Concordia High School
Concordia, Kansas

 

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Rites of Passage

 

By Brad Kearn

Senior

 

 

 Every ethnic group possesses its own diverse understanding of the life cycle and its own intricate set of rituals to mark life’s stages.  In nearly every society there is some ritual to mark the individual’s passage from childhood to adulthood.  Such ceremonies can take many forms; however, coming of age ceremonies frequently have three key stages:  removal or separation of the individual from his or her former status; transition from one social state to the next; and readmission into society in the newly acquired status.  Rites of passage may be more extreme or unusual in developing societies, but they continue to be present in most contemporary modern cultures. 

 

Many coming of age ceremonies happen in a place apart from the main settlement, and the rituals are often performed in private.  This can give such ceremonies an air of mystery.  An example of this is the so-called vision quest of some North American Indians.  In this quest, a youth is sent into the wilderness alone, without food or water.  The young man is sent to search for a personal guardian spirit, which is usually revealed to him in a dream. 

 

Frequently, at the heart of the ceremony, marking the transition from one social state into the next, is some painful physical ordeal.  The Kung, an African tribe of the Kalahari Desert, have a ceremony to mark the importance of a young man’s first hunting kill.  Cuts are made in various parts of the youth’s body, and medicinal herbs mixed with the fat of the hunted animal are rubbed into them.  These actions are explained as helpful to the hunter.  The herbs administered to the cuts in his arm make his aim better, and those herbs in the cuts in his brow make him see better.  The kill is also celebrated by the boy receiving a spear from the person for whom he was named. 

 

In order to become an adult, it is often not enough just to go through a ceremony, even one involving a painful ordeal.  There are traditions and laws to learn, so the formal passage from childhood to adulthood frequently involves a learning process in which the young person is taught about the ways of the adult world.  One example of this is in the ceremonies of the Pacific islands of Western and American Samoa.  Young men learn many of their society’s complex rules of behavior in the Aumaga, an organization of young men similar to that of the older men.  The young men learn to make speeches, to conduct themselves with respectability, and to plan and execute group enterprises. 

 

The readmission into society in a newly acquired state is considered such a major step that, in many cultures, symbolic death forms a significant part of a ritual in which rebirth occurs when the youth is ready to be reintroduced to the community.  In the Brazilian Candomble religion, the young people being initiated are rendered totally passive and sometimes even go into a trance to represent this symbolic death.  Such effects are brought on with drugs or by exhaustion or by isolation.  The implication of this ritual is that an old life has been left behind and a new one has begun. 

 

It is occasionally said that coming of age ceremonies are uncommon in Western industrialized societies, particularly as religious rituals like Protestant confirmation are less emphasized than in the past.  But there are new rituals that mark this rite of passage in the West.  In England, for example, there is a ritual of handing over the house key to signify that a young person has been given the right to come and go as he or she pleases when the young person reaches the age of twenty-one.  In the United States, where people define their adult freedom partly in terms of the ownership and use of a car, the transition from childhood to adulthood is likely to be symbolized by the acquisition of a driver’s license or the handing over of a set of car keys.

 

Another coming of age ceremony, in the United States, is the acquisition of a college degree.  Every college and university has some form of ceremony where graduates are formally awarded their degrees and sent away from the world of education into the world of work.  Some degree ceremonies have a high level of ritual content involving speeches, the wearing of academic gowns, and formal processions.

 

Many Americans are beginning to recognize the value of ritual ceremonies in marking the transition into adulthood.  Some ethnic groups are reviving or reinventing traditional coming of age rituals.  Recognizing the difficulties their children face in a society where racism is still a powerful force, a group of Philadelphia African Americans has created a new rite of passage for their teenagers.  This rite uses African-inspired ritual to acknowledge the teens’ African heritage, and weekend retreats are used to build their self-confidence (Nelson 4).

 

Rites of passage are one of the core concepts in social analysis.  Its importance proclaims the complex interdependence between social and physical reality.  Ultimately they indicate that what is viewed as the most obvious features of existence must be defined repeatedly through the activities of traditional ceremonies. 

  

Nelson, Pamela B.  Reviving Rites of Passage in America.  23 Nov. 1999  <http://www.Balchinstitute.org/rites/reviving.html>

 

Answers To Questions Regarding The Required Reading

 

 

Q1- What does Margaret Mead say at the start of her 1961 Preface to “Coming Of Age In

Samoa” that is reminiscent of a current Army recruiting commercial?

 

A1- “The future of young people who, in the United States were becoming less than they might be because we understood so little about what a difference culture can make,” is reminiscent of the Army’s “Be all you can be.”

 

Q2- Which of the following issues of the 1920’s are no longer issues today?

1.     The importance of the language spoken in the home

2.     Familial pressures on children

3.     Misconceptions about race and color

4.     The effects of artificially separating children from a knowledge of birth, love, and death

 

A2- All of these are issues today.  The language spoken in the home is important since some people in the United States do not speak English.  Families still put pressure on children by expecting their children to excel in their activities.  There are still many misconceptions about race and color since some people are so closed minded that they influence others with their beliefs.  Children today are still affected by lack of care, love, and time spent with them.

 

Q3- Do you agree with Margaret Mead that “culture is man-made and that man is free to design it closer to the desires of his own heart”?  What definition of “culture” do you find in your dictionary?

 

A3- Yes, culture is the customs, beliefs, laws, and ways of living and all other results of human work on thought that belongs to people.

 

Q4- In her writings Margaret was advocating:

1.     a return to primitive ways

2.     greater knowledge and control over the civilizing process

3.     an integration of the primitive and civilized

4.     none of the above

 

A4- Children learn about how the world turns by their parents.  If their parents do not teach them, they will go into the world lacking the knowledge they need to live.  If they have kids, they will not teach their kids about these rules because their parents did not teach them.

 

Q5- Comment on Susan’s speech (page 60 “A Tribe Apart”).  Do you and your peers really want adults to recognize what is going on and to enforce “boundaries and structure”?

A5- Susan is correct in saying that kids smoke, drink, and do drugs at school.  She is also correct in saying that they get away with it.  When adults do finally see it, they are reluctant to admit that there is a problem.  Teenagers want boundaries.  Teens without structure tend to be disruptive and have troubles learning.  Boundaries show that adults really care.

 

Q6- Write three things that you “absolutely, positively know, saw or experienced concerning drugs and alcohol among” students at your school.

 

A6- Many parties go on at our school.  Some people have a good time at them, but some become violent when they drink.  Drugs are not as big of a problem, but they still show up at parties.

 

Q7- Do you have a solution for the “plight of the black teenager”?  (page 88 “A Tribe Apart”)

 

A7-      We need to start with man in the mirror.  The only way things will get better is if we take a good look at ourselves.  If we can look at our own actions, realize the harmful consequences, and thus stop the hate, the world will slowly become a better place one person at a time.  Others will follow.  There is always, at the very least, at least one person who looks up to you.  Whether it be a sibling, peer, or an acquaintance your positive actions are bound to rub off on them.

            Another thing we need to realize is that we have the entire next generation resting on our soldiers.  We have the power to be positive role models and pass on positive values to our children.  If you teach them discriminatory beliefs you are only adding to the problem.  The next generation of the world is ours to decide.

 

Q8- Would it be a relief if all you had to do was “go to class and learn”?  Would you be happy if you were home-schooled or attended a single-sex private school where academics were presented in an exciting way and even peers admired learning?

 

A8- Even though a person may acquire a better “book knowledge,” their people skills would be hurt immensely.  A person needs to have a good education, but they need people skills to be able to function properly in the work place.  Today, companies who hire people straight out of college look not only at grades, but at how active the person is and how well they work with others.  single-sex schools and home schooling keep students from learning to work with people different from themselves.  When these students are let out into the real world, they will be unprepared for the situations that may arise.  Their “book-smarts” won’t efficiently help them survive. 

 

A8- Q9- Comment on the line from Pete Seeger: “Schools are like prisons because they don’t teach you how to live.” and Jonathan’s comment “People in school are dulled by the remoteness to the real world.”  Would more classes incorporating community-based learning be helpful? (incorporating activities with relevance to actual real life situations)

 

A9- Schools don’t teach students real life skills, or how to live.  Schools just teach us skills to help us in the job world, and not life-helping skills.  People in schools are dulled because we all know the real world is different than what they try to teach us.  Classes community-based would help students understand the community and the real world.

 

Q10- Comment on the “bottom line” (page 364 “A Tribe Apart”)

 

A10- The section of “A Tribe Apart” labeled “the bottom line” described how much adolescents need a trusting adult to confide in and look up to.  It discussed how we should stop looking at the adolescent society as a tribe, but rather we look at each of them as unique individuals.  We are merely doing our best to figure out who we are in a world that seems to stack mountains between you and your goal.  I agree totally with this article in many ways.  My trusted adult was my mom, who’s given such wonderful insight to my life.  She helped me cross my mountain.  This article definitely recognized our need for guidance.

 

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