Three days after the circumcision procedure all the boys were required to participate in certain dances, this in itself being a form of initiating the ability to bear pain like a man. The group stayed apart for as long as necessary until the healing of the last boy in the group. Although most boys in urban areas are circumcised by a doctor or nurse at a hospital, it is often done in groups. Many boys may remain with their peers outside of their own homes for the entire healing period. Many of them are also sent off to beg, but little of the former knowledge about the adult world is passed on at this time.
Excision is a type of circumcision practiced on girls.
It had the same significance as a rite of passage from girlhood to womanhood. Its Koranic authorization has been cast into doubt today by many serious studies on this practice. Many consider this a barbaric custom from a medical and psychological point of view. Many educated women, who would never perpetrate this practice on their own daughters, are hoping to eliminate this custom altogether. Burial of the body must occur within 6 hours of the death if at all possible, or the following morning if it seems late in the day.