Re-Living Christmas: Cherished Moments and Memories #2

Christmas was always preceded

By a rite, so dramatic,

That it’ll forever be imprinted in memory.

It’s feels okay to talk about it now that I’m a grown up,

And because this tradition has dwindled off somewhat,

But when I was little,

Late November and early December

Were fear filled days

For us boys,

And we spoke about it

Only in low whispers.

You see,

This is the circumcision season

In my community,

And there were all manner of stories,

Secrets and mythologies

Surrounding the rite,

That it was difficult to tell

Truth from fiction.

And then were many gory stories

Of young boys

Who,

Driven by endless curiosity, as boys sometimes are,

Had attempted to snoop and observe the rite,

Only for them to be seized

And forced to undergo the cut, there and then!

So, we never dared to snoop, observe

Or show our faces.

But we all knew who was going for the cut

Because they would first take sugar

To all their uncles to announce

That they were ready to be Men.

And one wee morning

Our sleep would be interrupted

By thunderous song and dance

As the boy-to-be-man was seized

For a dip in the freezing-cold-waters

Of the nearby river

In readiness for the cut.

And behold, by the first streak of the morning sun

The boy would be Man!

*Follow us in the next two months, in this “Re-living Christmas’ series, to catch a glimpse of cherished moments and memories of our time.