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.

History of Term

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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.

Examples

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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.

Coming of age rites

• Adolescent circumcision
• Debutante ball
• Dokimasia
• First haircut
• Gembuku among the samurai
• Graduation
• Pederasty
• Prom
• Poy Sang Long
• quinceañera
• Russ in Norway
• Schoolies Week in Australia
• Starting to wear nail polish, lipstick, or other make-up

North American Coming of Age

The following would be a typical example of the "coming of age" lifetime moments for Western American, 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

Religious Initiation rites

• Baptism
• First Communion and First Confession (especially in Catholicism)
• Confirmation
• Bar Mitzvah and Bat Mitzvah
• Upanayanam amongst some Hindu castes.
• Shinbyu in Theravada Buddhism
• Dream quest(?) for aboriginals
• Rumspringa among the Amish
• Vision quest in some Native American cultures

Other Initiation rites

• Conscription, "making boys into men"
• 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.

Armed forces rites

• U.S. Marine Crucible
• 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.

Academic Groups

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

• hazing
• ragging
• fagging

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.

See also

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• Pilgrimage

External links

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• Encyclopaideia A list of male rites of passage
• Puellarium A list of female rites of passage

Ethnographic examples:

• A list of rites of passage and similar rituals Variuos ethnographic examples
• Rites of passage of Baka Pygmies Pygmies initiation, with haircut and other rituals

Ceremonies | Rites of passage

Übergangsritus | Rite de passage | טקס מעבר | Ritos de passagem