Search results
- Bar and Bat Mitzvah. Culture: Jewish. The Bar Mitzvah (for boys) and Bat Mitzvah (for girls) are significant rites of passage in Jewish culture marking the transition from childhood to adulthood.
- Quinceañera. Culture: Hispanic. The Quinceañera is a significant event in the Hispanic culture, marking a girl’s transition from childhood to womanhood at age 15.
- Maasai Circumcision. Culture: Maasai (East Africa) The Maasai people in East Africa have a rite of passage for boys transitioning into manhood known as Enkipaata, which involves circumcision.
- Satere-Mawe Bullet Ant Initiation. Culture: Satere-Mawe (Brazil) The Satere-Mawe tribe in Brazil has one of the most painful rites of passage to manhood.
- Overview
- Nature and significance
- Classification of rites
rite of passage, ceremonial event, existing in all historically known societies, that marks the passage from one social or religious status to another. This article describes these rites among various societies throughout the world, giving greatest attention to the most common types of rites; explains their purposes from the viewpoints of the peopl...
Many of the most important and common rites of passage are connected with the biological crises, or milestones, of life—birth, maturity, reproduction, and death—that bring changes in social status and, therefore, in the social relations of the people concerned. Other rites of passage celebrate changes that are wholly cultural, such as initiation into societies composed of people with special interests—for example, fraternities. Rites of passage are universal, and presumptive evidence from archaeology (in the form of burial finds) strongly suggests that they go back to very early times. One aspect of rites of passage that is often overlooked by interpreters (perhaps because it appears obvious) is the role of the rites in providing entertainment. Passage rites and other religious events have in the past been the primary socially approved means of participating in pleasurable activities, and religion has been a primary vehicle for art, music, song, dance, and other forms of aesthetic experience.
The worldwide distribution of these rites long ago attracted the attention of scholars, but the first substantial interpretation of them as a class of phenomena was presented in 1909 by the French anthropologist and folklorist Arnold van Gennep, who coined the phrase rites of passage. Van Gennep saw such rites as means by which individuals are eased, without social disruption, through the difficulties of transition from one social role to another. On the basis of an extensive survey of preliterate and literate societies, van Gennep held that rites of passage consist of three distinguishable, consecutive elements: separation, transition, and reincorporation—or, respectively, preliminal, liminal, and postliminal stages (before, at, and past the limen [Latin: “threshold”]). The person (or persons) on whom the rites centre is first symbolically severed from his old status, then undergoes adjustment to the new status during the period of transition, and is finally reincorporated into society in his new social status. Although the most commonly observed rites relate to crises in the life cycle, van Gennep saw the significance of the ceremonies as being social or cultural, celebrating important events that are primarily sociocultural or human-made rather than biological.
No scheme of classification of passage rites has met with general acceptance, although many names have been given to distinguishable types of rites and to elements of rites. The name purification ceremonies, for example, refers to an element of ritual that is very common in rites of passage and also in other kinds of religious events. In most instances, the manifest goal of purification is to prepare the individual for communication with the supernatural, but purification in rites of passage may also be seen to have the symbolic significance of erasing an old status in preparation for a new one (see also purification rite).
Other names that have been given to passage rites often overlap. Life-cycle ceremonies and crisis rites are usually synonymous terms referring to rites connected with the biological crises of life, but some modern scholars have included among crisis rites the ritual observances aimed at curing serious illnesses. Ceremonies of social transformation and of religious transformation overlap and, similarly, overlap crisis rites. Religious transformations, such as baptism and rites of ordination, always involve social transformations; social transformations such as at coming-of-age and induction into office may also bring new religious statuses, and life-cycle ceremonies similarly may or may not involve changes in religious statuses. It is nevertheless sometimes useful to distinguish the various rites by these names.
1. Marriage as a Rite of Passage Marriage rites are omnipresent in human societies across history, cultures, and geography. How marriages take place, what their purposes are, how they are interpreted, and who officiates varies across time and space. In the early 20th century, a French anthropologist, Arnold van Gennep, began to look at rituals ...
Oct 28, 2018 · Rites of passage (also called rites of transformation) are rituals that recognize transitions in the life cycle, most often around birth, puberty, marriage and death. The ritual is a ceremony that helps the individual and family successfully negotiate life transitions, and mark the change in the individual’s social position and relationships.
Rites of passage are ceremonial events marking a person's transition from one stage of life to another, often encompassing birth, puberty, marriage, and death. These rituals can vary widely across cultures but usually include three key phases: separation, transition, and incorporation. Understanding rites of passage enhances our appreciation of ...
The ritual marks the passage from child to adult, each subgroup having its customs and expectations. A rite of passage is a ceremony or ritual of the passage which occurs when an individual leaves one group to enter another. It involves a significant change of status in society.
People also ask
What is a ritual of passage?
What are rites of passage?
Why is a rite of passage important in a wedding ceremony?
What are the three phases of a rite of passage?
How is a Jewish rite of passage celebrated?
Which rite of passage is associated with high school graduation?
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, puberty, coming of age, marriages, or death. The term was popularized by German ethnographer Arnold van Gennep (1873-1957) in the early part of the twentieth century.
