The Circumcised One - An African Musical

Well, I went on a class field trip this past weekend...I don't know how to start or how to follow that or how to wrap it up...but in the words of one of my all time favorite woman, "Let's start at the very beginning, it's a very good place to start!" Oh Maria, you are a woman after my own heart! All your climbing of trees, scraping of knees, making clothing from curtains, and singing so as to make your life into a musical just inspires me. *Sigh Well, that is besides the point, except that I am going to attempt to relate to you all my weekend in musical format just because I think it will be fun!
The scene opens with me toiling up the mountainous hills to get to school with a quiet and beautiful instrumental. I of course have my beautiful skirt and blouse on and I stop occasionally to fuzz a child’s head or gracefully stoop to pick a flower (ok, so I know some of this is contrary to my nature, I probably tripped or sprained an ankle crossing a ditch, but this is my musical so go with it!).
I arrive at school and sing a few stanzas of the Newsies “Arise and Sieze the Day,” while Kurty backs me up and we break into wild dance attempting to spur our fellow students to do the same. It breaks off when, as I’m attempting to open our can of jam to eat the all-important meal of the day, at the climax of the song I slice my thumb trying to rip off the top! All stops as I yell at the top of my lungs (which is actually close to the truth). As I’m lamenting that I’ve lost my thumb and it will have to be amputated Kurty sings soothingly and bandages my hand…oh wait, that’s way not realistic. She actually probably, tells me to “suck it up drama queen” with a smile (don’t worry I’m not offended because as the star of this musical I have a gentle and loving heart). Side note: The cut wasn’t that bad and is healing pretty well and Kurty did a fantastic job being my nurse.
Ok, while this is fun to write in this way it’s kind of hard and I’m not sure how to dramatically put to song my victory in cribbage against Justin Lane and Kurty in cribbage on the way up to our class field trip. Plus there just isn’t a whole lot of drama when all that is said for a while is 15 for 2 and a pair makes 4… I’m sure someone could do it, but I’m just not up for the task. But I did have a dramatic come from behind victory in cribbage that left Justin in the stink hole and Kurty two away from it. If this makes no sense to you just know that it was epic!
Our class field trip for African Traditional Religions took us to Mbale to watch a ceremony we’ve been learning some about in class. The Bagisu tribe practices a little something called circumcision as a means to travel into manhood. :s
To start off Saturday we had a Reverend who was from this tribe come and explain the entire process and ceremony to us. I was grateful for it all because when we actually were there witnessing it we understood what was going on for the most part. It is super community oriented and really emphasizes the males upcoming responsibilities. When we met the group in the village it was extremely evident that the whole community was out to be present for the couple of boys who were to be eventually circumcised. They were around the ages of 18-20. If a member of the tribe does not get circumcised they are considered to be a boy even if they are 40 years old. The actual ceremony was surreal. Most of the village turned out for it, which was a blessing because even though they tried to give us the best seats in the clearing (yikes!) there were so many people smooshing in to see it made it quite difficult to get a clear view of anything. Many of the kids climbed trees and I was scared they were going to fall when the wind started blowing! As I was standing there I could see the boys face during the process and it was amazing to me how still and calm he seemed during it all. I was blown away by how important this ceremony was for this tribe. There was so much esteem and emphasis put on this boy not showing any emotion. It was hard for me to even understand the why.
At one point, and I’m not sure why it was in that moment in particular, but I had the realization that I was watching a pagan ceremony. They were appeasing the spirit of circumcision and I wondered where Christ should fit in all of this. I wondered how the church handles this or how it should be handled. The act isn’t bad, but it’s not necessary and the appeasement of the spirit is also misplaced. How do you integrate Christ into all that knowing all that? This is a ceremony that has been central to this tribe for decades and probably longer. If I believe that Christ is already present wherever I go how would I engage that. Our speaker even said that as a Christian in this tribe there is so much pressure to do this. Many have it done, but forego any of the ceremonial elements and many choose not to have it done and then are shunned.
It was a very poignant example of what we had been talking about in many of our classes. Especially missions. I gained a whole lot more respect for the early missionary’s that encountered dilemmas with polygamy and other such things that might contradict their faith.
I felt exhausted after our time there because of the weight of everything that was going on. As we drove back we were given an incredible view of Mt Elgon and a rainbow and I tried to soak up this incredible view because I felt stifled while being down in the crowd watching this ceremony that I don’t feel like was honoring God at all. My spirit was heavy.
Good thing God blessed me with Kurty, a resilient heart, and being in a group of 30 other Christians because it made it easy to reflect and discuss and move ahead. Another round of Rook dominance helped as well ☺ Kurty and I are now 12 and 1.
To finish off my weekend I went home and discovered that Enoch had learned that when he needs to pee he goes outside, pulls down his pants and pees off the step! Hallelujah, God does work miracles! What progress even if he does still let it dribble some all on his pants! Later at night, when Steph and I were brushing our teeth outside, Enich came running out naked and peed off the step, but then stayed out and laughed and ran around with us for about 20 minutes as Steph sang “brush your teeth, brush your teeth, do it every day!” Lots of jumping, dancing, and twirling was involved and Enoch was dieing with laughter and loved the random dance party! It was funny to see this little black body running around laughing in the dark so all I could really make out were his white teeth and his blue flops. It was so fun and it’s great to watch him grow up.

But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. John 15:13