Rites of Passage
• Rites of passages are the ceremonies and
rituals marking important stages in one’s
life/status such as:
- birth
- death
- coming of age
- puberty
- adolescence
- marriage
- old age
Not actually a Rite of Passage
• Rites are associated with:
» life cycles
» religion
» social change
* They are developed to mark a
person’s progress from one
role, phase of life or social
status to another.
• Humans create rituals to mark changes
and important events
• Rites of passage are culturally
specific and relevant
Three Stages:
1. A culturally recognized event changes
you from what you were to something
new.
2. You remove yourself from society
temporarily.
3. You are re-admitted to society as a new
person.
Ritualistic Symbols
• Rites of passage are often accompanied
by important symbols
• jewelry
• body ornamentation (piercing, tattooing,
scarification)
• symbolic death and rebirth (removing an individual
from society for a period of time and reintroducing
them)
• tests of strength and courage (combat, childbirth,
first hunt)
Purpose:
• Relieve stress
• Help to understand change
• Stabilize communities by celebrating
change
• Help people understand consequences
• Pass on traditions and moral values that a
society believes are vital for stability and
continuation
Satere-Mawe
Tribe: Amazon
This Amazon tribe performs an initiation ritual where young men place their
hands into mittens filled with hundreds of bullet ants. The bite is
approximately 20 times more painful than being stung by a wasp. The tribal
men will gather the ants and submerge them into a solution that temporarily
knocks them out. The ants are then woven into the mittens. Upon waking up,
the men will place their hands into the mittens and dance for 10 minutes. The
ant’s sting prevents the body from protecting itself from pain. The body
begins to convulse, and the pain can last up to 24 hours. The crazy thing is,
many men will repeat this ritual many times to prove their manhood.
What are our North American
Rites of Passage?
Vanuatu Land Divers
Pentecost Island, Pacific
• Both a harvest ritual and a rite of passage amongst the tribes
of the small pacific island of Vanuatu, land diving is now a
tourist phenomenon. The men who live on Pentecost Island
in Vanuatu, climb a rickety 98-foot-tall (30-meter) tower,
tie vines to their ankles and dive to the ground, falling at
speeds around 45 mph (72 kph). When a dive goes
correctly, the person gets close enough to touch his
shoulders or his head to the earth. However, unlike bungee
jumping, these vines aren’t elastic and a miscalculation in
vine length could lead to broken legs, cracked skulls, or
even death. Boys once they have been circumcised at about
age 7 or 8 begin participating, though they usually are
permitted to jump from a shorter tower. As a boy makes his
first dive, his mother holds an item representing his
childhood. When he jumps, she throws the item away.
Divers also refrain from sex the day before they jump —
legend says it will cause the jump to go badly.
• www.youtube.com/watch?v=l0Mq6rCfYtU