A traditional ceremony used by the Yaka in Africa to treat sterility in women is described. Sterility is considered by Africans to be serious, since bearing children is seen as the only way that deceased ancestors can rejoin the living. Rites of purification are performed to reunite the sterile woman with the community. The first stage is a public confession, where the details of the couple's sexual life are told publicly. After this, a purification ritual takes place in the river to please the water spirits, after which the couple must change their names. After this, the clitoris of the woman is wounded by traditional midwives; this is called "cutting off the serpent's head". This is followed by other rituals, among them the throwing of a fish onto the fire by the sterile woman, symbolizing the unification of fire and water. This entire process is seen as a rite of passage which includes a sort of death and rebirth of the individual.