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To become a full member of the Mafia or Cosa Nostra – to become a “man of honour” – an aspiring member has to pass a Mafia initiation ritual. The ceremony involves significant ritual, oaths, blood, and an agreement is made to follow the rules of the Mafia as presented to the inductee. The first known account of the ceremony dates back to 1877 in Sicily.〔Gambetta, ''The Sicilian Mafia'', pp. 146-53〕 The typical sequence of the ceremony according to several distinct descriptions has common features. First, the new recruit is led into the presence of other members and presented by a member; the association is explained including its basic rules; then his finger is pricked with a needle by the officiating member; a few drops of blood are spilled on a card bearing the likeness of a saint; the card is set on fire; finally, while the card is passed rapidly from hand to hand to avoid burns, the novice takes an oath of loyalty to the Mafia family.〔〔Paoli, ''Mafia Brotherhoods'', pp. 67-69〕 ==In Sicily == The first known account of the ceremony dates back to 1877 in Monreale in an article in the ''Giornale di Sicilia'' in an account about the Stuppagghiari, an early Mafia-type organisation. Other early accounts were during a trial against the ''Fratellanza'' (Brotherhood) in Agrigento (1884) and the ''Fratuzzi'' (Little Brothers) in Bagheria (1889).〔Gambetta, ''The Sicilian Mafia'', pp. 262-70〕 One of the first life accounts of an initiation ceremony was given by Bernardino Verro, a leader of the Fasci Siciliani, a popular social movement of democratic and socialist inspiration, which arose in Sicily in the early 1890s. In order to give the movement teeth and to protect himself from harm, Verro became a member of the ''Fratuzzi'' in Corleone. In a memoir written many years later, he describes the initiation ritual he underwent in the spring of 1893: Soon after Verro broke with the Mafia and – according to police reports – became their most bitter enemy. He was killed by the Mafia in 1915 when he was the mayor of Corleone.〔 (Verro, una vita contro la mafia ), Città Nuova di Corleone, November 3, 2004〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Mafia initiation ritual」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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