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General Discussion / Re: Destructive lifestyles by the youth
« on: November 18, 2010, 01:57:34 PM »^^^if u don't mind me asking, why don't you want to do the circumcision?
the question should be why do they want me to do circumcision? everybody who trying to explain why i need to do hasn't given me a good enough reason for me to do it.
Judging by your previous post you seem like a pretty traditional man, one that value your tradition more than religion or ‘Western world’ influences. You make reference to the fact that they covered your African attire with their jacket, which wasn’t altogether African and how there was so much reference to the Christian God which you feel is not appropriate for a traditional ceremony. So here’s a reason I think you should get circumcised, because it’s part of your Xhosa tradition. I mean if you’re such a firm believer in tradition then surely this being part of your tradition is something you should be more than happy to embark on. Or are you doing the same thing that you stand so highly in judgment of, which is isolating parts of your tradition, remixing them and making them suit you and your lifestyle? You seem to have a problem with the western world having so much influence yet you yourself aren’t following your tradition. Please do correct me if I’m wrong.
Nicely put but I disagree with you here.
Tradition/customs as they are, what you seem like you dont know, had in the pa**ed been "discussed and changed" accordingly where there was a need. One of the reasons being some unavoidable social changes or lack of access sometimes to certain things. i.e animal skins replaced by the current materials as you have seen the material Xhosa people use now for their attire. Even umqombhothi was never part of these ceremonies. Amasi was what was used in the pa**ed. You didn't know this either. Ukwaluka was started by a certain somebody too, not too sure if im at liberty to get into this though and also keep in mind that i have limited information in this subject.
At some point people totally neglected that just as society changes some things do require change too in order to have these custom maintain relevance to the people on that particular time that requires that change. This is not about being selective and wanting to be white. Total misconception from your part.
One old man who happens to be a Sangoma and share the same views on the change im talking about put summarized it like this "Lento kuthwa lisiko yintetho", if I understood him correctly he was stressing it that it comes from a persons mouth before it is what it is. He was stressing the point of how some customs had to be changed (through discussion) and why that change sometimes is necessary.
To a**ume that I'm picking and choosing because i think it suits me in the way that you have put it then you are totally wrong. Im sure there are some c***oms if you were born into you would find the need to question them when you feel their relavence and role in society and your life has no role or rather inconveniences the idea to building a position people with pride and a strong sense of what makes them who they are.
But then is this not the same type of logic that leads to the very same thing you complain of, where people pray to a Christian God at a traditional ceremony because that’s what society believes to be relevant? And who determines what stay and what goes because in my understating of the word tradition is something done by our father and forefathers and so on.
So which part of our society has made circumcision irrelevant for you? The part where 1 in 4 people are HIV positive and it’s proven that circumcision decreases the chances of contracting and spreading the disease. If anything I believe the current society we live in promotes circumcision. So there you are, your tradition and your society both argue for circumcision, two reasons why you should be circumcised.
