The psychology of the adolescent / by Leta S. Hollingworth.

  • Leta Stetter Hollingworth
Date:
1930
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: The psychology of the adolescent / by Leta S. Hollingworth. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    held for tlie wKite and yellow races in tKeir primitive stages of culture, as they do for red and black savages to-day existing. Initation of Boys into Manhood In Africa and in Australia, where aboriginal tribes are still to be observed, most attention seems to be directed toward tbe boy. Among sucb tribes tbe most elaborate and important of all ceremonials are said to be those which transfer the youth, arrived at puberty, from the society of women and children to the society of the men, and thus to the tribal life. The primitive lad is naturally with his mother and with other children from infancy for about the first ten years of his life. The formative influences are thus those of the family circle, and of playmates. However, as he grows his father takes an increasing part in his management. The initiation ceremonies at puberty serve to complete the transfer of the child from mother and family to father and tribe^particularly to the tribe. The period of their celebration constitutes the most crucial epoch in his whole life. The purpose of the ceremonies is to bring the boy to man’s estate, with full participation in men’s affairs. Community welfare and tribal law must henceforth supersede family affection and authority. In order to bring about this necessary change com¬ pletely the ceremonies must be made startling, awesome and impressive in the highest degree. From Melanesia we have the following description of initiation. The rites observed begin with the monsoon, at which time a father is expected to bring his son for instruction by the boy’s maternal uncle. Boys who are candidates for initiation are each day blackened with soot yielded from burnt coconut shell, and in addition to this each novice is covered with a huge mat which confines him to darkness during the whole day. No kind of talk¬ ing or play is allowed, and the boys sit still with downcast eyes throughout the hot day. Any failure to obey the rules may be punished by death, a penally which is said to have been actually inflicted on occasions when boys, tired of inactivity, have broken away and run for freedom. Visitors must stay away from the enclosure, until the