The Importance Of African Culture: Rites Of Passage

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Adolescence, the stage when people mature to adulthood and when their bodies reach their reproductive potential, is a crucial time for many cultures. Starting with puberty, it is the course when childhood ends and adulthood begins. For a time, African culture has been a source of different “rites of passage,” including the aforementioned adulthood rites. In Africa, the adolescence phase calls for quite a few rites of passage even now that its influence is fading in some regions of the world. Defined as the ceremonies marking important transitional periods in a person’s life, rites of passage play an essential role in every culture there is, particularly in Africa as it is a continent rich in history, tradition and culture. In contradiction to the Western culture, African societies use systematized adulthood rites as initiation for their people. Western societies use no systems in particular when it comes to educating and guiding their adolescents during one of the most important stages in their lives. Adulthood simply is achieved upon turning 18 for females or 21 for males, and in some cases, when …show more content…

Most of the time, initiates are taken out of the community and are taught all the skills necessary for adulthood including problem solving, rules and taboos of the society, social responsibility, and many others. They also have a public celebration for the new adults after they have completely done the rite of adulthood. The evolution of a person from being a child to being an adult is a major point in the African culture. The rites of passage is significant in the culture’s nation building and identity formation for the reason that the adolescence period is the time when a person becomes used to the standards and morals of their culture thus making them completely a part of the group. It is also done to make sure that the adolescents become responsible, productive and community-oriented

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