Essay On Rites Of Passage

Improved Essays
In almost every society and culture there are multiple things that are deemed as extremely important. The Aztecs considered sacrifices to be very important, those who practice Hinduism have a strict importance on reincarnation etc. While those are important to particular cultures, one of the major significant factors in one’s life is one’s “Rite of Passage”. In our drill we learned that rite of passage is defined as, ceremonies that mark important transitional periods in a person’s life, such as birth or puberty. Although everyone goes through multiple rites of passages throughout their lives, the idea of marriage as a rite of passage is what I’m primarily going to focus on throughout this paper. With rites of passages, there are three key stages that have to occur, those stages are separation, transition, and reincorporation. Each stage is very important in the whole process. I have participated in many rites of passages throughout my life so far, such as: birth, puberty, and graduation. Another rite of passage I had the pleasure of being involved in is when my younger brother Justin got married this past summer and I was invited and took place in the wedding. Marriage is a very important rite of passage …show more content…
Therefore, Gennep helped coin the term rite of passage when he studied the transitional period of people. It is not just another transitional period for someone, there is now a special word to describe this transition thanks to Gennep. Rites of passages are also seem sometimes as ritualist. Another definition for rite of passage is “ a life cycle ritual that marks a person’s or group of persons’ transition from one social state to another” (Welsch and Vivanco 360). This just being another way to describe the process, and explaining the term ritual in its

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    The process of a marriage or divorce will never be easily explained. How do these people make a marriage work, how have they been successful or failed? Marriage has been studied over the years and these two authors give insight into how it has changed. Stephanie Coontz, author of “Origins of Modern Divorce'', writes about how marriage has changed in history. She talks about how marriage and divorce have changed, why people married, and why they divorced.…

    • 992 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Marsha McMillen Unit 5 Sociology Discussion There is several cultural themes of family and marriage. We have Traditional Societies, Industrial and Postindustrial societies. In the Traditional societies the structure of the marriages the spouses are introduced to all the family, which there is an abundance of obligations. The function of marriage is to fulfill six needs that are important for the survival of society, and they are socialization of the children, reproduction, economic production, recreation, sexual control, and care of the sick and aged.…

    • 274 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Marriage which is widely defined as the legally or formally recognized union of two people as partners in a personal relationship has been an integral part of the world. It has also been channel where individuals come together and legitimately demonstrate and show care and affection towards each other. This has made marriage a form of institution that provides the platform for people to come together for the purpose of love, goals, relationships etc. In his writing on “The Deinstitutionalization of American Marriage” Cherlin explains that marriage is an institution that defines partner’s behavior.…

    • 463 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Rhetorical Analysis In her essay, “The Disestablishment of Marriage”, Stephanie Coontz guest columnist teacher at The Evergreen State College, illustrates the change of the standards of marriage “demanding different things from marriage then in the past” with the use of studies and data. Coontz shows the data on how the present day marriage has changed from are ancestor’s views of marriage. Coontz discuss how marriage is no longer the center institution that organizes people’s lives.…

    • 820 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    The book A Thousand Splendid Suns presents an alternative view of the American approach of marriage. In the American culture, people meet, fall in love, and then proceed to get married. In the book, love has no value in the act of getting married. Women are treated like property and are given to the man that the family believes is suitable. The American approach gives the couple time to learn each other's interests, thoughts, and feelings on the matters of life.…

    • 171 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Secondly, the author uses scriptures to persuade both religious and nonreligious people to have a broad perspective on gay marriage. The religious people can identify the shortfalls in the biblical interpretation of, thus necessitating exploration of other marriage theories. Thirdly, the author uses events in his career to provoke the readers to visualize marriage. He explains how he used to conduct premarital counseling in a way that appeared to discourage people from getting married. Such arguments make people think about what the true purpose of marriage…

    • 799 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The baptism starts off by standing in front of the church door and waiting till the priest has come and asked the god mother and father on behalf of the baby being baptised. The priest will ask the God mother and father “on behalf of the baby (name of the baby) do you reject Satan, do you believe Jesus is the son of God and do you follow Jesus teachings in life (commandments etc). Once that has been done the God Father and God mother will take the baby towards the priest. The God mother will undress the baby and the God father will hand the baby to the priest. When the priest has got the baby the priest puts the baby into the font with water from head to toe, the priest repeats this for three times.…

    • 1026 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Rite Of Passage

    • 591 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Of the many different influential experiences I have had over the past years, the one that stands out to me the most as a true rite of passage was starting my first job as a lifeguard at Nassau Country Club. It taught me lessons like the true meaning of hard work, the the value of a day's pay and most of all, what it means to have someone's life in one's hands. These lessons were given to me through my own experiences, as well as by my boss, Dr. Dan Cavallo D.O, one of the hardest working men I know. It all began, however, with a huge stack of towels. On my first day of work, I was more nervous than I had ever been in my entire life.…

    • 591 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Intercultural marriage is defined as marriage between people who come from two different cultural backgrounds, throughout the years . In the story “A Red Girl's Reasoning” E. Pauline Johnson defines the different views on marriage within a cultural and religious marriage, she also speaks upon the equality of race, beliefs, and about how there is no superior ethnicity. Marriage rights and customs morally depend on culture and religion, many christians believe that marriage should involve a ceremony and consent from a priest or magistrate, while on the other hand, Indian rites consist of a feast and a couple that shall agree to live only with and for each other. The married couple in the story, Charlie and Christine, argue about how a proper marriage should propose and why marriage should be either be religious or cultural. In the story “A Red Girl’s Reasoning”, the couple defines and differs the meaning of cultural beliefs, the customs and legality of how a marriage should occur, and finally the rituals of an Indigenous and Christian marriage.…

    • 1178 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Rite Of Passage

    • 335 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Getting a permit or a lisence can be a very momentous day for many Americas. It is one step to becoming more independent, and not having to rely on your parents to get you to the places you need to be. It is a very freeing experience. A 16th birthday can be a right of passage for some. You celebrate the big 16 and it is a time where people start becoming recognised as a grown up and you become more independent.…

    • 335 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Marriage, baptism, your first steps, and getting your driver's license are all a rite of passage, and “The Medicine Bag” story, “Apache Girl’s Rite of Passage” video, and the “Cherokee Night Ritual Into Manhood” story are all rites of passages. “The Medicine Bag” is about a boy named Martin receiving his family's tradition from his grandfather and how he feels about it. “Apache Girl’s Rite of Passage” video is about Dachina becoming a woman in her tribe and what she has to go through to become one. “Cherokee Night Ritual Into Manhood” story is about how the Cherokee boys turn into men by staying in the woods all night. My analysis of the passages and video show the similarities and differences of the stories, and also shows the disadvantages…

    • 728 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    At the base of these rites lie myths which help us to understand the teaching aspect of religious rites. Myths provide background and insight into the meaning of rites and behind these rites lie the realities of past struggles and events and the myths recount these events. Without these myths to help support the rituals and rites, the people will eventually let it die out or lose its true essence over years and years of interpretation. These rites help transfer the religious tradition from one generation to the next in a fluid way so there is a definite continuation. These rites are performed with the community present- this helps to celebrate the relationships that everyone shares with each other.…

    • 458 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The main topic of this essay is comparing and contrasting the short story The Medicine Bag and the video “ Apache Girl’s Rite of Passage”. One important feature of the story is how Martin's feelings are described and how and why they are changing gradually from plain comfort to deep embarrassment to nervous unrest to strong pride toward his grandpa and the medicine bag. Also, an important feature of the video is how camera angles, music, special effects, and dialogue go together to set the general mood of the video for the viewers. These and more details will be used in comparing and contrasting the short story The Medicine Bag and the video “ Apache Girl’s Rite of Passage”.…

    • 901 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Marriage is the union of a man and a woman and is bound by the law and religion. Catholic marriage is defined as a natural institution, where a man and women give mutual consent for a marriage that will last forever. It is for procreation and to further their mutual love” (Hardon 's, 2015). Hindu marriage is defined as the joining of a man and a woman as husband and wife so that they can pursue their duty, physical desires and spiritual needs together. It is recognised by the law and is for life.…

    • 1531 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Most individuals enter a marriage with certain expectations; they expect to be loved, cared for, cherished and above all, respected. However, this is not always the case. Marriage can quickly transform from a wonderful holy union to a dangerous and oppressive force. In Sandra Cisneros’ “Women Hollering Creek,” and Kate Chopin’s “The Story Of An Hour,” we are told the story of two women whose expectations of marriage failed in comparison to their reality, as well as how drastically this influenced their mental stability and actions during and after their marriage. The stories express how all marriages, even the kindest unions, may be inherently oppressive.…

    • 1644 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Superior Essays