#video #ed staffords rite of passage s Episode 2 Engsub
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00:22I've never experienced anything even comparable in terms of pain.
00:38This is an extraordinary thing to put yourself through, especially when in order to become
00:43a man in this community, you have to do it 20 times throughout your life.
00:58I'm Ed Stafford. As an explorer and survivalist, I've made a career out of mucking about in the wild.
01:05If I'm honest, I've never really grown up. So now, I've set myself a mission to see how cultures across
01:18the world navigate the messy business of becoming an adult.
01:26I believe many of us in the modern world have lost our sense of identity. But I'm hoping by immersing
01:33myself in the often extreme trials that young people face, I can figure out how these rituals make us better
01:40members of our communities.
01:42I've never experienced anything even comparable in terms of pain.
01:47By joining them on their journey, I hope I'll learn to become a better man.
01:55Maybe even grow up.
01:57Okay, he wants me to jump up. I'm going to jump up.
02:00And successfully pass my own rite of passage.
02:13I'm heading deep into the Amazon jungle to visit a people called the Satare Maui.
02:19I'm on the final leg of my journey, a two-hour boat ride up the Amazon to reach their remote
02:24village.
02:26They live on the Andira River, 80 kilometres from the nearest city.
02:33This community has a unique rite of passage ceremony that involves them putting their hands in gloves full of bullet
02:39ants.
02:42The bullet ant of all insects has the most painful sting in the world.
02:47This city is a peninsula jetpack.
02:58Hi, Hi, I am Ed.
03:05Hello, I'm...
03:10Sean.
03:11Here it is.
03:17That all felt rather stiff, if I'm honest, and I think the guys knew that I was coming,
03:23but I think they were a little bit nervous.
03:25My name is Eddie.
03:28No, it's Adriana.
03:29Adriana?
03:29Yes.
03:30Very nice.
03:31Yeah, let's face it, it's not every day that a camera and a man comes into their village
03:36wanting to partake in this sort of ceremony, so I'm hoping that things relax a little as
03:40this day goes on.
03:43Passa for him here, look.
03:45Where's his skin?
03:45What's your name?
03:47That's the friendship of the people of Saftere.
03:58Just been given a necklace and officially welcome to the tribe.
04:02That is a good start.
04:15So I believe we're going to, um, like the centre of the community.
04:20I'm not sure what my Portuguese is good, but it's not amazing.
04:23I'm understanding the majority, but not everything.
04:36In terms of sort of architecture, there's quite a lot of traditional houses and there's a lot
04:40of concrete structures as well.
04:46Despite their remote location, the community's position on the river means that they are open
04:51to the outside world and the modern influences that brings.
05:12Every time we stop, I keep getting bitten by ants, but they're these tiny little ones and I'm
05:16trying not to react to them at all because, obviously, compared to bullet ants, they're
05:19absolutely nothing and yet they're infuriating because they're biting at my ankles and these
05:23guys are starting to laugh because I'm, like, literally picking these tiny little minute
05:26ants off my ankles, but they hurt.
05:30I might be in trouble.
05:32The centrepiece of the Sa Sarema Way rite of passage is the incredibly painful Tukandera
05:38ritual.
05:42Young men get stung by close to 100 bullet ants on each hand.
05:52And they have to do it at least 20 times.
06:01And one of those times is about to kick off.
06:06OK, so this is the central area where they conduct the ceremony.
06:19OK.
06:21My understanding of the ceremony today is that these guys are veterans.
06:25One of them has done it 34 times.
06:29It's all becoming a little bit real.
06:41It's been likened to walking on hot coves.
06:45Insect venom is scaled in terms of the pain from a one to a four.
06:50And the bullet ant is number four, which is obviously the highest level of pain.
06:55To put that into perspective, the sting of an average honeybee is generally just a two.
07:01It does something to the pain pathways within the body and stops the body combating that
07:07pain.
07:07So it keeps the pain pathways open longer than you would normally feel pain in any other
07:12situation in life.
07:15Something to pay down.
07:32This is an extraordinary thing to put yourself through.
07:48From what I understand is the dancing and therefore the sweating that allows the toxins to disperse.
07:54And this is to help them manage the pain.
07:58They're receiving.
08:26And now his hands are shaking badly.
08:36He's literally got a veteran crying, shaking, trembling, experiencing a level of pain that I know
08:46I have never felt in my life before.
08:49It's scary.
08:58Okay.
09:01This is the first time that I've seen him with the hands on a...
09:06Glove like this.
09:09So the ants have all been sort of secured into this with the abdomen facing inwards and
09:15obviously the stings are on the abdomen, which is why it's on the inside.
09:21Quantos?
09:22Quantos ten aqui?
09:23Mais ou menos.
09:24Ninguém confere, mas tem mais um...
09:26Mais oitenta por aí.
09:27Oitenta?
09:28Oitenta cada um.
09:43Tineko has been through the ritual more times than anybody else.
09:47And he will be my mentor for the week.
10:06Do women ever go through the ceremony?
10:14They might not have to physically deal with the pain.
10:17But the women do seem to help the young men throughout the emotional ordeal.
10:26It's an extreme rite of passage.
10:33so why do they do it look to happy hit a car yeah we have a little tip it up
10:40it's a little bit
10:40so jovem
10:42yeah
10:43but it's a little bit
10:47like a car
10:48and what's that
10:51and not what's that
10:53but it's a little bit
10:55it's a little bit
10:57a little bit
10:58a little bit
11:02a little bit
11:04a little bit
11:08i mean this is an incredible number
11:10why have you done it so many times
11:13that's it
11:14you do yahoo
11:16you know
11:19we
11:22while there's no scientific evidence to show that repeated bullet and stings improve the immune system
11:28i can see how it could make the boys understand and manage pain much better
11:34is it okay with both of you that i take part in a ceremony
11:37in a few days
12:03i can't believe this is day one
12:07i feel like i've
12:09experienced so much already
12:12the truth is
12:14the auntie's been hooked
12:15i'm under no illusions
12:17just quite how painful this is going to be
12:21i've never experienced anything even comparable in terms of pain
12:47the bullet ant ritual is still playing on my mind
12:55it's a mix of emotions
12:56it's a blender of butterflies and knives and all sorts of things going around my chest
13:02i feel like the next few days are vital for me to nuance exactly my approach to how i'm going
13:09to conduct myself during the ceremony but um it's occupying every part of my being right now
13:17i'm
13:18i'm so aware of something coming that is
13:22enormous absolutely enormous
13:25i guess my spidey senses were tingling as a morning storm quickly engulfs the area
13:30so while we wait for it to pass
13:32adriana asked me to help prepare some food for their meals
13:41farina
13:50farina's a carbohydrate made of manioc root
13:57and is a staple part of the amazonian diet when there is no fish or meat to eat it's
14:02quite flamboyant isn't it is it always the women that do this kind of job
14:10I see it then I'm happy to make the flour because when it comes to home we have the flour
14:21ready for our family
14:40excellent golden nuggets of pure joy I took the moment with Adriana to find out what she thinks
14:50about the rite of passage how painful do you think it is for the men I think that this pain
15:05is a bit like the pain of having a baby
15:25I guess this ritual is basically the big equalizer you didn't want him to do it initially and you've now
15:32decided that you do want him to do it why why have you changed your mind because he wanted to
15:37put his hand at 11 years ago
15:40he was very small so I thought he wouldn't stop the pain but now he decided to put his hand
15:47so we don't have to say to him
15:55I think if a 12 year old can do it I'm hoping that at 49 years old I can I
16:01can do it as well
16:02I will be together and if you need I will help you as well as I will help my son
16:08thank you too
16:12thank you
16:14I am touched by Adriana's promise to help me through the ceremony
16:18at this point with the bullet ant ritual only four days away I'm gonna take all the help I can
16:24get to overcome the pain
16:48Jose is helping to teach me the steps needed during the rite as a way to help deal with the
16:54pain
16:58you think that would be easy wouldn't it
17:03it's because it ends on a right foot and then it starts with the right foot
17:10and so I'm like I want to do left foot
17:23I know it's not complicated but that's quite imbalanced
17:30I'm not really renowned for my dancing
17:34I think I've got it
17:43you were really stamping hard was there a reason for that?
18:01I have watched him almost come apart you know
18:16Tears streaming down his face, body convulsing and shaking.
18:21Obviously, it's somewhat intimidating, to say the least.
18:27There's no rules or expectations surrounding crying.
18:47There is no hiding the fact that this is going to be extraordinarily more powerful than anything I would have
18:53ever felt through my nervous system before.
18:58I'm aware that my mind state will make all the difference.
19:02I think I just need to reset, recharge.
19:04Sleep will give me the resilience that I need.
19:15Morning.
19:17And traditional preparations are in full swing for tomorrow's rite of passage.
19:29Doing the work.
19:37So, I'm going to take this long, that you can take it slow.
19:53This is how, it's making the gloves sort of, making it at home.
19:58Yeah, that's right.
20:05To make the back more, you can do this.
20:12Here, and here.
20:24So what I'm doing is cutting the little strips that end up being woven together in order
20:28to make the inner gloves, the ones that the ants are actually woven into.
20:38The outer gloves are permanent and they're held within the village hall.
20:51Gloves woven, the boys' night also need to get ourselves prepared.
20:55And it's suddenly all becoming very real.
21:13How long will they stay on the body?
21:16Seven days.
21:19The boys being painted will do the right with me.
21:37Teniko's grandson, Esau, is 12 years old. And like me, he's doing the bullet ant ritual for the first time.
22:04Are you nervous about doing it for the first time?
22:07Yes.
22:08Yes.
22:08And it's my first time, it means that it's a lot for me.
22:11Yes.
22:15It's a great thing, right?
22:18I'm nervous.
22:18Yes.
22:19Yes.
22:21Yes.
22:31No, no, no.
22:32I'm nervous.
22:36I see your mom or your dad giving you any last minute advice.
22:39They told me that it's not to cry on the bed nor to cry.
22:45Because it makes the cantor sick.
22:51She can only cry when she's already without the bed.
22:59Okay?
23:01Yes.
23:02You're good?
23:05Thank you very much.
23:10My body is ready.
23:11And for the first time, I'm starting to feel more confident about the rite of passage.
23:17But Taniko's asked to meet.
23:40If I'm in the body, I need to feel a little water.
23:43But there will be another water that will be, because we don't have any conditions for anything.
23:51The pressure of the pain, we don't have to force it, we have to relax, just hold it.
24:01If it's slow, then the blood goes down, then it goes mannering the pain.
24:12But if the pain is alive, you want to be more than it, then it will react.
24:20In terms of the order of the ceremony, Jose indicated to me that the reason he was in so
24:26much pain was because he went first.
24:28Obviously, I'm only going to do this once in my life.
24:31Would it be okay if I went first?
24:47If you don't want to be scared, you're going to be angry for us.
24:52And for the people who are watching too.
24:59That's it.
25:00There's no backing down now.
25:02I just hope I don't live to regret it.
25:12It's my last meal with the family.
25:16And Adriana has made sure we're all well fed for the ceremony.
25:19There's the rice, the macaroni, and the flour.
25:26But it also feels a bit like a condemned man's final meal.
25:32It's hot.
25:33I can smell like a girlfriend hahahahaha.
25:36It's hot, it's hot.
25:37I can tell.
25:41Isaiah, how do you feel for tomorrow?
25:46Now that I have more anxietyaris, tomorrow, I will put my hand on my hand for the first time.
26:09Big day tomorrow. It has involved a lot of mental preparation, it has involved strategizing,
26:17but I feel like I'm there. And it may well be the last time in my life that I ever
26:23experienced
26:24a sensation. So I want to experience it. I want to relish in it. I want to revel in it.
26:30I want to explore it. And dare I say it, I don't want it to be over.
26:42It's the day of my rite of passage. And it wouldn't be much of a ceremony without the
26:50star of the event. Shiniko is blowing a musical instrument at the front, which is part of the
26:58ceremony in terms of attracting the ants and drawing them out of their home.
27:15The tobacco smoke and rubbing of the tree aggravates the ants and drives them out of their nest,
27:20ready to sting.
27:34Wow, that's quite a lot on the pole. There's a lot of ants going into this tube. Huge amount.
27:46Every one of them has a sting considerably worse than a scorpion. Back in the village, while
27:59the boys and I steal our nerves, Tiniko sedates the ants using leaves from the tapabera plant.
28:24It's a skillful art, and Tiniko must work fast to weave the ants into the gloves before they
28:30wake up.
28:47This is it. The sedative has worn off, and the ants are ready to attack anything and anyone
28:52goes near them. Undeniably, there's this surge of energy that is rising in my body. It's
29:07kind of a mesh of excitement and elation and fear. I think actually in my life, the closest
29:22I've come to this is a boxing match, you know, somewhere where there's nowhere to hide, somewhere
29:27where if you mess up, it's going to be very visible to a lot of people.
29:43Once the gloves go on, I'll be entering a world of pain that I've never felt before.
29:50So the ants are going into the gloves now and being tied up. And there will be nothing
29:56I can do to stop it for over 12 hours.
30:02I know what I've heard of once.
30:06This is like, it's going to do it. It will do it, but you...
30:16greeter
30:18football
30:20replied
30:25cantiglane
30:26the
30:26depending on how to look
30:27a second with this
30:29or with their
30:30that
30:30important
30:31잘못
30:32going
30:43country
30:59I may look composed but the pain is excruciating.
31:06Somehow it's almost making me feel high, I'm charged with adrenaline and completely
31:12focused on the dance.
31:19The repetitive steps are giving me something to focus on, but the searing pain is like
31:24nothing I've ever felt before.
31:42I've never felt before, I've never felt before, I've never felt before.
31:49I've never felt before, I've never felt before.
32:26I've never experienced anything to this intensity in my physicality.
32:33Literally like, my hands are on fire, right in the heart of a fire.
32:37I've never felt before, I've never felt before.
33:01But no, he resisted positively.
33:05His preparation was very good.
33:14If you were to spiral into a panic with this level of pain, it would be awful.
33:45If it's this hard for me, a grown man, I have no idea how the boys are going to cope.
33:51If it's this hard for me..
33:56A gehen Always Toeng
34:22Now it's all about withstanding the incredible pain.
34:31Taniko warned me there would be intense peaks to this pain.
34:38It feels like I'm hitting the first of these now.
34:41I guess this is now the phase where there's no abatement.
34:44You know, this, the pain is, if anything, it's growing slightly, and if anything, it's getting
34:51more painful, and it's managing that.
35:10It's important that I don't cry on the moon.
35:37An hour after the ritual and the pain is only increasing.
35:43The decision is made to move us to the village hall so that we can be closely monitored.
36:03But it's as close to as unbearable as I can contemplate right now.
36:10Hats off to these people who do it 20 times.
36:13Crikey.
36:13What an extraordinary way of facilitating them to turn from young boys into adults.
36:24a little bit of panic that the pain is still as bad as it is.
36:29That I'm just trying to calm within myself.
36:38This is kind of the darkest part for me now.
36:52As I put my hand in the gloves first, and for a longer time, I received more venom.
36:58Now, I'm struggling to cope, and my team are concerned.
37:02Hello, Eiji.
37:04Hello, how are you?
37:06Hi, Eiji.
37:06How are you?
37:09How are you?
37:12How are you?
37:12I'm going to look for your vital signals.
37:15Yes.
37:21What are you?
37:26Have you?
37:26What are you?
37:29I'm going to look for your circulation, yes?
37:32Yes.
37:32For the demas and the inclamation.
37:39It's been four hours that I don't have peace.
37:43So I'm concerned about it.
37:46Okay.
37:49So my concern was that he was entering a system of dehydration,
37:54which is common in this moment of exposure,
37:56and by the ritual itself, and the toxin itself.
38:11After taking in fluids and being carefully monitored by the doctor,
38:15I'm finally back on my feet.
38:18But the pain was way more traumatic than I had ever anticipated.
38:24It's kind of changed from burning fire
38:30to have been smashed with a sledgehammer.
38:39In the dance, I just sort of found myself next to another guy
38:43whose hands were completely messed up,
38:45so that we couldn't kind of link arms.
38:49And this quite young girl called Fran came up and linked arms.
38:55There was just something so special about the fact that she'd noticed
39:00and that she cared enough.
39:03I think their role is vital, absolutely vital.
39:07And it's funny, isn't it, you go through all that pain,
39:10and the thing that makes you close to tears
39:13is the care that you've been presented with and offered.
39:25Adriana, I mean, literally constantly helping me,
39:30feeding me, binding my hands.
39:33I feel like I don't have a stencil.
39:42today's tava is not so cool.
39:42I feel so happy with you.
39:49I feel so happy.
39:57OK.
39:57Thank you, honey.
40:05I've never been presented with so much care and love,
40:09and I would never have got through that ceremony
40:12if it wasn't for you all.
40:13I'll never forget it.
40:32Thank you very much.
40:35It's very good you and Eric,
40:37to save our culture,
40:42to lead us forward.
40:45It's very good what we are doing here.
40:50I don't have much more words,
40:53but I thank you very much.
40:55It's very good at the bottom of my heart
40:56and my family who are united here.
41:02I came here thinking
41:04that this ceremony was all going to be about
41:07proving how tough it was,
41:09proving how I could do this on my own.
41:15It's not true, is it?
41:17It's not true of the ceremony,
41:18but it's also not true in general.
41:19It's like, you don't have to do it well on your own.
41:22I think you can let people in.
41:26We can let them help you.
41:33It's beautiful.
41:35It's absolutely beautiful.
41:56I feel a bit buttered and bruised this morning, if I'm honest.
42:01That level of pain, for that amount of time,
42:04just almost doesn't feel natural.
42:09I think I've started to get an understanding
42:11of how rites of passage are really essential to communities
42:14because, on the face of it,
42:15they look like things that allow young boys to show off,
42:18to prove that they're tough,
42:19so they can become a man.
42:20Oh, it's the last one.
42:27Thank you very much.
42:27And maybe we'll see you in the future.
42:31Thank you very much.
42:34The ceremony last night changed my opinion on that.
42:38It was about the community coming together.
42:40It's the very soul of the community,
42:42and it's what pulls everything together.
42:46I've been fighting my whole life,
42:49fighting to prove that I'm tough enough to survive on my own,
42:52and the inherent epiphany of last night seemed to be
42:55that you don't have to.
42:57You can come into a village,
42:58and seven days later,
42:59they're calling you part of their family
43:01and giving you so much love and support
43:04that you're reduced to tears.
43:06I mean, that's...
43:06I don't know of many things in life more powerful than that, really.
43:20It sounds like a cartoon anvil falling from the sky.
43:23Alright.
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