kilometers away in the town of Mesellemiya to be circumcised by a doctor. He was back by around 8 A.M. Greeted with ululations, he walked slowly to a bed where he could recover. The girls stood nearby, able to see him arrive and lie down.
Then it was their turn. Their mother brought both the girls to the door of the house. The two wore colorful new dresses for the occasion, and the special protective ornaments (jirtig) and the family’s gold jewelry were ready for them to wear during their recuperation. The girls looked recently bathed, and their hair was freshly plaited and dotted with a little henna paste. The henna and jirtig are commonly used in relation to mushahara customs intended to prevent excessive blood loss or the harm that may be caused by spirits (jinn). The mushahara beliefs and practices were not as ardently held in Abdal Galil as in the northern Nile Valley region of Sudan, where Janice Boddy did her research (see 1989, especially chapters 2 and 3), perhaps because the inhabitants of Abdal Galil had a stronger association with more orthodox Islamic institutions and longer experience with formal schooling and bureaucratic government institutions. Beliefs in zar spirits and the need for quasi-magical protections were very deeply held by many of the residents of Abdal Galil, however, and even for those less concerned, the use of jirtig was routine for circumcision.
By the time of the boy’s arrival, about ten women—kinswomen and neighbors—had taken up places in the room, ready to assist and witness the event. There were three beds along the walls of the room, in addition to the one positioned to catch the maximum light from the window, each covered with an ordinary clean cotton sheet and a cotton pillow.
The girls were the center of attention and the subject of conversation, but there was no formal ritual or special sequence of events prior to the cutting, except for the midwife’s preparations. Both girls knew that this was their special day and that they would be circumcised, but they did not seem particularly fearful, knowing little of the details of what they were about to experience.
A rather animated discussion developed when the mother of the girls vacillated about her decision to allow both girls to be circumcised. The older girl was six, and doing her circumcision now would allow her to heal before it was time to start school. But the younger appeared to be not much over four.
The mother held the hand of the little one. “Maybe we should wait. She’s so young.”
Immediately Besaina and the other women offered a torrent of reassurance about the decision to circumcise: It’s better to do it early, they don’t remember as much, she’ll be healed long before school, she’s already prepared. The midwife admonished the mother gently but firmly: Don’t worry so much, it will be over soon. It’s better to just do it, and if she’s younger it’s better.
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