reflection paper#5

Intellects such as Charles-Arnold Van Gennep have pointed out that practically all human societies use ceremonial rites to mark important conversions in the social status of any individual in order for them to join cults, groups, sororities and etc. As stated in the article Rites of Passages are highlights and validated changes in a person's status, predominantly on the occasion of such life-changing events such as birth, marriage, parenthood, puberty and death, but also may occur upon taking a political office or joining a secret society or group. According to what I’ve grasped from the article I believe initiation rites and rites of passage ceremonies have a massive association with teaching and learning. First and for most, when you initiate something/one you are giving them a formal admission or acceptance into an organization or club e.g. an adult status in their community or society. In order for them to take full accountability for it they must be taught certain things such as rituals, promises, oaths, pledges, etc. After they have learned and processed it all they are then symbolically killed (reborn, and nurtured as they take on the new social status) and then reborn into society as new and different persons. One example the article used was segregation, which was the universal beginning stage of rites of passage. The People who were involved in such abhorrence experienced rituals meant to shred them of their identities and separate them from their preceding social statuses. They were also forcibly moved geographically and transformed in appearance (their clothing, hair, or other physical markings of their previous selves). Another example stated in the article was that of young women whose heads were shaved and eyebrows removed on the first day of the koroseek initiation ceremonies among the Okiek of Kenya. Initiates seldom go through sacrament and torment intended to redefine their social reputation. One thing they also do is endure a variety of body adaptation procedures, including haircuts, tattoos, and scarification. Male circumcision and female excision also usually marked rites of passage. An African tribe in Kenya removed an initiate’s lower front incisors during initiation rites. Clothing and ornaments also indicated the loss of their previous statuses. Different cultures have different rites of passages that they abide by. They are taught things that they didn’t know before joining a cult, group, society or whatever it maybe. Learning and teaching falls hand in hand in theses ceremonies. The whole purpose of the ceremony is to become a different individual, and the only way that’s possible is by being taught something new.