Rites
of Passage
There are three kinds of Rites of Passage:
- Rites of Initiation (entrance into a group)
- Rites of Status Elevation (promotion within a group)
- Rites of Status Reversal (demotion within a group)
Rites of passage have three component phases:
- Separation (from the first "state"); a "death" to the
former way of life and/or mode of being in the world
- Liminality (the reality of being "between" states, on the margins
of the group, not in any of its recognized structures)
- Aggregation (entrance into the second "state"); a "rebirth"
to the new way of life and/or mode of being in the world
There are two primary purposes of Rites of Passage:
- Ensure boundary protection for the group
- Protect structure(s) within the group
DEFINITIONS
- Communitas: the solidarity experienced by liminal persons because they are
outside the normal, heirarchical structures of the society
- Liminality: the central phase of a rite of passage; characteristics of a
"liminal" person are: being a "blank slate," naked, nameless,
malleable, sexless
- Passage: a transition from one state to another
- Rite of passage: a ritual enactment of the transition from one state
to another
- Societas: a society marked by "states;" the reality of a structured
society which differentiates between different individuals according to age,
gender, rank, etc.
- State: a culturally-recognized, stable or recurrent condition, especially
one which classifies individuals into pre-determined categories