Essay Assignment 2 – 50 pts       Due:  February 14 (Thursday)

 Rites and Rights of Passage

As we study the ancient societies such as the Greeks and Romans in lecture, we will encounter incidents of “when a child reaches a certain age”.  Given this concept of benchmarks in society, I feel it is good to review our own experiences to see if there are rites (ceremonies) or rights (entitlements) in our lives.  These events may be related to culture, tribe, religion, nationality/ethnic origins.  Some of these rites/rights may be based upon religious beliefs, some may be points/markers of age or maturity in a given tribe, culture, or society, and denote the achievement of responsibility or accountability. They can be celebrations marking specific maturity.  I am reasonably sure that all have observed some rite/right of passage.

How do you see these rites/rights of passage affecting your own life?  This is the point of the assignment. Our origins and backgrounds are necessarily different because our cultural heritage differs.  While it may overlap in some areas, we are each unique in our expression and the significance given these experiences.  Remember, these rites/rights are symbolic of the values of our civilization.  I anticipate both a personal, and an academic/analytic approach to this assignment.

Solution

Rights and Rites of Passage

The first thing a baby makes is a sound after birth. This gives him a rite of passage from the conception to the birth. It is usually heard that ‘You can’t do this’ and after some years, this become ‘OK, You can do it’. This rite of passage gives certain rights and responsibilities to the one. These rights and rites are different in different cultures, societies and also depend upon religions, ethnicities and tribes (Khan, 2007).

For me, I have been affected by these rites of passage my whole life. There was a time when I experienced rite of passage and I had to leave the fine setting of home and start the schooling. “You are big now and you have to get education to make your life”, these were the words I heard from my father when I experienced the rite of passage from childhood to adolescence. Millions of the other victims of this rite of passage from other ethnicities and cultures might have experienced the same.

The rights I enjoyed after passing through the rite of passage made up another story. “OK, you can go out and play with our friends now because you are not a kid anymore”, my father said to me once. This enchanted perk of getting extra rights comes in different categories in different rites. “You should be responsible now because you are married” is the common phrase of every culture and religion in the world. These stereotypical rights and rites are prevalent all over the world yet in different forms.

The rights and rites of passage are the symbolic stereotypes which are abstract yet experienced by almost everyone in his life. The same person experiences different rights and rites of passage in different cultures and societies. Therefore, it can be said that the rights and rites of passage embark people on a specific journey and they cross these humps over their entire life in different forms.

References

Khan, A. (2007). Rites and Rights of Passage. Cultural Dynamics, 19(2-3), 141-164. doi: 10.1177/0921374007080289