Day 12: Leaving the Dogan
Before leaving the Dogan for good, we stopped at one more village to see the circumcision grotto. You heard right... this is the village that all of the boys around the area between the ages of 9-12 come to be circumcised. This was a great spot to get a view of the village.
For some reason only white women (as far as women go) are allowed to come up to the grotto. Black women, even a black woman from the states would not be allowed up. Can you imagine the controversy that starts. Much of the ceremony is secret, but they did tell us that they bring a big snake in to keep the boys from being scared of the ceremony. They tell the boys that if they scream or cry, the snake will eat them. A couple days later they take all the boys down to the field and have a race up to the wall. Their are 3 spots on the wall for the first 3 boys to finish the race to touch. Each spot has a corresponding prize, If I were a boy, I would go for 3rd place... they get the choice of any girl in all the villages that they want to marry.
A view from the top. you can see the kids waiting for us at the bottom. They aren't allowed to come up to the grotto.
We made it back to Mopti in time to see the women out doing to their laundry. I just love how they get their laundry all clean and then lay them out to dry on the dirt. I guess when you have no choice, you do what you've got to do.
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