African Ceremonies

While the ceremonies themselves are the focus of the photographs and accounts, the hints of the lives outside the pictures are almost equally fascinating. The transition between the profane and the sacred, between the mundane and the divine, is so rapid and so complete, it feels like a step from

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the deck of the boat straight into the river.I was hoping to learn more about the specifics of the relationships between symbol and legends or between ritual and myth, but the book lacks those deep connections. The descriptions of clothing, instruments, dress and demeanor are satisfying, though, and the amount of detail on each step of each event is immersive.After I related one horrifying coming-of-age ritual that involved a jagged knife, three slow cuts and rigid silence, my wife said, "It almost sounds like you admire them for going through that." I didn't have a good answer then, and I still don't. I certainly don't wish for that experience, but I did wonder: if I could choose between that and repeating three years of junior high school, which would I do? I had to think about it. Isn't that the point of such a book?

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