By Rose Skelton
BBC News, Casamance, Senegal


Slashing its sharpened machetes together and letting out a deafening 
screech, the bark-clad beast known as a konkoran races through the market 
scattering women and children as they go about their morning shopping.


Turning off down a residential side street in the southern Senegalese town 
of Ziguinchor, the frightening figure makes its way towards a family 
compound, accompanied by an entourage of dancing and singing young men. Here 
they will find young boys who have recently been circumcised and who, 
according to the Mandingo people, are vulnerable at this time to attacks 
from evil spirits.

The beginning of Senegal's rainy season and the circumcision period, in 
which boys as young as three will symbolically become men, coincides with 
the announcement by the World Health Organization (WHO) that male 
circumcision could prevent millions of new HIV infections.

The study found that in places such as Senegal, where circumcision is 
commonly practised, HIV is less prevalent than in places where the practice 
is less widespread, such as in South Africa.

A separate WHO report says that demand for male circumcision as a method of 
combating HIV/AIDS is likely to increase dramatically in southern African 
countries.
However, concerns over traditional ceremonies - such as this one in Senegal 
- in which the health of the initiates may be put at risk because of 
exposure or unsanitary conditions, means that more circumcisions may be 
performed in hospitals by trained medical personnel rather than in the 
traditional manner.

Rites of passage

In the village, the konkoran doesn't walk on earth but flies. Nowadays, 
these kids do whatever they like.

Ibrahima Ndiongue
Grandfather

At the family compound of low white-washed concrete houses, the young men of 
the Ndiongue family bring their newly-circumcised sons from their hiding 
places as the konkoran in its costume of sacred red tree bark whirls through 
the compound gates.
With the young boys on their knees, the benevolent but violent beast circles 
them, chasing out the harmful spirits that are thought to cause illness or 
misfortune in later life.

"In Africa, there are things that we believe in and one of them is that 
there are bad spirits who want to harm the child while he's going through 
this vulnerable period. "The Konkoran is working against that," says 
Ibrahima Ndiongue, 78, grandfather and great-grandfather to the three 
recently circumcised boys.

The elaborate rite will end when the boys are healed and taken to the sacred 
forest to learn the essentials of being a man. Overnight, under the 
protection of the konkoran, they will be washed in sacred water, emerging 
the next morning as grown-ups.

But, says Ndiongue, the power of the ancient rite is waning, even though it 
is hugely popular amongst young Mandingo men in the region. "This that you 
see in town, it's not the real konkoran," says the old man, dressed in a 
long robe and Muslim skullcap. "In the village, the konkoran doesn't walk on 
earth but flies. Nowadays, these kids do whatever they like."

Men's business

The ritual of the konkoran is strictly the preserve of men. Female 
circumcision, or genital mutilation, was banned in Senegal in 1999. 
Traditionally, women would not set eyes on the circumcised boys who in the 
days when Ibrahima Ndiongue was young, would spend up to three months in the 
forest learning the art of being a man. "You learn about life, how to live 
with people, to be polite and wise," says Mr Ndiongue, recalling his own 
three months in the forest.

Traditionally, women were also strictly forbidden from seeing the konkoran, 
locking themselves inside the house when it came to the compound. But Rama 
N'Diaye, one of Mr Ndiongue's 10 surviving children, says that this aspect 
of the ritual is changing too. "Before, women would not even go to the door 
to look at the konkoran. Now, women are allowed to look from afar," says the 
31-year-old hairdressing student.

Despite this, when the mythical beast appears in the neighbourhood, women 
and children still scatter. "I am very afraid of him," says N'Diaye. "You 
just look at him and you feel afraid."



Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/africa/4795629.stm

Published: 2006/08/15 23:17:16 GMT

© BBC MMVI

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