Rite of passage

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For other uses, see Rite of passage (disambiguation).

Image:Shan boy undergoing Poy Sang Long initiation rite .jpg A rite of passage is a ritual that marks a change in a person's social or sexual status. Rites of passage are often ceremonies surrounding events such as childbirth, menarche or other milestones within puberty, coming of age, weddings, menopause, and death.

1 History of Term
2 Types and examples
3 See also
4 External links

[edit] History of Term

The term was popularised by the French ethnographer Arnold van Gennep (1873-1957), in the early part of the twentieth century. Further theories were developed in the 1960s by Mary Douglas and Victor Turner. Joseph Campbell's 1949 text, The Hero with a Thousand Faces and his theory of the journey of the hero were also influenced by van Gennep.

According to Van Gennep, rites of passage have three phases: separation, liminality, and incorporation. In the first phase, people withdraw from the group and begin moving from one place or status to another. In the third phase, they reenter society, having completed the rite. 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. It is a state of limbo.

[edit] Types and examples

Rites of passage are diverse, and are often not recognized as such in the culture in which they occur. Some examples are given in the following subsections.

[edit] Coming of age rites

Sepik River, PNG. Tribal male initiation through excruciating scarification

Adolescent circumcision
Debutante ball
Dokimasia
First haircut
Gembuku among the samurai
Graduation
Poy Sang Long
quinceañera
Russ in Norway
Schoolies week in Australia
Scarification and various other physical endurances
Starting to wear nail polish, lipstick or other make-up

In varous tribal societies, entry into an age grade -generally gender-separated- (unlike an age set) is marked by an initiation rite, which may be the crowning of a long and complex preparation, sometimes in retreat.

[edit] Modern Coming of Age

The following would be a typical example of the "coming of age" lifetime moments for Modern societies, though the exact sequence may of course vary from person to person, or might not occur at all.

First steps
First words spoken
First day of school/kindergarten
First learned to ride a bicycle
First girlfriend/boyfriend
First obtained driver's license
First job
Senior prom/high school graduation
First day of college/first day in dorm (on your own)
First age to purchase alcohol
College graduation
First time living on own/purchase own apartment or house
Marriage
First child
Job promotion
Retirement
Voting

Image:20050921circoncisionB.jpg

[edit] Religious initiation rites

Baptism
First Communion and First Confession (especially in Catholicism)
Confirmation
Bar Mitzvah and Bat Mitzvah
Circumcision, mainly in Judaism (Bris) and Islam
Upanayanam amongst some Hindu castes.
Shinbyu in Theravada Buddhism
Rumspringa among the Amish
Vision quest in some Native American cultures

[edit] Other initiation rites

Conscription, "making boys into men" (i.e. warriors) through military service is rather a life phase than a mere rite
Walkabout
Freemasonry rituals
Thracian Crastolo: in ancient Thrace, a boy, upon reaching the age of thirteen, was given his first spear. He was then sent out into the hills outside of his village for a week or sometimes more. The boy would create his own shelter and live out in the hills until he was able to fully accept his role in society, after which acceptance he would return to the village. He would be greeted with a large meal prepared by the entire village, consisting mostly of roasted lamb and pancakes flavored with onions and served with a garlic butter made of goats' milk or cheese, similar to the Jewish latke. He would then be danced for by older men. They would perform the "Thracian Fire Dance" or Anastenaria and dance around fires with torches. When the fire died down they would tread upon the ashes of the fire, finally inviting the boy to join in. He was then presented with a newly forged sword, if he was to be a mercenary, or a pickaxe if he was to become a miner.
Batizados in Capoeira.

[edit] Armed forces rites

U.S. Marine Crucible
U.S. Navy: Battle Stations
Naval (military and civilian) crossing the equator
In the U.S. Navy, wetting-down 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.
Soldiers and sailors may also be hazed again on obtaining a promotion.

[edit] Academic Groups

Academic circles such as dorms, fraternities, teams and other clubs practice

Entrance into Medicine and Pharmacy (University) :

White Coat Ceremony
In Spanish universities of the Modern Age, like Universidad Complutense in Alcalá de Henares, 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.