The Rite of Passage

Bree Thomas
English 112-37
04/08/2015

The meaning of the phrase Rite of Passage is when a child transitions into adulthood. Many
cultures have rituals for this celebration of growing up and moving into adulthood. I will be
giving you three examples of how some cultures celebrate their Rite of Passage. Some of these
rituals will be easily relatable to you because its commonly used in either entertainment such as
movies and shows but also you might know someone who has or is going through this particular
celebration. And the other will probably surprise you with their methods of transitioning their
young into adults.
The first religious culture Id like to talk about is Judaism. Im sure many if you are very
familiar with this certain religion because it is commonly practiced in the United States by
people who claim Judaism as their faith. A Bar mitzvah is when boys hit the age of 13 and the
celebration will take place. What some of you might not know is that girls of this faith also have
a celebration of transitioning into a woman which is called a Bat mitzvah. Girls will have the
celebration at the age of 12 unlike the boys who have to wait a year longer. The similar factor of
these two rituals are that boys and girls have additional studies to help prepare them for this
celebration.
The next cultural rite of passage I want to introduce you to are the ones we deal with right here
in the United States. Now, since our country is made up of many different people which believe
in many different religions. I decided to only share the few which have nothing to do with

religion. I am definitely positive that everyone here has heard of the infamous Sweet 16. It is
basically a coming out party for teens who are transition into adults which includes getting their
drivers license, getting a car and of course showing responsibility by also getting a job. Another
way that a few Americans celebrate the rite of passage is by taking their sons or daughters out on
a camping trip for a few days where they can only use their survivor skills such as; hunting,
building shelters, and starting campfires. Personally, I have never done this kind of ritual myself
but a few buddies of mine back in high school have been through this and once they came back
they said they felt like they had actually matured and became men. I think it might be a southern
thing because it was definitely my first time hearing about something like it but it just goes to
show that different people have, different ways of celebrating that new stepping stone in an
individuals life.
The last cultural ritual I would like to introduce you to is the African culture. This one however
is bit different with their ceremonies than the ones I have listed above. Tasha Davis states that the
African rite of passage ritual have a double purpose of preserving the ongoing community as a
symbol of collective immortality and permanence as well as providing a clear and guided means
for transition from one life stage and sphere of responsibility to another (Tasha Davis). Which
confirm the hierarchies of values of the community and project an ideal sequence of personal
development in the individual who can look forward to and upon reaching each stage, evaluate
his or her maturation against a collective standard (Tasha Davis). She continues to say that the
African initiation rites link the individual to the community and the community to the broader
and more potent spirit world. Initiation rites are proven to be a necessary extension of many
communities and are as necessary and natural as are arms and legs are a natural and necessary
extension of the human body (Tasha Davis). Rites of passage provide the African with the

foundation of his or her being: Identity. Sexual identityand the roles of gender identity are
enshrined through rites of passage. The males are prepared for their responsibilities in the
community as men, and the women prepared for their responsibilities in the nation as women
with no confusion(Tasha Davis). The process and details of initiation differ among societies;
song, dance, masks, various tests/ordeals, tattooing, etc. have been utilized as verification and
ritual symbolism. And emphasis varies by society, some focus on bravery and toughness, others
spiritual aspects or practical education (Tasha Davis).
In conclusion, the meaning of the phrase Rite of Passage is when a child transitions into
adulthood. Many cultures celebrate this stepping stone of someones life in a lot of different
ways. Whether its taking on additional studies to help you learn how to become a man or a
woman, having party filled with friends and family and being gifted your first car, it could be a
one on one trip with your father camping for a weekend or even dancing and wearing traditional
masks. All that matters is seeing a close friend or love one finally ending one chapter and starting
their next.

Reflection
My proposal to this essay actually changed a lot. At first I was going to talk about finding
yourself and overcoming obstacles but this subject kind of stuck out to me more and I did
become bored with my first choice. I changed it because I was more interesting to learn about
some of the rituals different cultures preform and the other idea was much harder to research.
The process of my search consisted of using google and the library database. A few of the
databases I found were that valuable because it they were basically summarizing the purpose of
this type of celebration instead of going depth like the other information I found. I think that the

places I found little to no evidence was that way because it was done by a professional on the
subject like the ones I found tones of stuff on where, which is why they were so credible. The
only thing that really surprised me in my research was that girls in the Judaism faith also got a
celebration. I found a lot of information on the African culture than one any other culture I
researched which was very fascinating. It caused me to narrow my research and just focus on
three types of rites of passage. I dont think anything helped, I feel like this paper is lacking a lot.
I chose to write informally because you stated that it was the best way to write it in 1st person. I
think they helped a bit because with this paper they helped steer me in the right direction and
make the decision to specifically write about the different cultures. Its been very similar to my
senior exit in high school because of all the factors it needed which includes visuals. I didnt
really do anything new in this essay except for having to annotate my bibliography. What I
learned from doing this essay was how many cultures actually do celebrations for their childrens
transition.

Bibliography
"Rites of Passage: Barmitzvah and Batmitzvah." The Holocaust Explained Website. N.p., n.d.
Web. 07 May 2015.
"Birth." RITES OF PASSAGE IN AFRICA. N.p., n.d. Web. 07 May 2015.