Essay On Rites Of Passage

“When a tradition gathers enough strength to go on for centuries, you don't just turn it off one day “(Chinua Achebe). Rites of Passage are universally practice by showing social change and balance that is taught, passed down and performed by families, nations, races and have become a part of many cultures.
Ceremonies such as christenings, puberty rituals, marriages, and funerals, which we hold whenever a member of society undergoes an important change in status within the lifecycle of the group, are considered rites of passage (Crapo 2013). In the American culture and life is continuously celebrated by many social ranks and at the end of achievement everyone meets death. Death or after life in American culture is celebrated in many different ways for the love ones who have parted to another place. Pamela nelson states Americans are more likely to observe the memorial traditions of the heritage.
In the African American community (which I am apart of) death is very much of an important aspect to the culture. It has been stated that death traditions, customs, procedures, mourning practices, burial rites, and even the structure of African American cemeteries differ greatly from that of non-African Americans.
The History

Japan has different aspects in culture dealing with old age transition and death that are more detailed than western culture. There are considered sacred and of great discipline. Old age is celebrated in different stages. These stages include Kanreki, Koki, Kiju, Sanju, Beiju Sotsuju, Joju Chajo and Koju. Stages like kanreki are socially celebrated and remembered like high school reunions but some of the later stages such as chajo and koju aren’t celebrated because many don’t make that age of celebration. These ceremonies are represented on birthdays where they have self-reflecting. These special birthdays may be regarded as culturally guided rites of passage to death (Tsuji