Puberty and Adolescence Wxk
At about age 16, females reach menarche and undergo a puberty ritual, which coincides with the ripening of the main species of berry. Girls are normally tlakwenakweko when this occurs, though they may be much younger (11 or 12), if there are few girls of appropriate age nearby and a larger group is needed. During this ritual, called Mai-to-ko, girls wear few clothes and are smeared with animal fat and adorned with many beads from head to toe. They may chase boys and try to hit them with a fertility stick, a 3-foot-long stick carved by males and thought to enhance a woman's fertility if she carries it around. They also undergo clitorectomy, with about half of the clitoris cut off with a knife. This is performed by the only real specialists that exists among the Hadza, a few old women who know how to do this. Males are not allowed to observe, but all women nearby attend. If men were to
watch, it is said they may die. Men say the reason why women are clitorectomized is that babies would otherwise have difficulty during delivery since the clitoris would protrude and obstruct the birth canal. However, at least one Hadza man also says that, without cutting off the clitoris, a woman will move around too much and make too much noise during sex.
Males are not circumcised and there is no ritual for male puberty. When a male is in his early twenties and kills a big game animal, he becomes an epeme, or adult man. Certain parts of the larger game animals can only be eaten by men. Females and subadult males cannot even see the men eat this meat or they could die.
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