Rite of passage
A rite of passage is a ritual that marks a change in a person's social or sexual status. 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.
Rites of passage are often ceremonies surrounding events such as childbirth, menarche or other milestones within puberty, weddings, menopause, and death.
Such rites include:
- Coming of age
- Religious and magical Initiation rites
- Baptism
- First Communion and First Confession (especially in Catholicism)
- Confirmation
- Bar mitzvah and Bat mitzvah
- Upanayanam amongst some Hindu castes.
- Dream quest(?) for aboriginals
- Rumspringa among the Amish
- Vision quest in some Native American cultures
- Other Initiation rites
- Naval (military and civilian) crossing the equator
- Armed forces rites:
- U.S. Marine Crucible
- U.S. Army Victory Forge
- In the Spanish military service, new conscripts are subjected by "veterans" to practical jokes, ranging from taking advantage of their naivety to public humiliation and physical attacks.
- Soldiers and sailors may also be hazed again (e.g. in the stocks, paddled, bloodpinning...) on obtaining a promotion, a pilot getting his wings, etcetera
- Academic circles (dorms, fraternities, teams) and other clubs practice hazing, ragging or fagging
- Entrance into Medicine and Pharmacy (University) :
- 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.
Other
In a wider sense, the term is the best available for regular rituals, such as endurances, that mark a less important change, such as birthday spankings.
External link
Ethnographic examples:
- A list of rites of passage and similar rituals Variuos rthnographic examples
- Rites of passage of Baka Pygmies Pygmies initiation, with haircut and other rituals
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