Bis Burunko/Gender and Age

Gender

To the Burundaz, all things can be defined according to whether or not they can act under their own power. Those that can - including humans, deities and spirits, animals and some natural phenomena - are called bui 'animate'. Those that can't - including most materials, plants, landscape features and objects - are called nabui 'inanimate'.

Within the bui category, a further distinction is made based on the Burungian concept of natural gender, which classifies animates as acchi 'masculine', demechi 'feminine' or iriji 'middle'. These concepts are partly based on physical sex, although other qualities such as age, personality/nature and societal role are important.

Age

The Burundaz divide the lives of humans, gods and - to some extent - animals into four stages:

• Pumebu 'childhood' is the period from birth until puberty
• Garaapu 'youth' is the period from the onset of puberty to full initiation into adult life
• Koziji 'adulthood' is the period from initiation, through family and work life, until elderhood
• Hajji 'elderhood' is loosely defined, but can be based on the loss of physical ability, social or family standing, or wisdom.

Gender and Age

The concepts and words connected with gender change over a person's lifetime.

Childhood

All human children (pume) are iriji, regardless of their physical form. Their lack of physical and social development means they are seen to have an undecided gender, the middle gender being one that incorporates both masculine and feminine elements, seen as somehow more balanced and ideal.

Children are given gyomi 'little names' or affectionate childhood nicknames, based on some distinguishing feature or trait, or the whim of the parents, such as Meiko 'little dark one' for a dark-haired child, Loking 'fond of sleep', Xambéito 'little pot belly' or Yitaz 'star'.

At the onset of puberty, children will prepare to enter garaapu 'youth', at which point they have a gender assigned. This is decided through a long process involving the child, family and elders, which takes into account physical form, abilities and personality amongst other things.

Youth

Once a child fully enters puberty (usually after a female's first menstruation and male's first ejaculation), they will undergo a public initiation into youth, which includes the assigning of gender and the giving of an adult name.

Assigned females are now called madash 'girl, lass', males are called goi 'boy, lad' and middle gender poda 'youth'.

Adult names (gyo) are composed of two elements, chosen according to a person's gender and designed to give a sense of a person's talents or personality. The elements might consist of animal or plant names, natural phenomena, landscape features, weapons or war-related words, positive adjectives and titles. Some families might use one element in the names of all their children, often taken from one of the parents' or grandparents' names.

Gender	Child	Young Adult	Adult	Senior
Acchi (masc.)		az
goi	gis, gyong	hoz
Demechi (fem.)	deme
madash	xoz	axoz
Iriji (mid.)	haya
pume	poda	búrus