Tuli (rite)

Tulì is a Filipino rite of male circumcision. It has a long historical tradition and is considered a rite of passage; boys who have not undergone the ritual are labelled supót and face ridicule from their peers.

Circumcision is not considered a religious rite as most Filipinos subscribe to Roman Catholicism, which does not require it. A theory posits that the prevalence of the rite is due to Islam,^{[citation needed]} which arrived in the islands 200 years before Christianity.

More affluent parents opt to have their children circumcised as neonates in hospital,^{[citation needed]} but the majority prefer that their sons undergo the tradition at around 5–7 years^{[citation needed]} of age. Boys of the same age group would either go to government-sponsored missions, hospitals, or to a local circumciser. The Philippines Department of Health sponsors an annual Operation Tuli project to circumcise boys; others assist and provide the service for free.^{[citation needed]}

The traditional circumciser would tell the patient to chew guava leaves and then simply cut off the foreskin of the boy with a sharp knife. The boy is then to wash off in the cold waters of a nearby river and to apply the masticated guava leaves as a poultice on the wound.

Newly-circumcised boys usually wear housedresses or loose skirts to help in the healing. The swelling that might occur during this period is termed pangángamatis, literally, "becoming like a tomato (kamatis)" owing to the reddish appearance of the penis.

The rite has been the subject of the award-winning film Tuli by Auraeus Solito.^{[citation needed]}