approaches sex segregation becomes crucial with
regard to the much lauded ideal of purity and
notions of respectability and shame. Many girls,
for instance, at this time in life will leave their edu-
cational program in order not to be too exposed in
gender-mixed milieus. The physical segregation
between women and men is managed through the
organization of social space and the material envi-
ronment, division of labor by sex, and clothing,
such as the women’s veil called bui-bui (Larsen
1990). Ideally, knowledge about sexuality and sex-
ual relations should remain taboo, especially for
girls, until their initiation ritual and their first mar-
riage. A girl’s mother will chose a somofor her
daughter. The responsibility of a somois to teach
the girl, mwari (which refers generally to girls from
their first menstruation until marriage), first about
how to behave in relation to menstruation and later
about matters relating to sex and sexuality. These
themes are never explicitly dealt with between
mothers and daughters. A girl will only gradually
come to know her somo, and the first time a girl
goes to stay with her somois during her first men-
struation. From then on the relationship becomes
formalized; it is the somo, not the mother, who
brings the girl to her initiation (unyago). Unyagois
seen to produce social, not physical, maturation.
Young women should be initiated before their first
marriage. Not all women become members of a rit-
ual group; nor do all women go through the initia-
tion rituals. Althoughunyago has never been
universally performed, its existence has played an
important role in the formation of female gender
identity (Caplan 1976, Larsen 1990, Eile 1990).
Initiation rituals are basically understood to have a
socialization function (Richards 1956) and concern
what is called “social puberty,” while puberty ritu-
als mark “physical growth” (Van Gennep 1960). In
some places along the coast the term unyagorefers
to both girls’ and boys’ initiation rituals, while in
other areas boys’ rituals are called jando. Only
male initiation rituals include circumcision.
Unyagorituals
Unyagois surrounded by secrecy. It is usually
performed on the outskirts of the town or in the
forest and the initiates remain secluded until the
teachings are finished. At the onset of the ritual
mwarihas to be purified and prepared in order to
receive and accommodate new knowledge. During
the ritual,mwarihas to learn secret riddles by heart
as well as secret names of objects and actions asso-
ciated with women’s everyday tasks and activities.
It is said that during her initiation mwarihas to
learn everything by rote, and that only later when
sub-saharan africa: swahili societies 205she is exposed to married life will she understand
the meaning of the teaching she receives. The vari-
ous trials to which mwariis exposed focus on fer-
tility and reproduction, and the dance movement
and the dance performed by all women present,
called kata kiuno, focuses on sensuality, desire, and
sexual pleasure. Dancing women sing a number of
songs that only initiated women (warombo, sing.
mrombo) are expected to know. During the danc-
ing mwariis ordered to move in certain prescribed
ways by the ritual leader, called nyakanga, and the
other initiated women present punish her when she
fails. The ritual ends with a common meal and a
coming-out ceremony in which the initiates receive
particular ritual names. This also marks the girl’s
initiation into the ritual group. From this point on,
she has access to knowledge about adult life and
thus about sexual relations. Nothing regarding the
teaching received during her initiation is explained
to her by the ritual leader (nyakanga), her somo,
and the other initiated women (warombo), if she is
not herself able to formulate relevant questions.
The idea is that only on the basis of experience will
a girl be able to ask the right questions and reflect
upon, and thus grasp, the “meaning behind the
meaning” (mana ndani kwa ndani) in the various
songs, riddles, and trials. To reach this level of
understanding implies that a girl has learned to
cope as a woman in relation to a man and in society.
There is a hierarchy of knowledge among initi-
ated women, with the ritual leader or nyakanga in
first rank, and a line of distinction between those
who are initiated and those who are not. If a
woman is not initiated she will, equally with men,
not have access to women’s unyagoknowledge,
which is considered to represent the actual meaning
of gender difference. At present, various reasons
are given by those who do not participate or who
do not want their daughters to be initiated in un-
yago(Larsen 1990, 2000). Some claim that unyago
is against Islam, and that what women learn and do
during the ritual is incompatible with being a good
Muslim. Others say that the rituals are old-fash-
ioned (-ya zamani) and that girls today can learn all
they need to know from school, and from televi-
sion, videos, and magazines. Some girls claim that
they will not go through unyagobecause it implies
suffering and harassment by the ritual leader and
the other women present. To participate in unyago
is taken by some as a sign of not being “modern”
(-endelea,-kwenda na wakati). Still, for those who
participate in unyagothe ritual practice and the
knowledge involved do not contradict Islamic val-
ues or what they consider a modern lifestyle. In
general in Swahili societies there is an idea that