ABSTRACT
Initiation is the principal link between the age system and the series of personal ceremonies. The rudiments of age organisation occur in any school, where a group of newcomers are recruited to the lowest form, and then are promoted as an age-set to the next grade at the end of each year, climbing an age ladder rung by rung. There are a number of elaborations of this basic pattern in the Maasai system. Generally, there is a festive atmosphere surrounding a circumcision, and the operation itself is quickly and efficiently dispatched, normally very early in the morning. During the period 'closed' to circumcisions, the circumcision fire for each illicit circumcision becomes the key issue. The circumcision ordeal is a watershed in a young Matapatoi's career. Once he has surmounted the ordeal and proved himself worthy to become a moran, this forms the basis of a pact with his age mates.
