Initiations Explained

As promised, I'll finish my explaination of the initiations. As i said before, the dances in the village shows everyone that the young men have matured. It si like a debutante ball, but for guys.

Besides the initiations, there is a large wrestling match every year in the Lama-Kara region called Evala. This ceremony is for young men, 18-20, to show their strength to the public and the fact taht they are mature ane ready for marriage. This is a huge ceremony that people from around the world fly in to watch. The president takes a week off just to attend the matches. Rumors have it that the president invites the winners into his army.

I went to watch a wrestling match in Kouméa with Alex, Madeline, Jeff and Jesper. With our cameras held tightly in our hands, and money around our necks, we came upon a field of hundreds of people. There were wrestlers flexing their their muscles, red-cross personnels walking around, vendors and beer-sellers milling around, and a huge group of women [in matching pagnés (skirts from a piece of cloth) and T-shirts that has a photo of the president in the front (he is up for reelection next year) and the words, 'Kouméa supports you!' in the back] singing and dancing together to the rythym of the drums. Besides the civilians, there were lots of military personnel aith their green berets, black vests and serious machine guns hung around their necks. Military trucks and machine guns were all prepped for the safety of the president.

There were two teams, red and white. Each round of wrestling consisted of 5 men from each side. Which team wins the most matches for the round wins the round. On each side, there's also a "cheerleading" team of 10 or so men dressed in feathers and fur, dancing to the beats of traditional music of drums and shakers. I heard from the people around me that each time a team wins a round; the "cheerleading" team shouts out some smart insult at the other team like in a rap show-down.

A friend of Jesper, a wrestling coach, told us the wrestling matches represents how one lives in life. Unlike when you are younger, you can no longer turn away from a fight. Like in life, you must fight.