Survivorman, Beyond Survival, Season 1, Episode 8, The Zulus of South Africa, Les Stroud
Stroud travels to Zululand to meet with a Sangoma a female African Shaman to experience the rite of passage known as scarification. The Sangoma meets with Stroud and puts him through a series of rituals to determine where his inner ailments lie. They believe these inner ailments need protection; this is achieved through physical scaring and the ingestion of extremely bitter, nauseainducing herbal medicines. The process is extremely painful and normally experienced by land hardened African Zulu natives. Scarification is a long and painful process, and a permanent modification of the body, transmitting complex messages about identity and social status. Permanent body markings emphasise fixed social, political and religious roles. Facial scarification in West Africa is used for identification of ethnic groups, families, individuals, but also to express personal beauty. It is also performed on girls to mark stages of the life process, such as puberty, marriage etc. They can assist in making them more attract
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