The purpose of this chapter and the next is to trace the history of the Merina circumcision ceremony as far as the documentation makes possible. As we shall see, the historical sources on the ritual are limited and insufficient but clear enough to give us more than a general idea of what has happened since approximately the time of the reign of Andrianampoinimerina at the end of the eighteenth century. The circumcision ceremony existed before then in Imerina, and the ritual was already practised in the seventeenth century and probably long before in other parts of the island (de Flacourt 1661). It is likely that aspects of the circumcision ritual have been borrowed by the Merina from other peoples in Madagascar who practise related rituals, and no doubt a similar process has taken place the other way. It is also not impossible that borrowings go well beyond Madagascar. I do not feel, however, that such wide-ranging hypotheses can at present be more than empty speculation, and so I shall limit myself to the documented history of the circumcision ritual for the period from 1800 to 1971 in Imerina.

Before engaging in this historical enquiry, it is worth considering the mythical origin of the ritual, not because such myths have any historical value in themselves but because they again reveal and confirm the themes expounded in the two preceding chapters.