Coming of age ceremony of the indigenous Arabana tribe of Australia

Among the many rituals performed by indigenous people in Australia, the rite of passage is the most solemn. The so-called juvenile dedication ceremony, also known as the "coming of age ceremony", is a strict procedure for black Australians to include young men who have grown up into the ranks of adults, or to allow young men who have grown up to enter the ranks of adults through this ritual. A procedure in the ranks of men, making him an official hunter. In the African Australian society where hunting plays an important role, what qualities and skills a hunter has are a major issue. A series of tests and training must be used to confirm him and cultivate him to become a real hunter. Therefore, the "rite of passage" is challenging and educational. There are the following procedures for the "Coming of Age Ceremony":

The person to be tested should be separated from women and children and close to the elderly and men; he should be required to master the skills of hunting and using weapons; he should be cultivated in his firm, hardworking, and hard-working character by eating taboos and various physical tests, such as knocking out teeth, plucking hair, circumcising skin, smoking, etc.; cultivate discipline, obedience to elders, and abiding by tribal customs and morals; teach tribal beliefs and legends, and practice deferential rituals.

The coming-of-age ceremony is not held by one or two young people alone, but by all young people of the appropriate age in the department. It affects the entire tribe, so many guests are often invited, and the ceremony is particularly grand.

When an Arabana child reaches the age of 10, his parents or brothers will one night seize and tie the boy while he is sleeping, take him to a tribal house for the night. At this time, several women in the house danced non-stop all night long. The next morning, the boy, led by his father, visited Quan Luo. At sunset, his grandfather and uncle circumcised him with a stone knife. Then his eldest brother gave him a castanboard with a man's secret and warned him that it was a gift from God and that women and children should not see it.

From then on, the boy would go hunting alone until the cut healed before returning to the tribe. At this time, the tribe will hold a ceremony, and the tribe leader will use a stone knife to carve 49 scars on the boy's back. At this point, the adulthood ceremony will be completed and the boy will officially become a man in the tribe.

A girl's coming of age ceremony requires a dedication ceremony after she has sexual maturity. Men from another phratry gathered in the tribal house and chanted incantations all night long, praying that the girl had strong and rich breasts. After dawn, a man of status took the girl to the public house where the men gathered, asked them to grease her naked body, and used red ochre to draw many patterns on her body, especially draw many circles around the girl's breasts., and draw a straight line, etc. Then, the girl, accompanied by her mother, lived in a makeshift hut in the jungle until the patterns on her body fell off by themselves, and then returned to the tribe and became one of the adult women in the tribe.