RITES OF PASSAGE

Rites of passage are ceremonies and/or celebrations that mark important periods in a person's life, such as birth, puberty, marriage, having children, and death. Rites of passage generally include activities created to prepare individuals for their new roles in life. Such periods in a person’s life are usually full of strong emotions and might make individuals feel overwhelmed and under pressure.

In the 1920s, a group of sociologists from Belgium and Holland observed that various cultures have their own ways to help individuals to deal with such emotionally difficult times. They have traditional ceremonies and celebrations to make the transition from one phase of life to another easier and less of a source of stress. An anthropologist called Van Gennep then named these ceremonies and celebrations rites of passage. In North America today, typical rites of passage are school graduation ceremonies, weddings, retirement parties, and funerals. These intentionally ritualized ceremonies help the individuals making the transition, as well their relatives and friends, pass through an emotionally charged, tense time. Most rites of passage are religious ceremonies. They not only celebrate the transition between an individual's life stages but they strengthen the religious views of a culture.