Rituals, in Wotsuna’s arguments, dramatise an anticipated crisis or event, thereby generating a sense of familiarity and confidence in the people who participate in them. Having gone through a ritual, people tend to have the confidence that they can do that which was being acted out.
The book traces the culture of circumcision back to Masaba, the remaining son of Mundu. Legend has it that one day while going about his hunting, Masaba came across a ravishingly beautiful girl of the Barwa tribe (Elgonyi Maasai) in the forest. He proposed marriage to her but she turned him down because he was not circumcised. She told him she would only marry him on condition that he went with her to her people to get circumcised, to which he consented.
Through this tradition, the Bamasaaba or Bagisu distinguish themselves as Basani (men) while all uncircumcised men are called Basinde (boys).
Wotsuna writes thus: “Imbalu is agony! You have it on the courtyard, then have it in the house. It is weeks of pain. Applying inguwu to the wound, that powder of the bitterest herb in the world! You put it on the wound and it smarts as if this world was buckling and cracking up. And you willingly make sure it smarts. For manhood is pain. Willful pain.”
He qualifies this by stating that the pain has a sobering and transformative effect upon the individual; it brings into focus the person’s vulnerability as part of his character formation. The novice realizes that life will call upon him to undergo pain which he ought to bear bravely and patiently.
This is why boys who are initiated in the hospital under anesthesia are ridiculed by their peers and termed as ‘half women’ because they failed to demonstrate their courage.
The book also explores the fact that imbalu has been weakened of late, courtesy of contact between the Bamasaaba and different agents of change. They have renegotiated many cultural aspects at religious, socio-political, economic and cultural levels.
This, no doubt, has left rifts and scars on the body politic of the Bamasaaba in general, thus reshaping the ritual and symbols of imbalu. At least, imbalu has survived eradication. Its impact on the Bamasaaba may have been bruised, but it still invokes a veritable sentiment and remains the single most effective symbol of tribal identity and mobilization.
This book is a must-read for those that wish to get insights into the riveting circumcision culture of the Bamasaaba.
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