Thaapananit is the Didinga word for “man’s right of passage”.

Apui is our friend here in Didinga. He lives not far from here, has five children and is a great farmer. All of that aside though, just today he became a man in the eyes of the Didinga and elders. He is now probably pushing 30, but better late than never I guess.

So Apui stopped by the compound today as Lauren and I were preparing for our Didinga language lesson and invited ourselves and William and Eunice to come to his Thaapananit. Once a man has gone through Thaapananit, he is respected and has a voice in the community. This is the same ceremony that I was invited to take part in 3 years ago, and I have decided that I will do it once I can speak Didinga without the help of a translator and when my father comes to visit, because he has to be present for it to be considered legitimate. We were honored to go support him in his rite of passage, and I was really curious about what this ceremony would look like. Let me describe it for you..

Apui leads a large bull down the mountain and fairly deep into the forest. There, he spears the bull, makes a fire and then runs up to come and call the elders, friends, and family to come and help initiate him into manhood.

We arrived to see a large white bull lying in the bush under the cover of the forest’s canopy. Blood is already matting its hide and Apui is sitting on his stool about 15 feet away. More Didinga continue to slowly trickle in to the forest following the smoke from the fire.

Then one of the elders arrives and begins gutting the cow where it lies with Apui’s spear. They don’t skin the cow for this occasion, because a man needs to have strong teeth, so they cook the beef and you have to chew through the tough hide. When the guts have been removed, a few of the witch doctor’s and elders begin reading the innards of the animal which serve as a map of the Didinga area and all of their surrounding neighbors.

Judging from the innards, we learned that there will be little rain in Nagishot this season, there will be diarrhea – somewhere, no war will come, people down in Chukudum will be hungry, and Nagishot people will have the best harvest, though it will be poor. Apui will have peace in his family, and the man whom he bought the cow from will never have a quarrel with Apui over anything. Who knew?

Apui cuts off the head of the bull and cautiously puts it onto a raging bonfire that the elders can’t seem to find enough wood for.

Then the enormous quantity of chewed grass that is waiting to be digested in the cow’s stomach is dumped into a pile and Apui is made to sit in it. Apui’s father and the elders begin smearing the wet cud all over Apui from head to toe. 

Then we watched as they grabbed limbs and branches and began whipping Apui and making him jump back and forth over the great big fire. The cud serves as a first layer of skin to protect him from the intense flames. The whipping him into the flames is to help beat the child out of him and to help him remember that he is to be a man now.

The elders/initiated ones sat in a circle and drank what blood had filled the chest cavity of the bull from a large bowl and then sopped up what remained with the roasted heart (which tastes surprisingly delicious). Then they began throwing roasted pieces of meat at us “children” to contend for our food with the dogs and each other. Eventually, this calmed down when the point was across that men needed to become initiated into elderhood and then food was passed around as a sign of respect and honor.

Ladies were waiting a bit further away in the forest, and could hear what was happening, but not see. Meat was taken up to them as well. We were eating meat until we could not eat anymore while elders made lengthy speeches about the Didinga way of life. Though William and I have not yet undergone Thaapananit, we were given a seat of honor there and were asked to contribute some words as well. So graciously, we did.

Apui sat in silence, still covered in cud for the entire ceremony and spent last night in the forest learning the secrets of the culture from the elders. Today Apui is a man.

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