Africa-Press – Angola. The representation of a father with his son in his arms, raising awareness about circumcision among the Nyaneka and its benefits, is the Piece of the Month at the Huíla Regional Museum, to revere the male initiation ritual, also known as “ekwendje ”, a customary practice carried out in the cacimbo.
Circumcision is the removal of a man’s foreskin, the skin that covers the head of the penis, although it started as a ritual in some regions, today circumcision is increasingly used for hygiene reasons.
This procedure has as its main benefits, the reduction of the risks of infections, of contracting sexually transmitted or transmitting diseases, cancer, among other evils that may affect the area in question.
In the history of the Southern Region, in the most remote areas, boys go through this ritual called ekwendje (circumcision), in adolescence and the surgery is done in cold blood, according to the director of the Regional Museum of Huíla, Angelina Sacalumbo.
He detailed that for these months, the choice fell to the decorative object that is representing the father making his son aware of circumcision, as it is the cacimbo season and the months of June and July the cold becomes more acute, being at that time that parents take advantage of school holidays to perform circumcision.
However, he said, before undergoing circumcision, they are sensitized by their parents, who make them aware of the matter. In the villages, this ritual is carried out in a specific place, where several children are isolated and, after being circumcised, they learn about the culture and culminates with a “big” party.
“It is a very important festival for these populations, so we want to pay more attention to this male puberty ritual, as we want people to know more about it and to be able to visit the museum”, he expressed.
The Huíla Regional Museum is an ethnographic museum founded in 1957 by Peixoto Correia, with the aim of investigating, conserving and disseminating ethnographic and paleontological pieces from the southern region of Angola.
According to Angelina Sacalumbo, the Museum houses more than 1,500 pieces, most of which are in technical reserve, has 300 pieces on display that portray the daily life of the people of the provinces of Huíla, Cunene, Namibe and Cuando Cubango.
In addition to these pieces that will portray pastoralism and hunting, musical instruments, spirituality, adornments, agriculture, basketry and pottery, we also have a bioethics with more than eight thousand books, old coins, stamps and photographs.
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