From a Sweet Sixteen, to a Quinceanara, a Rumspringa, and a Bar-mitzvah, every culture has their own coming of age rituals that will bring their children into adulthood. Though not all of these rituals are easy going and consist of a party and having fun. Other coming of age rituals are meant to toughen children up to make sure they are worthy and prepare for them life that comes with being an adult. One of these rituals is the Bullet Ant tradition of the Sateré-Mawé, an indigenous tribe in the Brazilian Amazons. This tribe has little contact with the outside world and are mostly known because of their coming of age ritual.
In the Sateré-Mawé tribe when a boy turns thirteen it is decided that he will be initiated into manhood. So to begin the preparation for the ceremony, the boys collect bullet ants in the jungle and when caught the bullet ants are sedated by dropping them into a brew of the crushed leaves of a cashew tree. After the ants are sedated they are sowed into gloves. When the ants wake up, angry at being sowed into a glove (the ants are unharmed) the ceremony will begin. Each boy in the ceremony has to wear the gloves twenty times for ten minutes each while performing a dance. It is believed that this ritual will prepare boys for the suffering of manhood and make them better warriors.
To provide context about the bullet ants, they are officially known as the worlds most painful insect. That’s why they are called bullet ants, their sting is comparable to being shot by a bullet. The sting of a bullet ant can last for twenty four hours and It is said that their sting is thirty times worse than a bee sting. On the Schmidt Pain Index, which measures the sting of insects on people, it was given a four plus. On the index, stings can range from level one to a level four with four being the worst and most painful. Luckily, bullet ants are nonaggressive unless provoked but when you are stung by one it will release a chemical that signals other ants to sting multiple times.
This ritual of the Sateré-Mawé tribe was interesting to learn about. The first link that I posted was to a YouTube video by National Geographic documenting one of the ceremonies. In the video you can see the boys going through the ritual as well as an outsider who wanted to try the ritual out for himself. I noticed how the outsider reacted to wearing the gloves compared to how the boys from the tribe reacted to wearing the gloves. The world and its cultures are so intriguing and I love learning about different rituals around the world.
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc()/bullet-ant-or-conga-ant--paraponera-clavata--521688497-5b82b4ec46e0fb00820e0ec8.jpg)
Alexandria McKenna
October 9, 2020 at 11:12 pmWow, what a painful coming of age ritual! I am familiar with the general concept of coming of age rituals, but I have never heard of this particular ceremony before. I watched part of the video clip and I amazed at how silent the young boys were doing the ritual. I would have been yelping in pain for sure. I also find it fascinating that the Sateré-Mawé tribe considers 13-year-olds as adults, but in our country we consider 18-year-olds as adults. Just imagining my 14-year-old sister being treated as an adult now is mind-boggling! This is the first time I have visited your blog post and I really enjoyed it! Don’t be surprised if you see me commenting again in the near future 🙂
nxw5198
October 10, 2020 at 12:00 amTo an outsider this appears like a very concerning situation to place young boys under. As far as my knowledge goes about the bullet ant is that many people have died from being stung multiple times and that the bullet ant has been commonly used as special torture technique, so for me to hear that young kids are more or less forced to subject themselves to this unimaginable pain makes me a little concerned. I guess the saying goes ‘different strokes for different folks’ applies here. I certainly would like to never go through this ritual if I had the choice, but I’m not against it for cultural reasons. Still thinking about being in that much pain for 24 hours or more doesn’t seem like the right kind of thing to expose young kids to, but hey if it works it works. If they find benefit in this ceremony then by all means go ahead. This was a great read! Fantastic Post!
slh6222
October 11, 2020 at 3:36 pmWow, this post made me cringe back in my seat! I am all for teaching a life lesson to encourage maturity, but this is extreme! When I read the part about toughening children up to make sure they are worthy, it reminded me of a Gravity Falls episode, where the main character had to slay a manly three-headed bear to join the group of macho men, but really he found out that the manly three-headed bear liked listening to pop music (BABBA), so he never slayed it/them. Like in this episode, I believe that coming-of-age is a gradual accumulation of experience, and there is no moment where someone becomes mature (aka a “manly man”). I find it interesting to see how different cultures view coming-of-age as an immediate moment to celebrate or teach. For the Sateré-Mawé tribe, it almost seems like the build up of a New Years’ Eve event, but more excruciating! I wonder if they did anything for girls at thirteen and if it was as painful for them to enter womanhood as it was for boys to enter manhood? I am so fascinated!!
rzc5560
October 12, 2020 at 1:37 amThat ritual is probably my worst nightmare. I am so afraid of like common bee stings, I can’t even imagine. I’m kind of surprised how prevalent coming-of-age rituals/ceremonies/parties are. I don’t think I’ve ever really thought that much about them, but it seems like such a common thing around the world. Just doing a quick Wikipedia search, I’ve found some sort of even for every major religion and in many counties. I wonder what is so special about this particular time that we all feel the need to celebrate.
Blake Lipko
October 12, 2020 at 3:23 amThis sounds extremely painful to say the least. It’s interesting to compare this ritual to some of the other “comings of age” around the world. As most young teens/adults are used to having large parties with food and gifts, these boys are given undoubtedly one of the most uncomfortable situations ever. This is on the line of torture in my opinion. However, I’m sure within this culture it seems totally normal. I’m familiar with the bullet ant from certain YouTube videos and I’ve seen the pain that many people have endure by being stung by one of these creatures. This was a very interesting read, great post!