- Ritual
- Jengi／Jengì／Ejengi
- Region and community
- カメルーン南東部・Baka社会
- Age at the cultural rite
- Variable or not confirmed in the source
- Transition conditions
- Community initiation
- Legal age of majority
- Cameroon18–21 depending on applicable legal system (21 in Francophone civil law; 18 reported in Anglophone common law)Cameroon · Civil Code Article 488 specifies 21. The age of 18 for Anglophone jurisdictions is reported in legal research. · Law and supporting sources 1 · Law and supporting sources 2 · Law and supporting sources 3
About the rite
Among the Baka, Jengi connects forest spirits with initiation into a male ritual association. Initiates learn rules and restricted knowledge about hunting, spiritual life and belonging. Together with other stages, including membership in the Béka society, Jengi helps a young man take on an adult role.
A 2018 ethnographic study describes how hunting restrictions, conservation policy and exclusion from forests have changed the conditions in which the Baka practice these rites.
Related rites
