Rituals of Transition Is Our Right of Passage Through Life

Rituals of transition exist in every culture passed down from generation to generation; seemingly, through time man has had a need to use rites to associate inductions into new phases of life. A Rite of Passage is “a ritual that marks an important stage in an individual’s life cycle, such as birth, marriage, and death.” (1) Daniel G. Scott of the University of Victoria, British Columbia has stated, “the rite of passage, known as initiation or coming of age, was the central cultural form for the education and nurturance of humans from childhood into adult life using a process that clarified and affirmed new roles and status in the adult community.”( 2)

French Anthropologist Arnold van Gennep created the phrase ‘Rite of Passage’ to explain ceremonies such as births, baptisms, marriage, death and funerals after observing social groups. “Detailed descriptions and monographs concerning magico-religious acts have accumulated in sufficient number in the last few years that it is now possible to attempt a classification of these acts, or rites, that would be consistent with the progress of science. Several types of rites are already well known, and it seemed to me that a large number of other rites could also be classed in a special category……These rites may be found in many ceremonies. Until the present time however, neither their close relationship nor its cause has been perceived, and the reason for the resemblances among them has not been understood.”(13) “Conversation has been such amongst people in this day and age that the meanings, strengths and eventual implications of rites has diminished in our modern culture. Even back in 1958, Eliade was quoted as saying in his book, It has often been said that one of the characteristics...

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...and prior to incorporation into society” (6) takes place. In the rites of passage from childhood to adulthood, this phase holds the time of instruction and growth. At this point the initiation rituals take place if this is a culture of ceremonial change. Young women, after being separated when the first menstrual cycle starts, will be taught during this time away from the rest of the community how to be a woman. The responsibilities she will have and be expected to carry out through her adult life will be explained and she will receive instruction from the older women in the group who have gone through this transition in their lives already. Young men will be shown the way of the elders and also be instructed in how he should act and live as a man. Physical rituals and ceremonies take place during the isolation of the initiate. The piercing of one’s skin with