[clvi] Circumcision [p. 360.
A ceremony equivalent to circumcision is performed in the case of girls at
between five and seven years of age, a wound “like the sting of a gadfly”
(saperti di-gigit pikat), i.e. just sufficient to draw blood, being inflicted by means
of scissors wielded by a Bidan (who offers prayers and burns incense). In the
case of a boy the skin parted from the wound is received in a cleft stick (sepit),
and after being dried is made up into a sort of ring, and used as a charm to secure
invulnerability (pelias) in war, or else carried out on a piece of banana leaf and
thrown away with ashes from the hearth (abu dapor), which latter are used to
stanch the blood. The small bit of skin got from the girl is similarly dealt with.
PERSONAL CHARMS