A
rite of passage is a
ritualA ritual is a set of actions, performed mainly for their symbolic value, which is prescribed by a religion or by the traditions of a community. The term usually excludes actions which are arbitrarily chosen by the performers, or dictated purely by logic, chance, necessity, etc..A ritual may be...
that marks a change in a person's
social statusIn sociology or anthropology, social status is the honor or prestige attached to one's position in society .A society's stratification system, which is the system of distributing rewards to the members of society, determines social status. Social status, the position or rank of a person or group...
. It is a universal phenomenon which can show anthropologists what social hierarchies, values and beliefs are important in specific cultures. Rites of passage are often
ceremoniesthumb|right|250px|Part of the ceremony of the Changing of the Guard in Whitehall, London.A ceremony is an activity, infused with ritual significance, performed on a special occasion.-Celebration of life:...
surrounding events such as
childbirthChildbirth is the culmination of a human pregnancy or gestation period with birth of one or more newborn infants from a woman's uterus...
,
menarcheMenarche is the first menstrual cycle, or first menstrual bleeding in the females of human beings. From both social and medical perspectives it is often considered the central event of female puberty, as it signals the possibility of fertility...
or other milestones within
pubertyPuberty is the process of physical changes by which a child's body becomes an adult body capable of reproduction. Puberty is initiated by hormone signals from the brain to the gonads . In response, the gonads produce a variety of hormones that stimulate the growth, function, or transformation of...
,
coming of ageComing of age is a young person's transition from childhood to adulthood. The age at which this transition takes place varies in society, as does the nature of the transition. It can be a simple legal convention or can be part of a ritual, as practiced by many societies...
,
marriageMarriage is a social union or legal contract between individuals that creates kinship. It is an institution in which interpersonal relationships, usually intimate and sexual, are acknowledged by a variety of ways, depending on the culture or demographic...
,
weddingA wedding is the ceremony in which two people are united in marriage or a similar institution. Wedding traditions and customs vary greatly between cultures, ethnic groups, religions, countries, and social classes...
s, and
deathDeath is the termination of the biological functions that define a living organism. It refers to both a particular event and to the condition that results thereby. The true nature of the latter has for millennia been a central concern of the world's religious traditions and of philosophical...
. Initiation ceremonies such as baptism, confirmation and bar or bat Mitzvah are considered important rites of passage for persons of their respective religions.
History of term
Theories were developed in the 1910s by Megan Douglas and 1960s by
Victor TurnerVictor Witter Turner was a cultural anthropologist best known for his work on symbols, rituals and rites of passage. His work, along with that of Clifford Geertz and others, is often referred to as symbolic and interpretive anthropology.-Biography and research interests:Turner was born in Glasgow,...
(
The Ritual Process, 1969).
Joseph CampbellJoseph John Campbell was an American mythologist, writer and lecturer, best known for his work in comparative mythology and comparative religion. His work is vast, covering many aspects of the human experience...
's 1949 text,
The Hero with a Thousand FacesThe Hero with a Thousand Faces is a non-fiction book, and seminal work of comparative mythology by Joseph Campbell...
and his theory of the journey of the hero were also influenced by
Arnold van GennepArnold van Gennep was a noted French ethnographer and folklorist.-Biography:He was born in Ludwigsburg, Kingdom of Württemberg...
.
Rites of passage have three phases: separation,
liminalityLiminality is a psychological, neurological, or metaphysical subjective, conscious state of being on the "threshold" of or between two different existential planes, as defined in neurological psychology and in the anthropological theories of ritual by such writers as Arnold van Gennep, Victor...
, and re-incorporation - as first outlined by van Gennep. In the first phase, people withdraw from the group and begin moving from one place or status to another. There is often a detachment or ‘cutting away’ from the former self in this phase, which is signified in symbolic actions and rituals. For example, the cutting of the hair for a person who has just joined the army. He or she is 'cutting away' the former self - the civilian. In the third phase, they reenter society, having completed the rite and assumed their 'new' identity. Re-incorporation is characterised by elaborate rituals and ceremonies, like debutant balls and college graduation. The liminal phase is the period between states, during which people have left one place or state but haven't yet entered or joined the next.
Types and examples
Rites of passage are diverse, and are often not recognized as such in the culture in which they occur. Many society rituals may look like rites of passage but miss some of the important structural and functional components. Typically the missing piece is the societal recognition and reincorporation phase. Adventure Education programs, such as Outward Bound, have often been described as potential rites of passage. Pamela Cushing researched the rites of passage impact upon adolescent youth at the Canadian Outward Bound School and found the rite of passage impact was lessened by the missing reincorporation phase (Cushing, 1998). Bell (2003) presented more evidence of this lacking third stage and described the "Contemporary Adventure Model of a Rites of Passage" as a modern and weaker version of the rites of passage typically used by outdoor adventure programs.
Several organizations, such as Boys to Men Mentoring Network and Rite of Passage Journeys in Bothell, Washington, provide nature based initiatory experiences that do include the incorporation phase. At the end of Rite of Passage Journeys' Coming-of-Age trips, parents arrive to work with their children for the final weekend of the experience, so that changes that occurred on the trip can be supported when the youth returns to his or her home environment.
Some other examples of rites of passages in contemporary society are given in the following subsections.
Coming of age rites of passage
- Bar Mitzvah
- Breeching
- Débutante ball
A débutante is a young lady from an aristocratic or upper class family who has reached the age of maturity, and as a new adult, is introduced to society at a formal presentation known as her "début"...
- Dokimasia
In Ancient Greece, Dokimasia was the name used at Athens to denote the process of ascertaining the capacity of the citizens for the exercise of public rights and duties....
- First haircut
The first haircut for a human has special significance in certain cultures and religions. It can be considered a rite of passage or a milestone.-United States babies:...
- Genpuku
or genbuku was a historical Japanese coming-of-age ceremony. The etymology is atypical; in this case means "head" and means "wearing". The ceremony is also known as , , , , and ....
among the samuraiis the term for the military nobility of pre-industrial Japan. According to translator William Scott Wilson: "In Chinese, the character 侍 was originally a verb meaning to wait upon or accompany a person in the upper ranks of society, and this is also true of the original term in Japanese, saburau...
- Guan Li
The Guan Li is the Chinese coming of age ceremony. The name Guan Li refers to the ceremony for men, while the Ji Li refers to the one for women....
- Graduation
Graduation is the action of receiving or conferring an academic degree or the ceremony that is sometimes associated, where students become Graduates. Before the graduation, candidates are referred to as Graduands. The date of graduation is often called degree day. The graduation itself is also...
- Poy Sang Long
The Poy Sang Long is a rite of passage ceremony among the Shan peoples, in Myanmar and in neighbouring Northern Thailand, undergone by boys at some point between seven and fourteen years of age...
- Quinceañera
The Quinceañera, Quinceañero, or Quince años , in Latin American culture, is a coming of age ceremony held on a girl's fifteenth birthday. The term Quinceaños refers to the birthday of the celebrant, and the term Quinceañera refers to the celebrant herself...
- Russ
Russ is a participant in the traditional norwegian videregående skole graduation ceremony known as russefeiring . Russ are easily recognized by their distinctive overalls, which tradition dictates that they wear from the 1st to the 17th of May without interruption , and without washing it...
in NorwayNorway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a country in Northern Europe occupying the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, as well as Jan Mayen and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard under the Spitsbergen Treaty...
- Scarification
For the process that encourages germination in plants see Scarification .Scarifying involves scratching, etching, or some sort of superficial cutting or incision as a permanent body modification, etching designs, pictures, or words into the skin....
and various other physical endurances
- Sevapuneru or Turmeric ceremony in South India to mark menarche
- Etoro tribe
The Etoro are a tribe in Papua New Guinea. Their territory comprises the southern slopes of Mt. Sisa, along the southern edge of the central mountain range of New Guinea, near the Papuan Plateau. They are well known among anthropologists because of the ritual homosexuality practiced between young...
and BaruyaThe Baruya are a tribe in the highlands of Papua New Guinea. They have been studied since 1967 by anthropologist Maurice Godelier.The Baruya are characterized by a strong inequality between males and females; all their organizations, institutions, and myths present the male domination...
in Papua New GuineaPapua New Guinea , officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is a country in Oceania, occupying the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and numerous offshore islands...
where young boys must begin ingesting their elders semen, and then stop doing it at a certain age.
In various tribal societies, entry into an
age gradeIn sociology and anthropology, an age grade or age class is a form of social organization based on age, within a series of such categories, through which individuals pass over the course of their lives....
– generally gender-separated – (unlike an
age setIn anthropology, an age set is a social category or corporate social group, consisting of people of similar age, who have a common identity, maintain close ties over a prolonged period, and together pass through a series of age-related statuses...
) is marked by an initiation rite, which may be the crowning of a long and complex preparation, sometimes in retreat.
Religious initiation rites
- Baptism
In Christianity, baptism is the ritual act, with the use of water, by which one is admitted to membership of the Christian Church and, in the view of some, as a member of the particular Church in which the baptism is administered.The usual form of baptism among the earliest Christians was for the...
- First Eucharist
The Eucharist, also called Holy Communion, Sacrament of the Table, the Blessed Sacrament, or The Lord's Supper and other names, is a Christian sacrament or ordinance, generally considered to be a commemoration of the Last Supper, the final meal that Jesus Christ shared with his disciples before his...
and First ConfessionThe confession of one's sins is a religious practice important to many faiths, e.g., Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy.- Christianity :...
(especially First CommunionThe First Communion is a Roman Catholic ceremony. It is the colloquial name for a person's first reception of the sacrament of the Eucharist. Roman Catholics believe this event to be very important, as the Eucharist is one of the central focuses of the Roman Catholic Church...
in CatholicismCatholicism is a broad term for the body of the Catholic faith, its theologies and doctrines, its liturgical, ethical, spiritual, and behavioral characteristics, as well as a religious people as a whole...
)
- Confirmation (Catholics and mainline protestant churches)
- Bar Mitzvah and Bat Mitzvah in Judaism
Judaism is a set of beliefs and practices originating in the Hebrew Bible , as later further explored and explained in the Talmud and other texts...
- Circumcision
Male circumcision is the removal of some or all of the foreskin from the penis. The word "circumcision" comes from Latin and ....
, mainly in JudaismJudaism is a set of beliefs and practices originating in the Hebrew Bible , as later further explored and explained in the Talmud and other texts...
(BrisBrit milah is a religious ceremony within Judaism to welcome infant Jewish boys into a covenant between God and the Children of Israel through ritual circumcision performed by a mohel...
) and IslamIslam Islam Islam ( al-’islām,
[There are ten pronunciations of Islam in English, differing in whether the first or second syllable has the stress, whether the s is or , and whether the a is pronounced as in father, as in cat, or (when the stress is on the i) as in the a of sofa...]
- Missionary (LDS Church) in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
- Saṃskāra
Samskara may refer to:* Saṃskāra, Hindu rites* Saṃskāra , in Buddhism, mental and volitional formations* Samskara , a technique in Ayurvedic medicine* Samskara , an Indian film in the Kannada language...
a series of Sacraments in HinduismHinduism is the predominant religion of the Indian subcontinent. Hinduism is often referred to as ', a Sanskrit phrase meaning "the eternal law", by its adherents. Generic "types" of Hinduism that attempt to accommodate a variety of complex views span folk and Vedic Hinduism to bhakti tradition, as...
.
- Shinbyu
Shinbyu is the Burmese term for a novitiation ceremony in the tradition of Theravada Buddhism.It is deemed the most important duty that parents owe to their son by letting him go forth and embrace the legacy of the Buddha, join the Sangha and become immersed in the teachings of the Buddha, the...
in Theravada Buddhism
- Rumspringa
Rumspringa generally refers to a period of adolescence for some members of the Amish, a subsect of the Anabaptist Christian movement, that begins around the age of sixteen and ends when a youth chooses baptism within the Amish church or instead leaves the community...
among the AmishThe various Amish or Amish Mennonite church fellowships are Christian religious denominations that form a very traditional subgrouping of Mennonite churches. They are best known for their simple living, plain dress and resistance to the adoption of many modern conveniences...
- Vision quest
A vision quest is a rite of passage in some Native American cultures.In many Native American groups, the vision quest is a turning point in life taken before puberty to find oneself and the intended spiritual and life direction. When an older child is ready, he or she will go on a personal,...
in some Native American cultures
- "Quinceañera
The Quinceañera, Quinceañero, or Quince años , in Latin American culture, is a coming of age ceremony held on a girl's fifteenth birthday. The term Quinceaños refers to the birthday of the celebrant, and the term Quinceañera refers to the celebrant herself...
" many who celebrate include a Catholic mass
- Coming of Age
Coming of Age is a Unitarian Universalist program in which a congregation fosters the transition of its children into youth...
in Unitarian UniversalismUnitarian Universalism is a theologically liberal religion characterized by its support for a "free and responsible search for truth and meaning." Unitarian Universalists do not share a creed; rather, they are unified by their shared search for spiritual growth...
Other initiation rites
- Secular coming of age ceremonies
Secular coming of age ceremonies, sometimes called "civil confirmations", are ceremonies arranged by organisations that are secular, i.e. not aligned to any religion. Their purpose is to prepare adolescents for their life as adults. Secular coming of age ceremonies originated in the 19th century,...
for non-religious youngsters who want a rite of passage comparable to the religious rituals like Confirmation
- Walkabout
Walkabout can mean:*The walkabout, a purported Australian aboriginal ritual of manhood-Arts:*Walkabout, a book written by James Vance Marshall, set in the Australian outback*Walkabout, a film and stage production based on the novel-Television:...
- Batizados in Capoeira
Capoeira is an Afro-Brazilian art form that combines elements of martial arts, games, music, and dance. It was created in Brazil by slaves brought from Africa, especially from present day Angola some time after the 16th century....
- Black Belt Grading in Martial Arts
Martial arts or fighting arts are systems of codified practices and traditions of training for combat. While they may be studied for various reasons, martial arts share a single objective: to physically defeat other persons and to defend oneself or others from physical threat...
Armed forces rites
- Accolade
In the Middle Ages, the accolade was the central act in the rite-of-passage ceremonies conferring knighthood.-Ceremony:The accolade is a ceremony to confer knighthood that may take many forms including, for example, the tapping of the flat side of a sword on the shoulders of a candidate or an...
- Baptism by fire
The phrase baptism by fire or baptism of fire, known in English since 1822, is a translation of the French phrase baptême du feu and is a reference to a soldier's first experience under fire in battle. It originates from the ecclesiastical Greek baptisma pyros, in which "fire" is used to mean "the...
- Battlefield commission
A battlefield commission is awarded to enlisted soldiers who are promoted to the rank of commissioned officer for outstanding leadership on the field of battle....
, equivalent to ennoblementEnnoblement is the conferring of nobility—the induction of an individual into the noble class. Depending on time and region, various laws have governed who could be ennobled and how. Typically, nobility was conferred on individuals who had assisted the sovereign...
for valor or knighting on the field in the ancien régimeAncien Régime refers primarily to the aristocratic, social, and political system established in France under the Valois and Bourbon dynasties...
- Berserker
Berserkers were Norse warriors who are reported in the Old Norse literature to have fought in a nearly uncontrollable, trance-like fury, a characteristic which later gave rise to the English word berserk...
, berserkergang - an initiatory Nordic warrior-rite; the young Scandinavian warrior of old or VikingA Viking is one of the Norse explorers, warriors, merchants, and pirates who raided and colonized wide areas of Europe from the late eighth to the early eleventh century. These Norsemen used their famed longships to travel as far east as Constantinople and the Volga River in Russia, and as far...
had to symbolically transform into a bear or wolf before he could become an eliteElite is taken originally from the Latin, eligere, "to elect". In sociology as in general usage, the elite is a relatively small dominant group within a large society, having a privileged status perceived as being envied by others of a lower line of order.The elite at the top of the social strata...
warriorAccording to the Random House Dictionary, the term warrior has two meanings. The first literal use refers to "a person engaged or experienced in warfare." The second figurative use refers to "a person who shows or has shown great vigor, courage, or aggressiveness, as in politics or athletics."...
(cf. Cuchulain's transformation)
- Counting coup
Counting Coup refers to the winning of prestige in battle by the Plains Indians of North America. Warriors won prestige by acts of bravery in the face of the enemy, and these acts could be recorded in various ways and retold as stories....
- Krypteia - a "robber-baron" or "bandit-warrior" rite of the military youths of ancient Sparta
Sparta was a city-state in ancient Greece, situated on the River Eurotas in the southern part of the Peloponnese. From c. 650 BC it rose to become the dominant military power in the region and as such was recognized as the overall leader of the combined Greek forces during the Greco-Persian Wars...
- Pas d'armes
The pas d'armes or passage of arms was a type of chivalric hastilude that evolved in the late 14th century and remained popular through the 15th century...
- Trial by battle
Trial by combat was a method of Germanic law to settle accusations in the absence of witnesses or a confession, in which two parties in dispute fought in single combat; the winner of the fight was proclaimed to be right. In essence, it is a judicially sanctioned duel...
, or Judicium Dei (Judgment of God)
- U.S. Marines: Crucible
- U.S. Navy: Battle Stations
General Quarters or Battle Stations is an announcement made aboard a naval warship to signal the crew to prepare for battle.When the call to General Quarters is made, the crew prepares the ship to join battle. Off-duty or sleeping crewmembers report to their stations and prepare for action...
- Naval (military and civilian) crossing the equator
- In the U.S. Navy and Royal Navy
The Royal Navy of the United Kingdom is the oldest of HM Armed Forces . From the beginning of the 18th century until well into the 20th century, it was the most powerful navy in the world, playing a key part in establishing the British Empire as the dominant world power from 1815 until the early...
, wetting-downWetting-down is a raucous ceremony observed in the U.S. and British Navies including the U.S. Coast Guard for newly promoted officers. Formerly, it always involved tossing the new officer in the sea, hence the name. Marines and U.S...
is a ceremony in which a Naval officer is ceremonially thrown into the ocean upon receiving a promotion.
- U.S. Army: Victory Forge
- In many military organizations, as in civilian groups, new conscripts are sometimes subjected by "veterans" to practical jokes, ranging from taking advantage of their naïveté to public humiliation and physical attacks; see Hazing
Hazing is at term used to describe various ritual and other activities involving harassment, abuse or humiliation used as a way of initiating a person into a group....
.
- Soldiers and sailors may also be hazed
Hazing is at term used to describe various ritual and other activities involving harassment, abuse or humiliation used as a way of initiating a person into a group....
again on obtaining a promotion.
- In Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , is a country in southeastern Europe, situated on the southern end of the Balkan Peninsula....
conscription is mandatory and has been historically linked with maturing of a man. The army was historically perceived as the "natural" way to go and as a final 'school' of socialization and maturing for young men before their comeout to the real world; also it would be the first time a young man would find himself on his own and away from home. Consequently, draft dodgers, deserters, or men unable to serve encountered prejudice, were often frowned upon and deemed useless by conservative societies
Academic groups
Some academic circles such as dorms, fraternities, teams and other clubs practice
- Hazing
Hazing is at term used to describe various ritual and other activities involving harassment, abuse or humiliation used as a way of initiating a person into a group....
- Ragging
Ragging is a form of abuse on newcomers to educational institutions in United States, Australia, Britain, India, Sri Lanka and in many other Commonwealth countries...
- Fagging
Fagging was a traditional educational practice in British boarding private schools and also many other boarding schools, whereby younger pupils were required to some extent to act as personal servants to the most senior boys...
- Szecskáztatás, a mild form of hazing (usually without physical and sexual abuse) practiced in some Hungarian
Hungarian may refer to:* Hungary, a country in Central Europe* Kingdom of Hungary, state of Hungary, existing from 1000 to 1946* Hungarian people, the ethnic group primarily associated with Hungary...
secondary schoolSecondary school is a term used to describe an educational institution where the final stage of compulsory schooling, known as secondary education, takes place. It follows on from elementary or primary education....
s. First-year junior students (szecskák [singular form: szecska]) are publicly humiliated through embarrassing clothing and senior students brandingBranding may refer to:* Livestock branding, the marking of animals to indicate ownership* Human branding, as body modification or punishment* Branding , bonding of the partners and marking of a submissive...
their faces (with marker penthumb|MarkerA marker pen, marking pen, felt-tip pen, or marker, is a pen which has its own ink-source, and usually a tip made of a porous material, such as felt or nylon.-Permanent marker:...
s); it is sometimes also a contest, with the winners usually earning the right to organise the next event.
Entrance into Medicine and Pharmacy (University) :
- White Coat Ceremony
The white coat ceremony is a relatively new ritual in some medical, chiropractic, dental, pharmacy, veterinary medical, physical therapy, podiatric, and optometry schools that marks the student's transition from the study of preclinical to clinical health sciences...
- In Spanish universities of the Modern Age
Modern Age is an American conservative academic quarterly journal, founded in 1957 by Russell Kirk in close collaboration with Henry Regnery...
, like Universidad Complutense in Alcalá de HenaresAlcalá de Henares, meaning Citadel on the river Henares, is a Spanish city, whose historical centre is one of UNESCO's World Heritage Sites, and one of the first bishoprics founded in Spain...
, upon completion of his studies, the student was submitted to a public questioning by the faculty, who could ask sympathetic questions that let him excel or tricky points. If the student passed he invited professors and mates to a party. If not, he was publicly processioned with donkey ears.
Entrance to the profession of Engineer:
- The Ritual of the Calling of an Engineer
The Ritual of the Calling of an Engineer is a ritual dating from 1922 for students about to graduate from an engineering program at a Canadian university. Honorary inclusion is also offered to any Canadian registered professional engineer who has received his or her training elsewhere...
Also known as the Iron RingThe Iron Ring is a ring worn by many Canadian engineers. Obtaining the ring is an optional endeavour – the ring is not a prerequisite for practicing professional engineering in Canada....
Ceremony
Further reading
- Hatzopoulos, Miltiades B., "Macedonian Cults" (as "Cultes et rites de passage en Macédoine"), Athens & Paris, 1994
- Devine, A. M., "Review: Macedonian Cults", The Classical Review, New Series, Vol. 46, No. 2 (1996), pp. 279-281, Cambridge University Press on behalf of The Classical Association
- Padilla, Mark William (editor), "Rites of Passage in Ancient Greece: Literature, Religion, Society", Bucknell University
Bucknell University is a private university located along the West Branch Susquehanna River in the rolling countryside of Central Pennsylvania in the town of Lewisburg, 60 miles north of Harrisburg...
Press, 1999. ISBN 0-8387-5418-X
External links
Ethnographic examples:
Religious examples: