Thank you Belinda. An interesting read indeed.

Your piece, which illustrates a particular tribe's long-standing system for helping pubescent girls transition into grown women, leads me to think how all cultures, everywhere and of any time, always face the same difficulties of raising children into grown adults: how do we help guide young people to become responsible participants in their communities?

This great transition from childhood to adulthood presents always the same issues. It is a perennial "problem" for any community that is addressed in a myriad ways, in the hope that the individuals, the tribe, the culture will continue and thrive into an unknown future.

Not easy at all, as we see in the modern world's many failed attempts and systems (and abandonment sometimes) in this era of great change.

I'm not advocating this specific ritual for today's modern life of course, but by regarding and listening impartially to ancient traditions, there is always something to be learned, because they invariably have not been initiated on an ego-based whim, but with an aim to support the community.

The ceremonies may well have become distorted or lost their inner meaning to some degree, through the centuries, but they always hold values that we would do well to be open to, as gift-insights to help us in our own modern plight.