The Quinceañera, Holy Communion, and Probate all
have something in common: they are rites of passage, which is the topic of
today’s blog post. Rites of passage are
rituals that enable individuals to move from one socially defined state into
another, and they exist in many facets of culture, from religion to
education. Rites of passage can be used
to demarcate individuals becoming an adult (e.g. the Quinceañera),
a full-fledged member of a religion (the Holy Communion), or a sorority sister
(e.g. Probate), which demonstrates the diversity in rites of passage that exist
both within and among cultures. These
rituals have three common steps despite their diversity, which will be further
addressed in this post.
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| Figure 1: The Catechism Lesson by Jules-Alexis Meunier |
The first step of every rite of passage is the separation
stage. At this part of the process
participants either voluntarily or involuntarily remove themselves from the
larger social group or society. This
demarcates to others that these individuals are beginning their rite of
passage, which may or may not have specific stipulations or strict rules
attached to them and their social journey.
For example, individuals who begin Catechism (Figure 1), one of the
first steps toward the Holy Communion, are not allowed to take the Communion,
which involves eating the wafer/flesh of Christ and the wine/blood of Christ,
and must begin taking classes toward becoming full-fledged members of their
Christian sects. Depending on the rules
of the sect or particular Congregation other members may not fully talk with
these individuals or they will begin to alter their communication to transition
to the eventual final step.
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| Figure 2: Zeta Phi Beta Pledges (Teen Vogue) |
After the participants have separated themselves they are
considered to be in a liminal state, which is an in-between state where they no
longer occupy their previous status but have not yet entered into their new
status. These liminal states can be very
isolating and confusing to both the participants and nonparticipants as the new
identity is being defined. As such these
participants often times will rely on each other and form a strong bond with
their cohort mates, which is identified as communitas. Communitas is felt by individuals who rush
sororities (and fraternities) as they cannot speak about their rushing process
but are also sometimes limited in their interactions with full sorority (and
fraternity) members (Figure 2).
The final stage is the incorporation stage. This is where
the participants have finally completed all of the requirements of their rite
of passage and can be and are reintegrated into the larger group or society. They are now considered full fledge members
of the group and inhabit their new-found status in the group or society. In the case of the Quinceañera
young girls reenter society as women, which takes place on their 15th
birthday after they have undergone religious and cultural rituals (Figure 3).
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| Figure 3: Quinceañera presentation of a young woman (Google Images) |
Now that you have learned about rites of passage you may
recognize some of these steps as having occurred in your own life, be they in
informal or formal capacities. While
rites of passage are primarily associated with religion they exist in all
different aspects of life. After reading
this post feel free to share your own experiences with rites of passage to test
your knowledge and understanding of this concept. :)
References
Gezon, L., & Kottak, C. (2014). Cultural Anthropology McGraw-Hill
