When a boy comes of age be it 13 or 15, cultures across the world celebrate such an event with their own rituals like the Jewish Bar Mitzvah. Western cultures, of course, prefer to let young adults experience things for themselves which is, of course, the best way to come to know about the world. Many native cultures have their own rituals that may include a manly performance to mark the coming of age. The Inuit of North Baffin Island go out with their fathers on their first hunt while the Masai tribes of Africa will make their youngster sleep alone overnight in the forest.
Amongst all the rituals, nothing can beat the bizarre tradition of the Satere Mawe tribes of Brazil who live deep in the Amazon rain forests. This is one terrifying ritual that no outsider will ever have the guts to experience regardless of how adventurous or how courageous. Think BULLET ANTS. The huge red ones enough to kill you with their stings. A boy from this tribe will have to wear a glove of bullet ants.
The Satere Mauwe are the largest tribal group among Amazonian tribes with a population of approximately 10,000 members. The Mauwe are a secluded tribe but they are not hostile and have allowed visitors to document their seclusion and lifestyle including some of their bizarre traditions. The Mauwe are the best example of American natives living by their own culturally rich traditions passed down for centuries.
The Mawe do indulge in agriculture but it isn’t their primary concern, they consider themselves a warrior tribe who values strength and courage above anything else. Thus for the Mauwe, it is extremely important that their youngsters too are nurtured with the same values that embody the fighting spirit of the Mauwe. A Mauwe warrior needs to be brave enough to protect the tribe from hostiles and predators. For that he must show his true worth.
The males from the Mauwe tribe are raised from birth to become warriors and are taught to behave as such. However, it isn’t easy to be a Mauwe warrior. You need to prove yourself and that is when every young male gets his chance in an initiation ceremony that will make your blood run cold.
A Mauwe has to show that he can face the worst the jungle has to offer. In the presence of an enemy, a Mauwe must always remain steadfast and daring while oblivious to the pain inflicted on him. And!! Courage for the Mauwe isn’t facing a dangerous predator; it is the smallest predator possible but by far the worst. The Red bullet ant, the nastiest creature of the Amazon.
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The Mauwe test their young warriors, not with the sting of one ant but a whole bunch of them. A sting from just one bullet ant is enough to cause a human hour and hours of swelling and pain. So don’t even think what a hundred can do. A bullet ant scientifically known as Paraponera Clavata can be venomous to some extent but the pain is beyond what any human can bear.
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According to the Schmidt sting pain index, the pain from a bullet ant sting is a 4+ which is more than a tarantula hawk wasp. It is the equivalent of being shot. The pain is known to cause spasms and throbbing of the area including burning and an overwhelming pain that lasts 24 hours. The toxin from the bullet ant sting affects the CNS or central nervous system and causes uncontrollable shaking. In research labs, the bullet ant venom is also being studied for its medicinal applications. We have been discussing the venom and sting of just one ant, yet a Mauwe boy will have to wear a glove filled with them.
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The bizarre ritual is an initiation rite for young Mauwe warriors to test their pain threshold and their courage. Only if they bear up the pain, will they gain rite of passage into becoming a Mauwe warrior. To do this, hundreds of ants, in fact, loads of them are collected and then dipped in a natural sedative to make them unconscious. They are the woven into a glove that is made from large leaves. The glove looks similar to an oven mitt. The boy will have to wear this glove on his hand by which time the ants regain consciousness. You can imagine what could be happening next which could be considered a nightmare from hell for any ordinary human being.
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The Mauwe boy will have to wear the glove full of bullet ants for ten minutes. Once the ten minutes are over, the arm of the wearer is paralyzed because of the venom which starts to act within a short while. The boys are allowed only one type of protection and that is the hands ate coated with charcoal which is hardly much of a protective gear against the vicious ants.
The charcoal is applied to confuse the ants to reduce their stinging. But!! If you thought this is over for the boy, it is not!! To truly prove himself, a Young Mauwe wannabe warrior has to go through the same painful ordeal more than 20 times in a course of the coming months which may also continue into years.
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An Australia documentary maker by the name of Hamish Blake thought he would be a hero and decided to try on the glove filled with bullet ants. He was filming the initiation ceremony for an Australian channel the Nine Network. When he thought of testing his own threshold of pain and wore the glove, he immediately collapsed from the agony and ended up in hospital.
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For the Mauwe tribe, it is just one of their own traditions that they have to go through. In fact boys as young as 12 are put through the horrifying and painful test. Yet they endure it because to become a warrior is their ultimate goal in life. If you thought, the boys wear the gloves filled with bullet ants and writhe on the ground in pain, you’re mistaken. They actually have to perform a dance wearing the gloves. The dance is initiated by the tribal medicine man to distract the boys from the pain. Once the dance is over and the gloves removed, the pain grows more excruciating causing some of the boys to fall down in pain.
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The interesting warrior initiation of the Satere Mauwe has been beautifully captured on a short National Geographic video. See for yourself the incredibly bizarre ritual for yourself.
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