Lintang's Rite of Passage

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Welcome to the Jennifer Joy Podcast, where science meets art.

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In western Indonesia, in the regency of Moros, on the island of Sulawesi, there is a cave.

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Explorers found the cave not long ago, and inside they found something amazing: Artwork made between 35 and 39,000 years ago.

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The artwork consists of a painting of a Babarusa, commonly known as a pig deer, and several hand stencils. Now, a stencil is made when a shape, in this case, hands, are placed on a surface and then paint or other colorings are sprayed or brushed around the hands onto the surface, and when the hands are removed, the shape of the hand remains on the surface surrounded by the paint. This is something that's common to almost all cave paintings throughout the world, is you see these hand stencils, and it's one reason why today, archeologists believe that creativity in humans started in Africa, because how can it appear in Indonesia, Australia and Europe if the people migrating from Africa didn't already have the technique when they left?

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So back to this question of why make art?

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We can only guess again, why this, or any of the other cave art found around the world was made.

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For this story,

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one possibility is that the art was part of a ritual or for religious purposes. This story imagines the life of the people who might have made these stencils for a ritual purpose. Since these stencils are 35 to 39,000 years old, our story is set that far in the past. The people are a small nomadic tribe of humans, hunter gatherers, who move from place to place when their food supply runs out.

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There is no reliable information about humans' religious practices dating back this far. So as the writer science is meeting art, I have used my poetic license to imagine the role cave paintings might have played in a spiritual ritual.

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This is the story of Lintang's rite of passage.

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My name is Lintang. I am 12 years old. In three days, I will be part of the coming of age ceremony. This initiates children into the tribe and shows that they are becoming adults. But I don't want to be in the ritual. It's going to be in a cave, and I hate caves.

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When I was eight years old, my mother and big sister, who was very pregnant, and I were out picking bright red berries.

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It was a beautiful day. I loved my big sister. She was three years older than me. She used to play with me when I was very little, we'd all play hide and seek, and she taught me clapping games, and she showed me how to make shell necklaces and bracelets. Anyway, on this day, she was walking very slowly, like I said, she was very pregnant. I was impatient, and ran ahead. One thicket of berry bushes ended at a cave. I was very curious. My mother warned me not to go into the cave, but I didn't listen.

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I crept in slowly,

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and let my eyes adjust to the dark,

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I heard something, but I didn't know what it was.

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As my eyes adjusted, I saw two big cats in the back of the cave, sleeping.

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Leopards. I froze. Their mouths were bloody. I stepped backward as quietly as I could. I didn't want to wake them. When I was out of the cave, I started running. I ran past my mother and sister. I screamed leopard and kept sprinting. They tried to run too, but my sister was very big, and my mother had to help her. I got back to camp and warned the others who grabbed torches and spears. It took 15 minutes more for my sister and mother to get to the camp. I was so scared that the leopards would get them. It was all my fault.

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My sister died in childbirth two days later.

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That was three years ago.

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I hate leopards and I hate caves.

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I was sad for a long time. I feel better now, but I don't go into caves ever.

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Last year, when we first settled here by the river, I was happy. There is a waterfall that is very powerful and beautiful. But then Ator, our shaman, picked a cave as the ritual place. He doesn't care that it's dangerous. He doesn't care that leopards live in caves.

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Anyway, I used to look forward.

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My coming of age ceremony. Now I'm dreading it.

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Ator, Ator, I don't think we should use the cave for the ceremony.

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Lintang, you must not be afraid. This cave is very good fortune for our tribe. The ancestors now have a place to stay when it rains. The cave is sacred, and we are lucky to have it.

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But there might be leopards in there.

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No Lintang. There are no leopards. There is not even so much as a pellet of poop.

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Well, maybe the leopard doesn't poop in her house. We don't poop in our tents.

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And a good thing too. All right, for you, I will check again.

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Check for tigers too.

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All right.

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And lions.

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Okay.

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And pig deer.

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I will check for any animals, birds or creatures of any kind.

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Spirits, too. Check for spirits.

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Well, if there are spirits, we might just have to share with them.

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No.

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Lintang.

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Um, well, I mean, maybe we could ask them to leave for the night.

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What if they are spirits of good fortune?

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They can come back later.

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Lintang, you really don't need to be so afraid. Becoming an adult is not as bad as you think.

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I'm not afraid of becoming an adult. I'm afraid of the cave.

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Even though Ator knew the cave was perfectly safe, he checked it one more time. Completely empty. He burned some herbs to clean the air and clear out any malevolent spirits.

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All is well with the cave. Lintang, no animals.

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Are you sure?

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Yes.

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Well, maybe they just went out for the day and we'll be back at night.

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There are no signs of animals in the cave.

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But there are three more days until the ritual. A leopard could still move in.

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Maybe. But I do not think it is the cave you fear.

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It is. We shouldn't have the ritual until we can find another place.

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Do you want to stay a child forever?

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No, I just don't want to get eaten by a hungry leopard.

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For Lintang, time seemed to pass slowly, then quickly, then slowly again. During the next three days, she was a bundle of nerves. She snapped at her mother and had to apologize once, twice. After the third time, her mother made her go out and pick berries. When Lintang returned, she threw her basket down, scattering the berries, and flung her arms around her mother, sobbing and apologizing.

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Finally, the night of the ritual arrived, Lintang looked for Ator to ask one more time about cave leopards, but he was nowhere in sight. When she finally saw him, he already had the ceremonial mask on, and so he was not there anymore. The deity Hayang was. The drumming began and offerings were made to the ancestors.

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Then the singing started. Lintang was very nervous, but she was able to sing her part of the tribe's history when it was her turn. Finally, with the song completed, she and the other five initiates were led to the cave by Ator in his mask.

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Lintang was the last in line as they approached the cave. She knew it was selfish, but if there was a hungry leopard in the cave, she wanted to be the last one that walked into his home. Let the others be gobbled up.

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The line halted right before the entrance to the cave. Ator, who was the god, walked to the back of the line. Lintang tried to blend into the tree trunk next to her, but Ator stopped beside her and looked down.

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Lintang.

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What? What?

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Lintang, you will be first tonight.

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Oh, no, no.

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Ator took her hand gently and led her forward. Lintang's heart was pounding, and she stumbled a little. Ator helped her regain her balance, and they continued to the entrance of the cave.

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Take a breath, Lintang.

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Lintang tried to but she kept her eyes tightly shut.

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Look into the cave.

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Lintang shook her head furiously.

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Open your eyes, little one. We're going to stand here until you can open your eyes.

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Lintang's mind was racing. She had to open her eyes. The ritual was at a halt. Just as she began to feel humiliated, she found the courage to open her eyes.

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The cave was lit by a torch standing at the entrance. The cave looked very clean and very empty, but the torchlight threw dancing shadows into the back of the cave that made Lingtang shake with fear.

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Good. Your eyes are open. As adults, we must try to keep our eyes open.

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Lintang glanced up at Ator and took a shaky breath. Maybe things would be all right.

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Now, walk into the cave, go to the back until you find a bowl of water.

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Ator let go of her hand.

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Walk into the back of the cave? Where the shadows are?

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Go.

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Lintang could not. She was terrified. Her mind spun,

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What if there are leopards? What if there are tigers? What if --

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She glanced up at Ator, who stood in his mask, implacable. He lifted his arm and pointed into the cave.

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Tears rolled down Lintang's cheeks. With shaking knees, she managed to step forward. Soon she was beyond the light cast by the torch. Her heart was pounding, but she kept moving into the shadows. She held her hands out and reached into the dark, she felt nothing. Fear shot through her again. She stopped. She took a long, shaky breath,

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and the truth washed over her.

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There in the dark, she realized it wasn't leopards that she was afraid of. She was afraid of growing up.

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Keep going.

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Lintang didn't want to. Her beloved sister had died just a year after doing this very ceremony. She had died in childbirth. In the past year alone, three other young women had died in childbirth, including Lintang's friend Asht.

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Lintang didn't want to become a woman because Lintang didn't want to die.

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But what choice did she have? Either she grew up or what? There was no choice. She was very afraid, but well, she wanted to do things children weren't allowed to do, like hunting. The tribe wouldn't let anyone go on the hunt until they were adults.

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She was terrified, but what could she do? She was no longer a child. Her cycles had begun months ago. There was nothing else to do

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but go forward.

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So still trembling with fear, she reached out blindly to the cave wall. Finally, her fingers brushed against something. Instinctively, she jerked her hands off and took a step back.

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But then she hesitated, hearing water dripping, she reached out again and touched the stony wall.

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She felt along the rock formation until she found a deep bowl carved into the rock by cool streaming water.

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She heard Ator's footsteps behind her.

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Lintang, daughter of our tribe, tonight, you begin the journey to womanhood.

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Ator scooped the water in his hands and spilled it over Lintang's head.

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You belong to your tribe that loves you, to the earth that sustains you, and to the gods that formed you.

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He laid his hands on top of her head.

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Tonight, you have begun to face your fears. You belong more to yourself now than when you entered this cave. Be welcome little sister.

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He guided her to the next room in the cave, which was empty but lit with torches.

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Breathe now and be still. Let the earth and the gods speak to you. Find your new name.

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Lintang sat down, cool drops of water still clinging to her forehead. She was still afraid and now a little sad.

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She cried for a time.

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When the tears stopped, she closed her eyes and breathed deeply.

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The vision came.

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First, I am with my sister as she is giving birth to my little niece. She is screaming in pain. It is terrifying.

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Then I am with my mother, when she is giving birth to me.

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She is also in pain, but her body is strong and determined. It's a little less frightening.

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Then I am with my grandmother, giving birth to my mother. So much power in my grandmother, I go back further and further from woman to woman, mother to mother,

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all these women giving life to girls and boys too, giving life to our tribe again and again.

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Women giving life to all tribes, females of all animals doing the same thing. I am a woman.

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I am afraid, but I am also very powerful.

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Women are the source of life itself.

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Then I see that sleeping leopard with a bloody muzzle. It awakens and walks over to me. It is a female.

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I am afraid, but as she looks deep into my eyes, I seem to become her.

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We leave the cave and race across the grassland. There is so much joy in our power and strength, we sprint for what seems like hours, never tiring. Finally, we come to the edge of the cliff. We stop and look down at a roaring river. Nothing could survive a jump down to that river, but we back up and run hard and fast, leaping off that cliff and falling and falling, crashing hard into the river, and dying and then being reborn.

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A mother gives birth to a mother who gives birth to a mother.

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And life continues.

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I am a racing leopard, life powerful and strong in my body. A leopard does more than have children. A leopard races and hunts and lives. I will too, and yes, I am a daughter who will become a mother, and I will die too, maybe giving birth, or maybe not.

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I am part of life and death is part of me too.

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I know my name now. I am Leopard. From now on.

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Leopard opened her eyes. The rest of her friends were in the circle with her, having completed the ritual themselves. Their eyes were closed. Soon Ator joined them. He asked them, one by one for their new names. Leopard, she said proudly when it was her turn.

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Finally, Ator invited everyone to one of the cave walls. On the floor next to the wall was a large, tightly woven reed basket containing ochre paint and a reed. He invited the six initiates to place their hands on the wall, close together. They shuffled around until each had placed a hand on the wall.

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Ator then sucked the dark red paint into the reed and blew it over their hands. Leopard and her friends tried to remain serious, but they started giggling as the paint splattered not just their hands, but splashed a bit onto their faces too. Ator smiled at them and continued until everyone's hands were covered in red paint. When they removed their hands from the wall, they were astonished and delighted to see the outlines of their hands on the wall. "It means we were here," one of the boys cried in wonder and Ator smiled in agreement.

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Ator led the initiates out of the cave and back to the tribe. The tribe started the circle dance. When the initiates, hands were dry, they joined the tribe. Leopard, like her fellow initiates, felt proud and strong. She was ready to be a woman.

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Thanks so much for listening. I'm Jennifer Joy. I wrote and performed this story and was joined by Benu Muhammad, who played Ator and provided vocal sound effects. Our sound engineer was Saga Legend. You can listen to more episodes of the Jennifer Joy Podcast on any podcast platform and sign up for exclusive content from us, including behind the scenes conversations with Benu and me at jenniferjoypodcast.com where you can also link to more content, including written stories, videos and performances where science meets art.