Rites of Passage?

Friday morning at 6:00AM there was lots of shouting outside my apartment. On the street, between my building and the high school next door, were two jeeps and five or six young men in camo outfits, with face paint, Czech beer, and apparently-pretend rifles. They were whooping and hollering. It didn’t stop. Soon others arrived in equally noisy form, with camo uniforms too. When drivers tried to pass on the street, they were stopped and apparently asked to pay a fee to drive by, which most seemed to do in good spirits. When younger kids came to go to school, they either paid a fee, or were marked with the face grease. Girls seemed doomed to be marked on their faces, legs, bellies, arms…fee or no. After several hours, the students moved inside, but the noise didn’t really stop. Our guess was…rites of passage…but this was not quite like I remember “Moving Up Day” at Mercy High.