Intonjane is a Xhosa rite of passage into womanhood practiced in the Eastern Cape of South Africa. The ritual takes place after a girl has had her first period. This ritual is symbolic of a girl's sexual maturity and ability to conceive. It is through this ritual that girls are taught about socially accepted behaviours of Xhosa women, while also encouraging them not to have sex before marriage. The origins of the name intonjane is associated with the life cycle of a stick insect. At the end of its larval stage, caterpillars encase themselves in a little grass-like mat cocoon where till it is ready to emerge as an adult. During these months, trees have these grassy cocoons that Xhosa people refer to as ntonjane. The kind of grass that the girl sits on during the ritual, called inxkopho, bears a resemblance to the cocoons encasing of the caterpillars on the tree, hence the name intonjane. The intonjane ritual takes three to six weeks, and several events take place during that period. Umngeno When the girl has had her first menstruation, she notifies her mother, who in turn informs her father, who then calls on a traditional gathering called ibhunga. Jewellery made from grass is placed around her neck and waist as a symbol of her coming to age. The ibhunga gathering is marked by the making of umqombothi webhunga (traditional beer). It is during this event that the girl is informed that she is going to attend the intonjane ceremony. She then wears a necklace made from a string of a live ox’s tail hair, referred to as ubulunga. The necklace is a symbol of fertility and that the girl is ready to accept marriage proposals. It is then that the girl goes into seclusion with amakhankatha (assistants) and her aunt. This seclusion is referred to as umngeno as it is the day that the initiate goes into isolation. The first week is marked by the initiate being placed behind a curtain without any of her clothes, apart from a black doek, and inkciyo, a beaded skirt that serves as a garment covering the pubic area. Her body is painted with white ochre, representing contact with the ancestral spirits and seclusion from tribal life. Umngenandlini After the first or second evening, a goat is slaughtered by the father or the men of the family. After slaughtering the goat, a