EVENING – The warrior candidates assemble and line up in ranks. The nature of the challenge they are about to undertake is explained to them again and they are given one final chance to back out.
BASIC FITNESS ASSESSMENT – The candidates are put through a series of pre-determined physical fitness tests based on military standards: Chin-ups, push-ups, sit-ups and running are included.
SUPPER – After showering and changing, the candidates are given supper, but no mead or ale. They eat with together, but sit apart from the more experienced warriors.
UTISETTA – The candidates assume their individual posts for the night. Each one will stand guard at a designated point, alone and without shelter, until dawn. Needless to say, any candidate caught sleeping will have automatically failed the test.
DAWN – The candidates assemble in ranks at a time chosen to coincide with the rising of the sun. They are again run through a bout of physical fitness testing, this time of a nature not to be disclosed prior to the event.
TRIAL BY COMBAT – Immediately following the mystery fitness challenge, the candidates are paired up to fight. They will compete for the right to call themselves warriors in three rounds of wrestling, followed by three rounds of boxing, followed by three rounds of stick-fighting.
In these tests, the judges favor valor over skill.
BREAKFAST – After a chance to shower and change, the candidates are treated to a breakfast of ham, eggs, mead and cool water. This time they eat with the warriors. After breakfast, the candidates are permitted to retire to their beds.
EVENING – After the candidates have rested and the warriors have had a chance to confer, all assemble. The candidates are critiqued on their performance, praised for their accomplishments and informed of their success or failure in the test. Then, they are reunited with the tribe for a grand feast and sumbel at which each new warrior is sprinkled with ale, awarded the symbols of their new rank and welcomed wholeheartedly into the warrior pack.
A fascinating modern application of an ancient power and discipline!
Sounds great! It’s a great loss that such initiations are not part of our modern societies today anymore.
Of course, one could argue, such initiations are still possible in the Army – at least to a certain degree. But still, there’s not the tribal connection. Don’t mistake me as a hippie – and the following has nothing to do with your fascinating Warrior Initiation presented above -, but my arguement againt service in the Army is that you have to go killing people that have nothing to do with your interests or the interests of your ‘tribe’. Just consider the war in Iraq: It’s a false war, a war based on lies, a war in the interest of a few (dishonourable) rich & powerful people. I’m also against the War in Afghanistan, where German soldiers fight. There is nothing to win there. What the hell are we fighting there for? Ok, now I’ve added my two cents on the wars of our governments. Sorry, for this, as this has nothing to do with your great text. However, I felt that I want to share my personal ‘justification’, why I never joined the Army (what I sometimes regret today).
And just btw, Clint, now after you have tried it, is Absinthe really so delicious?
I joined the Australian Army Reserve when I was seventeen, with the specific intent of using it as a surrogate Rite of Manhood, and it worked fairly well to that end.
You’re wrong about one thing. There is a very strong sense of being part of the tribe, at least in the Australian Army. Enlistment is a semi-hereditary affair. My father served and so did both my grandfathers. Of all the guys I served with, I can’t think of a single one who didn’t have another relative who’d served previously. Of all the military families I’ve known, I can’t think any that didn’t have at least one child carry the tradition forward.
Military service is like a marriage, they say, the Commanding Officer is jokingly referred to as “Dad” (officially addressed as “Sir”, the same etymology as Sire and Senior) and the men who you train and serve with become your brothers. The Army is a family. And when I became disillusioned and decided to get out, it was the hardest break-up of my life.
The above Rite of Passage is a hypothetical, based on my experiences in the Army and the Martial Arts combined with a contemporary Heathen aesthetic. It is primarily a statement about the kind of standards I’d like to see us set for ourselves before we start throwing around big words like Warrior.
I’m not sure what’s going on with the German Army, but all the really cool German guys I’ve met opted for civil service instead, even some very hardcore martial artists. I suppose I wouldn’t have enjoyed being conscripted, either. If I’d been raised in Europe, I probably would have tried to join Foreign Legion, instead. They seem to have the right attitude.
And yes, to answer your question, Absinthe really is delicious.
I have a great respect for this kind of tradition in families. I think what many (especially ‘left-wing’) people forget is that it’s the credit of armies (men with weapons, who did their duty), that we may enjoy, what we call freedom & piece.
I did civil service & it’s ok with me, but sometimes I regret it. I thought for a while to become a regular officer (as one option for a career), but dropped it again.
My last question is, do you think this kind of rite could also be done solitary (without a group)?
I designed this rite specifically as initiation into a group.
The wrestling, boxing and stick-fighting require the participation of at least two other people the carry out (at least one other combatant and one supervising for safety). Basic fitness testing and Utisetta could be done solitary, though.
For solitaries, my general advice would be to find a group to join (secular if necessary). A term of service in the military would do it, as would a period of training in combat sports or hardcore martial arts. It’s not easy to find a group that’s really worth joining, but there are some pretty good options out there if you know where to look.
One group I really admire is the Dog Brothers. Technically what they do is Filipino Martial Arts, but I consider them real Berserker role models.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C6EZE_rmsQs
I have another idea for a different, but equally valid rite, though. One that might work better for a solitary. I’ll write it up and post it later tonight.
I like the idea of using the Military as a manhood initiation but I do agree with Matt also this is the reason I got out, too much bearuacracy. I don’t have any problems with killing but doing it for a president that had more money than everyone else is not the reason I signed up.
Like you Clint , I have an extensive line in the military dating back here in America to the French and Indian war and who knows in The Old Country.
I watched a movie long ago called Strangeland and his valid point is that too many people called themselves Men and Women based upon age or the money they make. These are the ones who miss the point they are no more Rite of Man or Womanhood. Yet today, we have more childlike adults than we do adults. Men fighting with children or the TV or the gaming console. Computers are used for fantasy games then research vessels. No wonder this is why children act as they do. Childlike officals make the rules and making our children worse than ever filling their heads with seeds if disrespect and hate if the parent disiplines them and call a 1-800 number to report them. Now sometimes this is needed because the parent thinks they are a whipping stump and beat them silly.These laws are needed but some are too extreme.(Note: I am not against playing video games and watching cartoons but I am against the disrepect of children mouthing off and not listening to the parent)
The mouth of the Warrior has been gagged. The strong has been silenced by the weak. If you speak up and tell people what you think you are hated for you strength. You are hated because they can’t fight you and have a hope of winning, so they attack you mentally. Once you better them there they attack your charater. Once that fails the weak little sheep gather in their flock and become a hater club and others wonder what did they ( male or female) to deserve that. The flock spill their lies again and which they are believed and the hater club grows. A few are an intelligent beast themsleves and goand talk to the hated one and find out he is hard working,has a good charater and of a good moral fabric. He loves his wife and children but he is just outspoken and opinionated. Thus;we as a pagan community need these rites to seperate us from them.