Definitions of Rites of Passage (Arnold van Gennep, Rites of Passage) a) A category of rituals that mark the passage of a person through the life cycle, from one stage to another over time, from one role or social position to another, integrating the human and cultural experiences with biological destiny: birth, reproduction, and death. This category may also include passage from one non-biological status to another and rites that mark recognized points in the passage of time (e.g., new year or solstice). b) Rites of passage are paradoxical: mediating between nature and culture, facilitating change or disruption of social categories while preserving them, between individual aspirations and yearnings for sustenance from social group c) Initiation ceremonies: i) Inscribe their design upon the initiate and foster questioning of social categories. ii) Learning: inculcate society's rules to those who are about to become full-fledged members, provide an atmosphere conducive to learning by rendering the neophyte susceptible, by direct instruction or symbolic expression. (Examples: bar/bat mitzvah) d) Modern society, which is fragmented, confusing, etc., puts a premium on individuality, with often only private rituals of transition. Rituals are constructed, and people in the modern world may make their own rituals. Three stages of a rite of passage a) separation from previous life or stage b) liminal (inbetween stage) – for example, standing under the huppah in the marriage ceremony c) reintegration into regular life 1. How is a brit milah (“covenant of circumcision”) a “rite of passage”? a) Separation from the mother – and the impurity she bears because of birth b) the circumcision itself (liminal moment), c) healing – now the boy is really a boy, member of the Jewish people, in accordance with the covenant of Abraham. 2. Does a girl’s baby-naming perform the same function of a “rite of passage”? I. Definitions of Rites of Passage A) A category of rituals that mark the passage of a person
B) It is paradoxical:
II. Theorists A) Arnold van Gennep: tripartite form of rites of passage:
D) Mircea Eliade: a means to achieve religious perfection (by neophyte taking on symbolism of other sex, can become the incarnation of totality). E) Bruno Bettelheim: psychological view, male initiation rites are envy for procreative powers of women III. Examples a) Upanayana ceremony of Brahmins. Leaves mother with final meal, gets sacred cord and establishes intimate relationship with teacher. Lives at teacher's home, reduced to servant status. Returns home with samavartana, ritual bath, puts on ornaments and fine clothes, now ready to marry and establish a household. b) Jewish covenant of circumcision. Eight-day old boy is taken from mother by godmother, brought to room where circumcision takes place, she hands him to godfather, then to the circumciser (mohel), the boy is welcomed, father states his willingness to have his son circumcised, mohel takes boy and puts him in lap of sandek (holder), circumcision is performed after the mohel recites the appropriate blessing, father recites a blessing, blessing over wine, prayer for child and family, child is formally named, then returned to his mother. c) Modern Reform Jewish "covenant of life" for a infant daughter. It follows the outline of the boy's ceremony, but with no surgery. Girl is welcomed, mother lights a candle and says a blessing, as does the father, they together say a blessing, a prayer invoking the covenant is said, and the child is named. d) Muslim funeral rites. Qur'an is recited in presence of ailing person. At point of death, eyes and mouth are closed, arms are straightened, face turned toward Mecca. For the mourners, regular social life is suspended. Body is washed, deceased is wrapped in white seamless cloth like that of the pilgrimage, hajji is wrapped in garments he/she went on pilgrimage in. Qur'an is recited. Quick burial, with friends and relatives accompanying the dead to the cemetery, prayer for the dead. Meal at home of the deceased, and in rural areas, food is placed on the grave for the first three days after death. 3 days of mourning, widow remains in seclusion for 4 months and 10 days before she can remarry. IV. Critique a) Most anthropologists have failed to deal with the experiences of ritual participants – private, subjective, psychological, conscious and unconscious b) We know what these rites tell people, both participants and onlookers, but we don't know what they do to people – therefore we don't know how they transmit culture, not merely as a codified system of principles and messages, but as an intrinsic learning process. c) Are these categories intrinsic to these particular rites, or are they merely imposed upon them arbitrarily? Does the tripartite structure really correspond to the divisions of all rites of passage, or doesn't it fit some rites more neatly than others (e.g., upanayana better than Jewish rite of circumcision)? Might it be better simply to call it a rite of incorporation and leave it at that? V. Bibliography Encyclopedia of Religion article on Rites of Passage Rites of Passage, Arnold van Gennep The Ritual Process, and “Nkang'a,” in The Drums of Affliction, girl's initiation among the Ndembu, both by Victor Turner Rites and Symbols of Initiation, Mircea Eliade Symbolic Wounds, Bruno Bettelheim |