Childhood

The first step on the path to a two-spirit life was taken during child hood. The Papago ritual is representative of this early integration: If parents noticed that a son was disinterested in boyish play or manly work they would set up a ceremony. They would make an enclosure of brush, and place in the center both a man’s bow and a woman’s basket. The boy was told to go inside the circle of brush and to bring something out, and as he entered the brush would be set on fire. They watched what he took with him as he ran out, and if it was the basketry materials the boy is declared to be a two-spirit person and is raised from then on in the appropriate manner. His childhood was marked by acceptance and understanding.