Guardian Of The Flutes

After watching Guardian of The Flutes, many thoughts and feelings went through my head.  First why are they calling it Guardian of The Flute? When you realize that the flute is supposed to symbolize the penis, I thought that the penis is sacred.  But it does not appear to be.

I went home and finished the documentary on my own. I thought that it was very interesting how valuable semen is to the Sambia people.  They view semen as something that will make the boys stronger before they are able to produce their own.  But the women also view the semen as something that will help prepare their bodies for carrying a child.  When a husband and wife get married the wife continues to give oral sex to her husband until she menstruates and is able to carry a baby.  Once the wife delivers the baby she does not have sex with her husband for two years.  Therefore, the husband takes on a second wife.   The men take on a second wife because they need someone to have sex with when they have urges.  I wondered why the men do not masturbate in order to get rid of the urges.  I cannot imagine marrying a man just to be there to serve his sexual needs.

The men view the menstrual blood of women as a pollutant but they stick reeds up their nose to make it bleed.  The blood is supposed to make them stronger and a better warrior.  I first thought that the Sambia men thought that all blood was a pollutant but after watching them make themselves bleed it appears that only menstrual blood is a pollutant.  I wonder what the men and women do when the women go through menopause. I cannot imagine having to live in a menopause hut for years because menopause is not something that is done within seven days.

The older Sambia people complained that the traditions and rituals that they went through, the younger generation is no longer doing.  A sixteen year old raped a six year old at school because he had sexual urges and there was not a younger boy that could satisfy him sexually.  I have to think, are the traditions really something to be carried on? Being seven years old and taken from your mother, having no food or water, beaten with plants, forced to perform oral sex on men daily, rub stinging plants to your skin are all of these traditions that should really be continued?  Last but not least I am still having a hard time grasping how semen will make young boys stronger. The flute symbolizes the penis, but as one classmate said in class, “it’s not a suck job, it’s a blow job.”  Which is very true, that is why I am having a hard time understanding the symbolism.  Yes, the flute is long and hard which can represent a penis but it all just seems strange to me.