They have a three-day initiation ceremony for becoming a man. Initiation starts when the initiate eats the sliced root of the Iboga tree over a period of hours, monitored by his Bwiti father who guides the initiate in the visions. The Iboga allows him to see into his true self and vividly revisit the consequences of his past actions. After 24 hours, the initiate is taken to the river by the men. They lift him through a construction of twigs shaped like a vulva suspended over the water, then wash him with water soaked with leaves. The men pull a sapling of the sacred matombi tree from the forest, and plant it outside the Bwiti temple which represents the initiate as a child. Throughout the day the elders feed him small pieces of Iboga, and the whole village perform, dancing in vivid costumes, in a way designed to bring on further hallucinations.
In the last phase, the initiate is called upon to see the Bwiti visions. Fire dancers sprint the length of the village to entice the Macoi spirits from the darkness of the forest. The initiate must tell the elders what he has seen and through this secret knowledge he finally becomes a man. Meanwhile, the villagers plant a forest around the matombi tree, that represent the problems to be faced in adult life. Together, the men break up the trees branch by branch which symbolize the removal of all his problems.
Eboga is taken in two ways. It is taken in small doses of two to three teaspoonfuls for women and three to five teaspoonfuls for men.