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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.
00:29Every one of them has this thing worse than a scorpion.
00:38This is an extraordinary thing to put yourself through.
00:41Especially when in order to become a man in this community, you have to do it 20 times throughout your
00:46life.
00:47It's not a joke. If you move, you'll have to finish.
00:51It's a shame for us and for the people who are looking at it.
00:58I'm Ed Stafford. As an explorer and survivalist, I've made a career out of mucking about in the wild.
01:06If I'm honest, I've never really grown up.
01:08Look at that!
01:09So now, I've set myself a mission to see how cultures across the world navigate the messy business of becoming
01:23an adult.
01:26I believe many of us in the modern world have lost our sense of identity.
01:31But I'm hoping by immersing myself in the often extreme trials that young people face,
01:37I can figure out how these rituals make us better members 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.
01:56It's pretty honest.
01:58Okay, he wants me to jump up. I'm gonna 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.
02:27They live on the Andira River, 80 kilometers 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.
02:58Hi.
03:00Hi.
03:01Hi.
03:01Hi.
03:01Hi.
03:05Hi.
03:06Hi.
03:06My pleasure.
03:07My pleasure.
03:11I'm too happy to see you.
03:14Okay.
03:17That all felt rather stiff, if I'm honest.
03:20I think the guys knew that I was coming, but I think they were a little bit nervous.
03:25My name is Edi.
03:28My name is Adriana.
03:29Adriana?
03:29Yes.
03:32Let's face it, it's not every day that a camera and a man comes into their village
03:36wanting to partake in this ceremony, so I'm hoping that things relax a little as this day goes on.
03:56Here we go.
03:58Just been given a necklace and officially welcomed to the tribe.
04:02That is a good start.
04:03Obrigado.
04:14So I believe we're going to, 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.
04:32In terms of sort of architecture, there's quite a lot of traditional houses
04:40and there's a lot of concrete structures as well.
04:46Despite their remote location, the community's position on the river means that they are open to the outside world
04:52and the modern influences that brings.
04:57And we're also happy because we're really going to see now, for centuries and centuries,
05:02that we have the culture of the people of Sateremovet.
05:12Every time I stop, I keep getting bitten by ants, but they're these tiny little ones
05:16and I'm trying not to react to them at all because, obviously, compared to bullet ants, they're absolutely nothing
05:20and yet they're infuriating because they're biting at my ankles
05:22and these guys are starting to laugh because I'm, like, literally picking these tiny little minute ants off my ankles.
05:28But they hurt.
05:30I might be in trouble.
05:32The centrepiece of the Sateremovet rite of passage
05:35is the incredibly painful tucandera ritual.
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 coals.
06:45Insect venom is scaled in terms of the pain from a one to a four.
06:51And 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
07:04and stops the body combating that pain.
07:07So it keeps the pain pathways open longer than you would normally feel pain
07:12in any other situation in life.
07:32This is an extraordinary thing to put yourself through.
07:44The secret is to make movements for your body.
07:48From what I understand, it's the dancing and therefore the sweating
07:51that allows the toxins to disperse.
07:54And this is to help them manage the pain.
07:58He's got an ensemble.
08:01He's right there.
08:05We've stopped if he Maggie takes down the body.
08:08If it hurts a lot, he'll send it to him.
08:26And now his hands are shaking badly.
08:36You've literally got a veteran crying, shaking, trembling,
08:43experiencing a level of pain
08:45that I know I have never felt in my life before.
08:49It's scary.
08:56Hey!
08:58OK, boy, are you possible here?
09:01This is the first time that I've seen bullet ants
09:04on a glove like this.
09:09So the ants have all been sort of secured into this
09:13with their abdomen facing inwards
09:15and obviously the stings are on the abdomen,
09:18which is why it's on the inside.
09:21How many?
09:22How many do we have here?
09:24More or less.
09:24No one can see, but there are more than 80.
09:2780?
09:2880 each one?
09:36Oh, my God.
09:43Taniko has been through the ritual more times
09:45than anybody else,
09:47and he will be my mentor for the week.
10:06Do women ever go through the ceremony?
10:09No.
10:14They might not have to physically deal with the pain,
10:17but the women do seem to help the young men
10:19throughout the emotional ordeal.
10:26It's an extreme rite of passage.
10:33So why do they do it?
10:34Do they do it?
10:40Do they do it?
10:45I will take care of the people,
10:52and they are still friends.
10:53I wish them,
10:53a child.
10:56The children, we are young.
11:08I mean, this is an incredible number. Why have you done it so many times?
11:23While there's no scientific evidence to show that repeated bullet ant stings
11:27has improved the immune system, I 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 in a few days?
11:40And I really encourage you to give advice that you don't put your hand in hand.
12:03I can't believe this is day one.
12:07I feel like I've experienced so much already.
12:13The truth is, the auntie's been hooked. I'm under no illusions just quite how painful this is going to be.
12:21I've never experienced anything even comparable in terms of pain.
12:37I mean, that was a pretty terrible first night of sleep I have to admit.
12:48The bullet ant ritual is still playing on my mind.
12:55It's a mix of emotions. It's a blender of butterflies and knives and all sorts of things going around my
13:01chest.
13:03I 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.
13:11But it's occupying every part of my being right now.
13:17I'm so aware of something coming that is enormous, absolutely enormous.
13:25I guess my spidey senses were tingling as a morning storm quickly engulfs the area.
13:31So, while we wait for it to pass, Adriana asked me to help prepare some food for their meals.
13:37You're going to mix and then you're going to do this.
13:41The flour is very important.
13:43Because if you don't have flour, at the time of food, no one eats it.
13:50Farine is a carbohydrate made of manioc root.
13:56And is a staple part of the Amazonian diet when there is no fish or meat to eat.
14:02It's quite flamboyant, isn't it?
14:04Yeah.
14:08Is it always the women that do this kind of job?
14:11I see.
14:12This is my...
14:16I'm happy to make the flour, because when it comes to the house,
14:21there's the flour ready for our family, right?
14:23Yes.
14:25Okay, we're done?
14:26Yes.
14:32The flour is ready.
14:34Excellent.
14:40Golden nuggets of pure joy.
14:47I took the moment with Adriana to find out what she thinks about the rite of passage.
15:01How painful do you think it is for the man?
15:14How painful do you think it is for the man?
15:25I guess this ritual is basically the big equalizer.
15:29You didn't want him to do it initially, and you've now decided that you do want him to do it.
15:34Why have you changed your mind?
15:36Yes.
15:36Because before he wanted to put his hand on his hand, he was 11 years old. He was very small.
15:42So I would think that he wouldn't be able to do the pain.
15:45Now he decided to put his hand on his hand, so we don't have to say to him not.
15:50Now he said that he doesn't have anyone, but he would have to put his hand on his hand.
15:54Yes.
15:55Yes, yes, yes, yes.
15:56I think if a 12-year-old can do it, I'm hoping that at 49 years old, I can do
16:01it as well.
16:02I will be together. If you need, I will help you too.
16:06That's how I will help my son, right?
16:09Thank you too.
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 going to take all the help I
16:24can get to overcome the pain.
16:47Do you think that would be easier, wouldn't it?
17:03It's because it ends on a right foot, and then it starts with a right foot.
17:10And so I'm like, I want to do my 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?
17:47No, it's because the moment I put my hand on the rug,
17:52because I, besides her, the biggest pain that I've ever felt was only her.
18:12I've watched him almost come apart, you know, tears streaming down his face, body convulsing and shaking.
18:19That, obviously, it's somewhat intimidating, to say the least.
18:27There's no rules or expectations surrounding crying.
18:31She does well. When we cry, it's not a shame. It's not a shame. It hurts. You have to jump.
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.
19:07Mm hmmm.
19:14Morning.
19:17And traditional preparations are in full swing for tomorrow's rite of passage.
19:29Turn around.
19:37So, I'm going to take this length here, can I take it slow?
19:53Israel is making the gloves sort of making it at home.
19:58Yeah, it's for me.
20:05To make the back of the back, you do this.
20:12Here.
20:13Here.
20:16That's it.
20:18That's it.
20:21So, what I'm doing is cutting the little strips that end up being woven together
20:28in order to 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.
20:55And it's suddenly all becoming very real.
20:58You take the paint and paint it.
21:02And it doesn't work.
21:04It doesn't work.
21:04It doesn't work.
21:04It doesn't work.
21:06It doesn't work.
21:08It doesn't work.
21:08It doesn't work.
21:09It doesn't work.
21:10It doesn't work.
21:13How long will they stay on the body?
21:16Seven days.
21:19The boys being painted will do the right with me.
21:37Taniko's grandson, Esau, is 12 years old, and like me, he's doing the bullet ant ritual
21:43for the first time.
22:05Are you nervous about doing it for the first time?
22:11I can see it in your eyes.
22:14It's a big thing, right?
22:30I'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 lid and cry, because it makes the cantor sick.
22:51She can only cry when she's already without the lid.
23:10My body is ready, and for the first time, I'm starting to feel more confident about the
23:15rite of passage.
23:16But Taniko's asked to meet.
23:21I wanted to explain how the pain of the tucanus is, how she does, how she processes her.
23:33When she attacks a lot, like José was here, it hurts the chest.
23:40When sheались with tears, it's mulch, but it will be a little more water.
23:43Yes, it will be another thing that we can heal.
23:45After our hands, not have no chance for anything.
23:51That pressure pain, we don't have to force you.
23:57We have to support it.
23:58We have to relax it.
23:59Just hold on.
23:59and if it's slow, the blood comes and falls.
24:07Then the pain goes on.
24:12But if the pain is alive, you want to be more than her,
24:15then she will cry.
24:20In terms of the order of the ceremony,
24:22Jose indicated to me that the reason
24:25he was in so much pain was because he went first.
24:28Obviously, I'm only going to do this once in my life.
24:31Would it be OK if I went first?
24:59That's it. There'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, the bread.
25:26But it also feels a bit like a condemned man's final meal.
25:32It's hot.
25:34It's hot.
25:36It's hot.
25:36It's hot.
25:37It's hotarios...
25:40it's hot!
25:41I can't wait, it's hot!
25:42Isaiu, what do you feel about the morning tomorrow?
25:47It's hot.
25:49She sets it up for now.
26:08big day tomorrow it has involved a lot of mental preparation it has involved strategizing but I
26:17feel like I'm there and it may well be the last time in my life that I ever experienced that
26:24sensation so I want to experience it I want to relish in it I want to revel in it I
26:31want to
26:31explore it and dare I say it I don't want it to be over it's the day of my rite
26:44of passage
26:47and it wouldn't be much of a ceremony without the star of the event
26:51Chinico is blowing a musical instrument at the front which is part of the ceremony in
26:59terms of attracting the ants and drawing them out of their home
27:15the tobacco smoke and rubbing of the tree aggravates the ants
27:19and drives them out of their nest ready to sting
27:34wow that's quite a lot on the pole
27:40there's a lot of ants going into this tube huge amount every one of them has a sting
27:49considerably worse than a scorpion
27:57back in the village while the boys and I steal our nerves
28:02Tinico sedates the ants using leaves from the tapabera plant
28:24it's a skillful art and Tinico must work fast to weave the ants into the gloves before they wake up
28:47this is it the sedative has worn off and the ants are ready to attack anything and anyone that goes
28:53near them
28:55undeniably there's this surge of energy
29:00um that is rising in my body
29:06it's kind of a mesh of excitement and elation and fear
29:20I think actually in my life the closest I've come to this is a boxing match
29:24you know somewhere where there's nowhere to hide
29:27somewhere where if you mess up it's going to be very visible to a lot of people
29:43once the gloves go on
29:44I'll be entering a world of pain
29:47that I've never felt before
29:50so the ants are going into the gloves now
29:52being tied up
29:54and there will be nothing I can do to stop it for over 12 hours
30:27like this
30:42my
30:56me
30:59I may look composed, but the pain is excruciating.
31:06Somehow, it's almost making me feel high.
31:09I'm charged with adrenaline and completely focused on the dance.
31:19The repetitive steps are giving me something to focus on,
31:23but the searing pain is like nothing I've ever felt before.
31:27Yet, the pain is amazing and more sauveys.
31:35It's almost in which the pain is now the pain of the Jahren.
32:10I can't stand.
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.
32:55My thought was to put it and take it away, right in the heart of a fire, right in the
33:02heart of a fire.
33:06It was very good.
33:14If you were to spiral into a panic with this level of pain, it would be awful.
33:28It would be then unmanageable by definition.
33:45If it's this hard for me, a grown man, I have no idea how the boys are going to cope.
33:51I'm not going to die.
33:53I'm not going to die.
34:08I'm not going to die.
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.
34:40I guess this is now the phase where there's no abatement.
34:44You know, the pain is, if anything, it's growing slightly.
34:50If anything, it's getting more painful.
34:53And it's managing that.
34:55I'm not going to die.
35:24It's important that I don't cry.
35:38An hour after the ritual and the pain is only increasing.
35:44The 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.
36:38It's 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.
37:03Hello, Eiji.
37:04Hello.
37:05How are you?
37:06How are you?
37:26How are you?
37:29How are you?
37:31How are you?
37:32How are you doing?
37:46Good.
37:49How are you spending your life on the 올� Tنا���an anterior?
37:56How are you?
37:56by the ritual itself and by the toxin of the worm.
38:11After taking in fluids and being carefully monitored by the doctor,
38:16I am finally back on my feet.
38:19But the pain was way more traumatic than I had ever anticipated.
38:25It's kind of changed from burning fire
38:30to they've 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 so that we couldn't kind of link arms.
38:49And this quite a 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.
39:08And 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.
39:26Adriana, I mean, literally constantly helping me, feeding me, binding my hands.
39:33Ok.
39:40I've had a friend.
39:46Let me cry even more.
39:49Let's cry, Ed.
39:50Be well, please.
39:52We llore.
39:53Don't cry, don't cry.
39:55Let's cry, don't cry, don't cry.
39:57Thanks.
39:58Do you know how you do it for me?
40:05I have never been presented with so much care and love and and I would never have got through
40:11that ceremony if it wasn't for you all. I'll never forget it.
40:20I will remember it.
40:35It's very good you and Eric, to resgatar our culture, to lead us forward, it's very good what we are
40:47doing here, okay?
40:51I don't have much more words, but I thank you very much for your heart and my family that's united
40:58here.
41:01I think I came here thinking that this ceremony was all going to be about proving how tough it was,
41:08you know, proving how I could do this on my own.
41:15And it's not true, is it? It's not true of the ceremony, but it's also not true in general.
41:19It's like, you don't have to do it all on your own. You can let people in. You can let
41:27them help you.
41:33It's beautiful. It'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 just almost doesn't feel natural.
42:09I think I've started to get an understanding of how rites of passage are really essential to communities because, on
42:15the face of it, they look like things that allow young boys to show off, to prove that they're tough,
42:19so they can become a man.
42:20Oh, it's the last one.
42:24Thank you, man.
42:27Thank you very much.
42:27And maybe we'll see you in the future.
42:34The ceremony last night changed my opinion on that.
42:38It was about the community coming together. It's the very soul of the community, and it's what pulls everything together.
42:46I've been fighting my whole life, fighting to prove that I'm tough enough to survive on my own, and the
42:52inherent epiphany of last night seemed to be that you don't have to.
42:57You can come into a village, and seven days later, they're calling you part of their family and giving you
43:02so much love and support that you're reduced to tears.
43:05I mean, I don't know of many things in life more powerful than that, really.
43:21Sounds like a cartoon anvil falling from the sky.
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