About: Intonjane

Intonjane is a Xhosa rite of passage into womanhood practiced in the Eastern Cape of South Africa. The ritual takes place after a girl has had her first period. This ritual is symbolic of a girl's sexual maturity and ability to conceive. It is through this ritual that girls are taught about socially accepted behaviours of Xhosa women, while also encouraging them not to have sex before marriage. The origins of the name intonjane is associated with the life cycle of a stick insect. At the end of its larval stage, caterpillars encase themselves in a little grass-like mat cocoon where till it is ready to emerge as an adult. During these months, trees have these grassy cocoons that Xhosa people refer to as ntonjane. The kind of grass that the girl sits on during the ritual, called , bears a res