Becoming a Man

Today, we visited the Blue Mosque. Our guide, Selime, said young boys once came to the mosque to celebrate the day of their circumcision. Shortly after saying this, two children – one boy and one girl - about the age of 4 walked by. Both the boy and girl were all dolled up. The boy had on a little suit with a fur vest and the girl had on a white dress.

Selime said the boy was celebrating his circumcision. And the parents, not wanting to make the little girl feel left out, had dressed up his sister too. Throughout our time at the Blue Mosque, we saw several other little boys in similar garb celebrating their “big day.”

Later, we visited the sultan’s palace – also in the old city – where we we’re informed about the celebration of the young sultan’s circumcision. For 40 days and 40 nights, the palace held festivities to celebrate the circumcision of the young sultan to be.

The men in my group moaned about how painful the process must be to endure as a toddler or small child: To them, the process is much better as a baby when you are too young to remember it. Yet, Selime said the young boys were only bed ridden for two or three days tops in those times and now can be seen walking out of surgery.

What struck me the most was that there is not a similar ceremony to celebrate the first menstruation of female children. While it is not a common occurrence in America, I have seen families throw parties for young girls who first start their cycle. Of those who threw parties, it was usually a small tea party with girls of a similar age.

Among my group of friends as a child, we did not have parties. However, most of my friends’ parents took them out for ice cream or a treat in celebration of them becoming a woman. I was much older when I started. So, this is not something I personally experienced. I do remember really wanting to start: probably because anything that led to the consumption of ice cream was awesome in my book…that hasn’t changed much.

Selime said that till this day the commencement of menstruation is not something widely discussed, especially among men in the family. I’d really like to talk to some women my age to see how they feel about discussing menstruation.