The approaching maturity of a boy cannot be measured in dramatic
physiological terms, and puberty is considered to occur about when a boy’s
voice changes. The ritual for boys is less important than that for girls.
The emphasis for a boy is on his developing ability as a hunter. Although
hunting is far less important today than it was even in the recent past,
few Washo go through the winter without depending on rabbit or deer for
meat. The pursuit of the squirrel, ground squirrel, gopher, and other
small game appears to be minimal, but certainly this food is not spurned,
if available. One of the common legal conflicts with the white man stems
from out-of-season hunting during the winter by Washo men filling out the
family larder.
Young boys were encouraged to hunt with bow and arrow as soon as they
could. Quite often such training was carried out by an older male
relative—a grandfather or an old uncle. Expeditions of old men and young
boys after chipmunk and squirrel appear to have been common, freeing
able-bodied men for major hunting while the experienced, but less able,
older men instructed the boys.
However, all the game taken by a boy was taboo to his immediate family.
This included young deer and does which he might kill. Such game was given
to another family, usually related. The boy was also forbidden to eat his
own take. The taboo included any fish the boy caught.
When a boy killed a buck deer considered by his father or other male
relative to be big enough, he went through a simple ceremony. One
informant said that in the old days a boy was required to crawl under the
antlers of his kill. His father or older male relative then gave him a
bath, and from that time he was considered a man and the taboo on his kill
was lifted from himself and his family.
My informant, a mother of four sons now over forty, stated that all her
sons had gone through the taboo period and were bathed by their father
when they killed their first big buck. Until very recently she received
meat from some relatives with a young son who hunted frequently.
Whether or not the young Washo are still observing this taboo and ritual I
was unable to determine. However, in certain conservative families it
seems probable that at least minimal ritual is observed.