Age groups

The Bamana people say: “A man can be older than his father, but he cannot be older than his elder brother”. The thing is, a person’s uncle (father’s brother) is referred to as a father, and he can, in fact, be younger than his nephew, though he would call him his child. But, at the same time, he will turn out to be his “child’s” “younger brother”, as the age among the Bambara people and many other African peoples is more important than family relations.

In many African cultures, it is common for people of the same age who have passed through initiation rituals together to form associations that are often referred to by anthropologists as “age groups”. Each age group plays its specific role in the society, for example, young men perform the main bulk of communal jobs, they cultivate large fields; the middle-aged people are warriors; and the elders govern the life in a village.

The transition of groups from one age status to another is accompanied with special rituals. For example, the Maninka people of Guinea refer to the elders as “the hosts of the dancing ground”, and the “handing the dancing ground over” to the younger group only takes place after a serious fight between the two groups. People say, in the olden times they used to fight till the first dead.

For cattle-breeders of East Africa age groups play a special role. The Maasai and the Oromo people give more importance to such classes than to family relations, and the history of their societies can be described as the succession of age classes.

Young women perform a dance celebrating young men  who pass the ritual.  Ethiopia. The Hamar. D. S. Shneerson. 2006		Recently initiated man maz and his darling.  “One hits whom one loves”…  Ethiopia. The Hamar. D. S. Shneerson. 2006		The working team “Drop the lie!” is happy: before the work begins, the owner of the farm treats the workers to rice. Santa, 2002 Vudrin V.