has acquired a little understanding", though some youths may have to wait 3-4 years, and begins with tongue scarification.
The boys are seated in front of a fire and made to bite hard into ginger roots, "for the tongue to tingle, swollen with all that blood." Assistants make sure that the boys' tongues are well thrust out and the specialist gives each lad's tongue a scrape with sandpaper leaves, first on the left, then on the right, then on the upper surface. He tries to be gentle but is not satisfied until the blood is falling drop by drop. The blood must drop into the fire - contact with it is death.
From the time of his tongue scarification, elders warn the boy of the physical risks of self-indulgence. Thus he is made fully aware of his need to know how to set about incising his penis. Probably the majority have been instructed by 18, though some delay for a year or two longer. The teacher is never a close relative.
The two catch a small crab and each breaks off a sharp claw. They walk to a secluded beach, strip, and wade out until the water reaches their knees. The elder now operates on himself, explaining the procedure as he goes. He watches while the boy immitates his actions and is not satisfied until the wounds are so deep that the blood gushes forth.
Afterwards they have to spend a few days in the club house.
Thailand
Cases have been reported (Du, 1984) of the implanting of small plastic balls in the foreskin. The two cases reported were a Vietnamese boy (aged 13 at the time of the insertion of one ball) and a Laotian man (aged about 20 at the time of insertion of two balls) who had passed through refugee camps in Thailand on their way to Canada.
While there they had pea-sized plastic balls inserted in their foreskins. An elderly man in the camp fully retracted the foreskin and stretched it thinly, then used a needle to create a small cavity in its inner aspect. The ball was fitted into this cavity. No anesthetic was used, there was minimal bleeding, and the wounds healed after three days. Such operations were relatively easy to obtain, and up to four balls might be implanted.
The purpose had been to enhance the pleasure of the patients' sexual partners. But one patient reported causing his partner vaginal trauma and hemorrhage.
The other had presented with an abscess in the psoas muscle of the pelvis, which was how the implant came to medical notice. The patients reportedly had only had their implants for two to three years, so the long-term implications of the procedure were not known.
Bibliography
Boon, James A. (1977), The Anthropological Romance of Bali 1597-1972 (Cambridge University Press) Brewster, A.B. (1919), 'Circumcision in Noikoro, Noemalu and Mbounbudho', Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute 49: 309-16.
Chen, PCY. (1973), 'Indigenous Malay surgery', Tropical & Geographical Medicine 25, 95-9.
Du, J.N.H. (1984), 'Foreign-body implants in the foreskin', Canadian Medical Association Journal 130 April 1, 845-6.
Edwardes, Allen (1976), The Jewel in the Lotus: A Historical Survey of the Sexual Culture of the East (New York: Bantam Books).
Firth, Raymond (1936), We the Tikopia (1959 reprint, London: Allen & Unwin).
Geertz, Hildred (1961), The Javanese Family (Free Press): 120.
Hogbin, The Island of Menstruating Men (1970 Humphreys, C.B, The Southern New Hebrides, an ethnological record.
Jenks, Albert Ernest (1905), The Bontoc Igorot (Manilla: Bureau of Public Printing).
Layard, John, Stone Men of Malekula.
Loeb, (1933), 'Batak and Minangkabau', American Anthropologist 35 (n.s), at p.45.
Mills, A. Raymond (1961), 'Ritual circumcision on Tanna, New Hebrides', Man, November, p.185 and Plate R.
Peacock, James L. (1973), Indonesia: an anthropological perspective (Pacific Palisades, California: Goodyear Publishing Co, Inc) Rubel, A.J. et al (1971), 'Genital mutilation and adult role behavior among lowland Christian Filipinos of Cebu', American Anthropologist 73, pp. 806-10.
Shapiro, H.L, (1930), 'The practice of incision in the Tuamotus', Man, August, no.
114: 140-3.
Skeat, W.W. and C.O Blagden (1906), Pagan Races of the Malay Peninsula
(London: Macmillan)
Submitted by: Thomas Macalastair
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