Xhosa Manhood Ceremony

The Xhosa Manhood Ceremony is steeped in tradition, with a few modern twists. It's an important ritual not afforded to every young male, as it requires some planning and investment on the part of the family. As far as I understand it, the young person, still considered a boy, undergoes circumcision without an anaesthetic, which must be hugely painful. He, alone or with other newly circumcised fellows, must then spend three or four weeks in relative isolation in a natural spot not far from a river. Our farm has been used on a number of occasions for this ritual. The chaps must remain unseen, and are left with barely anything for the designated period. Wearing only a blanket, and with white ash smeared on their face and body, they build themselves a shelter of sorts as protection from the weather (mid-winter was a memorable choice one year) and once a day they go quietly, still remaining undetected, to a place nearby where an attendant has left a little food for them to collect. The majority of their time is spent contemplating what it means to become a man, and the responsibilities required of one. At the end of the period of isolation the chaps are chased into the river, symbolising cleansing and renewal as the white ash is washed off. All the 'childhood' clothes belonging to the 'boy' are burned, and the newly-minted man is now able to step out in public in the outfit you see in the photograph...a throwback to the Victorian era (hence the 'modern'). The standard gentlemanly garb consists of a tweed jacket paired with a jaunty black hat, smart beige trousers, new shoes and shirt. Shiny red clay is applied to his face and he is now ready to be seen, and indeed must be seen, hitting the streets of town humbly but proudly showing off to the community his new-found status, as Luyanda is doing here. Luyanda has a rendezvous with his friend and workmate Henry, who is seated in the background.
 Remember, Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela would have gone through this very same initiation into manhood, a process called Ulwaluko.