Rites of Passage

Rites of passage are ceremonies or rituals in which a child must pass through as a benchmark in order to grow and learn from those experiences. But not only are rites of passage those ceremonies but also things that change someone’s life such as marriage, birth, or even death. Depending on the culture, rites of passage tend to be different from region to region. The term known today “rites of passage” was first used by Gennep and he basically explained that the term meant that you were passing from one place in society up to another one when these rituals were performed. He went on to also explain that such celebrations like new years are also a rite of passage but not in the same context, in one that means the passing of time. Van Gennep goes on to explain rites of passage in even more depth by breaking it down into three stages; separation, liminal, and aggregation. Separation is something like a death, aggregation is explained by a union such as marriage, and liminal is when a person for a ritual is a separated from society for a long period of time. The readings that were assigned for this reflection I also read last semester in Introduction to Education, and I remember them quite well. Facing Mt. Kenya is a reading based on the Gikuyu people. It explains the rites of passage which a young girl has her clitoris removed. The Gikuyu name for these particular rites of passage is irua. Prior to the operation, there is a whole set of customs which these Gikuyu people follow. They place the girl on a diet because they believe that it will beneficial in the way that not as much will be lost after the circumcision. Also there are other religious rituals which are done prior to the girl’s operation. One of those rituals is called koraria morungu and it’s when the people bang loudly on drums because they believe that this will maintain the gods’ awake. I personally think that rites of passage are important in education first of all because culture is important. One way of keeping culture alive is by practicing the rites of passage that are typical to the culture. Also, I believe that rites of passage are important because education is another form of a rite of passage. Starting school, going to middle school, graduating high school are all important to grow also.