DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.49271#0125
70
A. W. Hoernle
The rites themselves. As representative of various kinds of transition rites I have
chosen the four which are still practised today with something of the detail and care of
the past, though one needs to be but a little while among the Hottentots to learn that all
the old sanctions and controls are breaking down with increasing rapidity as the years go
by. I found it extremely difficult to get trustworthy information about the puberty
ceremonies of the boys, which seem completely to have lapsed since big game hunting
ceased to be possible, and with it the necessary test of manly prowess which it offered.
But (a) the puberty ceremonies of the girls will probably be retained as long as the Hotten-
tots themselves remain, and of these I obtained full descriptions from young girls, women,
and men. (b) The remarriage ceremony is likewise carefully observed, as it is regarded
as an essential protection against disease, (c) The rites are still practised for certain
diseases, even though Dutch and other remedies may be tried as well, and (d) finally the
death ceremonies are still carried out, for they do not tend to clash with incoming customs.
Puberty ceremonies among women. In order to make my picture of this Hottentot
custom as full as possible, I shall here and there insert information from other investiga-
tors, but shall always indicate any information not of my own collecting.
A girl’s first period is called khard or /habab. Young girls told me they were exceed-
ingly frightened by their first period, and older women reported that girls generally start
crying when they realize what has happened, and tell either their girl friends or some
older woman of the clan, often the father’s eldest brother’s wife. Through this inter-
mediary the mother is told. The latter gets her married sisters and her brothers’ wives
to make a little mat enclosure (Jcharu 6ms), inside at the back of the family hut, on the left
hand side. It is a screened off segment, measuring 2 to 3 feet at its widest point, in the
least regarded part of the hut.7 According to lAmatis, it always has its own little opening
leading out behind the hut. Unfortunately I never saw one of the kharu 6ms myself, but
I had a model made for me, and the whole proceeding enacted. While the hut is being
got ready, the mother goes to fetch a woman, who, though past childbearing now, has been
renowned for her former fertility. This woman takes the girl on her back, carries her into
the kharu 6ms, and cares for her while she is there. She is called the aba tards.8 9 Should
the period come on in the veldt far from home, the girl’s companions will on no account
let her walk, but will do their best to carry her home on their backs, taking turn and turn
about. Were such a girl to walk home through the veldt, all the roots and the berries
would scorch up. Once in the kharu 6ms the girl is seated on her skin blanket (^goab)
and closely wrapped about with her ^ndms.3 The wind must on no account blow on her,
7Cf. T. Hahn, in Globus, vol. 12, 1867, p. 307.
8 Abd, “to carry a child on one’s back ”, Tards, dignified word for “woman ”,
9 “Cloak of skins”.
A. W. Hoernle
The rites themselves. As representative of various kinds of transition rites I have
chosen the four which are still practised today with something of the detail and care of
the past, though one needs to be but a little while among the Hottentots to learn that all
the old sanctions and controls are breaking down with increasing rapidity as the years go
by. I found it extremely difficult to get trustworthy information about the puberty
ceremonies of the boys, which seem completely to have lapsed since big game hunting
ceased to be possible, and with it the necessary test of manly prowess which it offered.
But (a) the puberty ceremonies of the girls will probably be retained as long as the Hotten-
tots themselves remain, and of these I obtained full descriptions from young girls, women,
and men. (b) The remarriage ceremony is likewise carefully observed, as it is regarded
as an essential protection against disease, (c) The rites are still practised for certain
diseases, even though Dutch and other remedies may be tried as well, and (d) finally the
death ceremonies are still carried out, for they do not tend to clash with incoming customs.
Puberty ceremonies among women. In order to make my picture of this Hottentot
custom as full as possible, I shall here and there insert information from other investiga-
tors, but shall always indicate any information not of my own collecting.
A girl’s first period is called khard or /habab. Young girls told me they were exceed-
ingly frightened by their first period, and older women reported that girls generally start
crying when they realize what has happened, and tell either their girl friends or some
older woman of the clan, often the father’s eldest brother’s wife. Through this inter-
mediary the mother is told. The latter gets her married sisters and her brothers’ wives
to make a little mat enclosure (Jcharu 6ms), inside at the back of the family hut, on the left
hand side. It is a screened off segment, measuring 2 to 3 feet at its widest point, in the
least regarded part of the hut.7 According to lAmatis, it always has its own little opening
leading out behind the hut. Unfortunately I never saw one of the kharu 6ms myself, but
I had a model made for me, and the whole proceeding enacted. While the hut is being
got ready, the mother goes to fetch a woman, who, though past childbearing now, has been
renowned for her former fertility. This woman takes the girl on her back, carries her into
the kharu 6ms, and cares for her while she is there. She is called the aba tards.8 9 Should
the period come on in the veldt far from home, the girl’s companions will on no account
let her walk, but will do their best to carry her home on their backs, taking turn and turn
about. Were such a girl to walk home through the veldt, all the roots and the berries
would scorch up. Once in the kharu 6ms the girl is seated on her skin blanket (^goab)
and closely wrapped about with her ^ndms.3 The wind must on no account blow on her,
7Cf. T. Hahn, in Globus, vol. 12, 1867, p. 307.
8 Abd, “to carry a child on one’s back ”, Tards, dignified word for “woman ”,
9 “Cloak of skins”.