A series in three essays
The Edge of Death
The first initiation took boys to the edge of death. These essays follow what became of that ordeal. In some places it was cut down to a mock death, in others to circumcision, and in others it became human sacrifice.
The essays
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October 17, 2026
Initiates Used To Die
Myths from New Guinea, Australia, Africa and the Amazon remember a first initiation far more grotesque than the rite as practised. It was cut down to an ordeal a boy could survive, then to a play: a mock execution, a pig for the boy, a sound for the monster.
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October 17, 2026
The Bridegroom of Blood
Circumcision is what is left of a bloodier rite that slit boys' testicles, burned them and let them bleed to death. On the Huon Gulf the wound is still called the monster's tooth.
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October 17, 2026
You Were the Sacrifice
Human sacrifice is everywhere because it grew out of a primordial snake cult whose ordeal took the initiate close to death and brought him back born again. Sacrifice is the death without the rebirth.
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