Coming of Age Criterion collection

http://www.criterion.com/explore/106-growing-pains
http://teacherlink.ed.usu.edu/tlresources/units/byrnes-celebrations/rites%20of%20passage.html
Rituals and rites of passage are identified in the article below. The criterion collection bring to our attention (spiritually?) dramas about the transition to adolescence, the role of dreams and to our modern sense antiquated traditions animated with a reality most of us are not or ill acquainted with.
ARE THE RITES OF PASSAGE OR COMING OF AGE TRANSFORMATIONAL IN THE CRITERION FILMS/?

Subtopic: Rituals and Rites of Passage
Grade Level: 5th-6th
Author: Jennie Rasband

Background:
A rite of passage, which marks a time when a person reaches a new and significant change in his/her life, is something that nearly all societies recognize and often hold ceremonies for. These ceremonies are held to observe a person's entry into a new stage of life and can be anything from a high school graduation ceremony or a birthday party, to a funeral. Most rites help people to understand their new roles in society. They can also help others learn to treat people in new ways after they experience certain rites of passage.
Most rites of passage fall into three main phases: separation, transition, and incorporation. In the separation phase, the participant is taken away from his/her familiar environment and former role and enters a very different and sometimes foreign routine that they are forced to adjust to and become familiar with. A rite that would fall into this category would be birth. The infant leaves a very safe and secure environment in their mother's womb to an extremely different one in the real world. Death can also be a separation rite, depending on a person's belief about what happens after someone dies. Societies have devised ways to mark these separations and aid in the transitions that will take place. For instance, the naming of babies marks the significant event of birth. Funerals and the many different funeral customs mark the separation that takes place when a death occurs. Funerals can also help those left behind to make the necessary changes needed to adjust to being separated from loved ones.
The transition phase is the time that the participant learns the appropriate behavior for the new stage they are entering. This phase can include the time when a person becomes engaged to be married. At this time, they are learning about the new stage of life they will soon enter -- marriage. They are also adjusting and preparing for it, or making a transition. The transition phase may also include the time that children enter adolescence and leave their childhood behind. This is the time when people learn and grow and prepare to be an independent adult in the real world.
The last phase, incorporation, takes place when the participant is formally admitted into the new role. Marriage is a good example of a rite that would take place in the incorporation phase. After people are married, they have taken on a very new and different role, having prepared for it in earlier transition and separation rites.
There are many, many rites of passage in our lives. Some are considered to be more significant than others, but almost every day we live can bring about transitions. However, there are five times in one's life that are often considered to be the most significant times of change. These are the rites that we will learn about in more detail as we study the significance behind rites of passage. They are: Birth, Leaving childhood and becoming an adolescent, Leaving home, Weddings, and Death/Funerals. To recognize these significant times in our lives, societies typically hold elaborate ceremonies. Each different culture or society may choose to mark these rites in very different ways. Each ceremony is unique and meaningful to one's own culture. In this mini-unit we will study these significant rites of passage and how different cultures uniquely mark these changes as they come to pass in the lives of their people.
References:
Bahti, T. (1971). Southwestern Indian Ceremonials. Las Vegas, Nevada: KC Publications.
Bruchac, J. (1994). A Boy Called Slow. New York, NY: Philomel Books
Lutske, H. (1986). The Book of Jewish Customs. Northvale, NJ: Jason Aronson Inc.
Tiersky, E. & M. (1975). Customs and Institutions. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall Regents.
Van Gennep, A. (1960). The Rites of Passage. Chicago, Ill: The University of Chicago Press.
"Rite of Passage." The World Book Encyclopedia. 1989 ed.
Slave Narratives-Part 3. Vol. 12 St. Claire Shores, Michigan: Scholarly Press, Inc., 1976.

Objectives:
Students will be able to define what a rite of passage is.

Students will recognize at least five specific rites of passage.

Students will be able to recognize the significance in names and be able to explain the explanation behind their own names.

Students will identify advantages and disadvantages of leaving home.

Students will recognize that different cultures recognize rites of passage in different, but unique and meaningful ways.

Students will illustrate their findings about Southwestern Indian funeral/death beliefs and customs.
Time Allotment: 4-5 class periods plus homework
Resources Needed: A Boy Called Slow by: Joseph Bruchac
Numbered Heads Together information on weddings
Jigsaw information on SW Indian death/funeral customs
Butcher paper, markers, crayons (for name posters and murals)
Procedures:
A. Brainstorm. Ask students if any of them know what a rite of passage is. Allow for a few different responses before revealing who was right, or if no one comes up with the right answer, to tell them the actual definition. (A rite of passage is something that marks an important change in one's life.) Have students brainstorm all the things they can think of that would be considered a rite of passage in their lives. Write their responses on the board.
Ex: *Taking first steps *Turning a certain age
*Going to kindergarten *Staying up later than younger siblings
* Paying adult fares *Walking to school by themselves
B. Mini Lecture/Name Activity: Explain to students that the first rite of passage every person goes through is birth. Birth is a major adjustment for the infant as he/she leaves the familiar environment of the womb and takes his/her place in the world. Naming a baby is a part of this birth rite. There are many unique customs that different cultures observe when naming their children. For instance, some people belonging to the Jewish faith believe it is improper to name a child after someone who is still living. They also believe it is improper to discuss names before the birth of the infant. Have students share with a partner where their names come from. (Who are they named after, what nationality is their name, etc.) Then assign students to go the library and look at a name book and find out what their own name means. Ask them to talk to parents at home about what family customs or traditions their parents observe when naming their children.
C. Literature Extension. Read to class, A Boy Called Slow. In this book, Sitting Bull performs a deed which is so courageous and significant that it earns him a new and more respected name. Have students write about something they have done or would like to do that would prove them worthy of leaving their childhood behind and gaining a new respect for themselves by becoming an adolescent. This could include things like, saving a cat that was stuck in a tree, teaching a little brother or sister how to read, etc. Have students give themselves a name that describes their worthy deed they have written about. (Example: Teacher of the Young. Their ideas will be much more creative than mine could be.) Have students design a poster with their new name and an illustration of their deed.
D. Group Discussions. Another important rite of passage is that of leaving home, although not all people choose to do this. Some people move out as soon as they are through with high school to attend a distant college or to seek independence from parents. Some people choose to attend colleges close to home and continue living at home until they get married, while some choose never to leave home at all. Group students into groups of three or four. Have them discuss in their groups the advantages and disadvantages of leaving home. Have a leader from each group tell the rest of the class two of their group's choices of advantages and disadvantages.
E. Numbered Heads Together. Form class into small groups (3 - 4 students) and then give each group member their own number. Hand out to each group the included information on different wedding customs and ceremonies and the attached questions. Have groups read the information thoroughly. Then give the groups a certain amount of time to go over the questions together. Tell students that in order for the team to do well, everyone has to know the answers. Ask student to make sure that everyone in their group knows the answers and can explain them. Call out a number. The student with that number answers the question for the team. (Students will answer by writing answers on the board.) Talk with groups about the answers and how they made sure everyone in their groups knew the answer. What helped? What did not help?
F. Interview. Assign students to interview their parents about their wedding ceremony or their grandparents' wedding ceremonies. Share findings with class the next day. (Make sure students have options of asking grandparents or other adults in case of divorce, death, or single parents, in which interviewing could cause awkwardness or anxiety.) Some questions could include: Were there any traditions that were honored at your wedding? (Throwing rice, wearing something borrowed, new, blue, etc.) Where was the ceremony held? Who was invited? Were traditions included from both the groom's family and the bride's family? How did they differ? It might also be interesting to have children search out cross-cultural examples of different kinds of weddings.
G. Jigsaw. Explain to class that the final rite of passage a person enters is that of death. Each culture has its own unique way of burying their deceased and holding funerals. At this time, we will discuss the different beliefs and customs ancient Southwestern Indians observed when taking care of their dead. Divide class into groups of four and number students off. Have students first meet with their expert groups (those who have the same numbers). Hand out reading material (provided at the end of this unit) to expert groups and allow adequate time for thorough and thoughtful reading of the material. Then allow experts to discuss what they have read and what they thought to be the most important points from their reading. Now have students go back to their original groups. Each person should share with their group the information they were responsible for. To make sure each person is accountable for the information, have each group collaboratively create a mural, illustrating what they have learned from this jigsaw experience.
H. Open Discussion/Thought paper. After all of the previous activities have been completed ask the students to answer the following question: "What is a rite of passage and what are some of the ways they are recognized among different cultures?" Allow students to discuss answers openly. After discussion, have each student individually write a short essay, describing their own personal response to the previous question.

Assessment:
*Responses for brainstorming activity will be assessed.
*Explanations of names will be assessed.
*Posters for literature extension will be assessed.
*Group responses on advantages/disadvantages of leaving home will be assessed.
*Answers to Numbered Heads Together will be assessed.
*Murals on funeral/death customs will be assessed.
*Thought papers and responses to final question will be assessed.
Appendix:
Wedding Information (for Numbered Heads Together)
In this article, you will learn about traditions observed in three different wedding ceremonies.
A common practice among Jewish couples is the tradition of the bride circling her groom seven times under the wedding canopy. She does this because the phrase "and when a man takes a wife" is mentioned seven times in the Bible. The circling is also significant of the seven days of creation and the Bible story in which Jacob labored for seven years for Rachel.
Another tradition Jewish couples observe during wedding ceremonies is the breaking of a glass underfoot by the groom. When he does this, the wedding party shouts Mazel Tov! a dozen times. This is done because of the loss of the Temple in Jerusalem. It is recorded in a sacred Jewish book that during the joyous wedding of an important man, he took a glass of great value and shattered it, startling his guests. When asked why he did this, he told them that even in the midst of the most joyous occasion, one should never forget the destruction and loss of our Temple.
In many American weddings, it is tradition for the bride to throw her bouquet out to her guests. The person who catches it is said to be the one who will be the next to marry. In a typical American wedding, it is said to be bad luck for the groom to see the bride on the day of the wedding before the ceremony has taken place. It is also considered to be bad luck for the groom to see the wedding dress at anytime before the ceremony.
In the days of slavery in America, there was no way to legally recognize the union of slaves in marriage, since slaves were not seen as citizens. So in order for slaves to demonstrate their union in marriage, they would jump over a broomstick, the woman jumping one way, the man jumping the other way. This was their way of recognizing that a marriage had taken place.
Questions
1. What is the significance of the Jewish bride circling her groom seven times during the wedding ceremony?
2. What is one of the superstitions typically observed during American weddings?
3. Why did slaves have to come up with their own way of recognizing their union in marriage?
4. What is the symbolism behind the Jewish groom breaking a glass during the wedding ceremony?
5. Why do you think traditions are important parts of weddings?

Death/Funeral Information (for jigsaw)
Ancient Southwestern Indian Beliefs About the Afterworld--taken from Southwestern Indian Ceremonials by Tom Bath. (pg. 16, 28, 37,51)
A. Rio Grande Pueblos
At birth each person receives a soul and a guardian spirit from Iarkio, the Mother of All. At the time of death both the soul and guardian leave the body but remain in the house of the deceased for four days before making the journey to Hipap, the entrance to the Underworld. The guardian spirit carries a prayer stick, necessary for the admission of the soul to Shipap. Depending on the virtue of the individual the soul is assigned to one of the four Underworlds. Those qualified to enter the innermost world become Shiwana (rainmakers) and return to the villages in the form of clouds.
B. Zuni
At death the corpse is bathed in yucca suds and rubbed with corn meal before burial. The spirit of the dead lingers in the village for four days during which time the door of its former home is left ajar to permit its entry. On the morning of the fifth day the spirit goes to the Council of Gods in the village of Kothluwalawa beneath the water of Listening Spring. Here the spirit becomes a rainmaker. If the deceased is a member of the Bow Priesthood, he becomes a lightning maker who brings water from the "six great waters of the world."
C. Papago
Disposal of the corpse took place soon after death as the ghosts of the deceased were greatly feared. Formerly burial was made in a rock crevice and covered with stones or in a stone cairn roofed with logs. Food and possessions were placed with the body in the grave to accompany the spirit on its four day journey to the Underworld "somewhere" in the east. The afterworld was believed to be a place of much rain and plenty of food.
D. Hopi Pueblos
At death, the hair of the deceased is washed in yucca suds and prayer feathers are placed in the hands, feet and hair. Over the face is placed a mask of cotton which is representative of the cloud mask the spirit will wear when it returns with the cloud people to bring rain to the village. Women are wrapped in their wedding robes; men are buried in a special blanket of diamond twill weave with a plaid design.
The ghosts of the dead are feared rather than death itself. To prevent the ghosts from returning to bother the living, pahos are given to the spirits of the deceased, and the trail back to the village from the burial site is ceremonially closed with sacred meal. Those who did the actual burial are purified with juniper smoke.
The spirits of children who die before they are initiated are believed to return to the mother's house to be born again.

Return to Celebrations Table of Contents

http://www.answers.com/topic/rite-of-passage
n., pl., rites of passage.A ritual or ceremony signifying an event in a person's life indicative of a transition from one stage to another, as from adolescence to adulthood.Read more: http://www.answers.com/topic/rite-of-passage#ixzz1MNYDejzX

http://www.wildernessreflections.com/pages/programs/programsWQ.html

Held at stunningly beautiful wilderness sites in California and Utah, our Wilderness Quest is a life-changing journey. This trip is a chance to slow down and let nature work her magic upon you. It is a deep voyage into the mysteries of Life and the unfolding of one’s soul. It is a journey made through solitude in the wilderness, ceremony, fasting and communion with a small group of fellow questers and guides. Other parts of the journey include: poetry and storytelling; creative expression and movement; earth-based wisdom teachings; and wilderness survival and minimum impact camping skills.
Each participant comes with his or her own intentions and hopes for the quest. Some come to mark a point of life transition. Others to find their way back to what holds joy, meaning and aliveness for them. For many people the trip is a time to open to what they are deeply yearning for in their life, a surrender to that more essential part of oneself that can only be touched or awakened by contact with what is larger, wilder and deeper than us. (Review comments and creative expressions of past questers on our Accolades and Expressions pages.)
“A reverence for life is a reverence for wildness –a reverence for life beyond your control.”– Doug Peacock, author
In this contemporary version of an ancient ceremony, each quester must step into the unknown, into the great wilderness, to make their own terms with life, with past decisions and with the vast unpredictability of the future. Letting the outer wilderness be a mirror for the mysteries of being human in this modern age, each quester receives their own teachings for how to live with the particular challenges, gifts and situations that destiny has handed them. Inevitably, when we walk into the wilderness with our hearts open, Nature responds to our needs and longing with her own mysterious, generous gifts that can then guide us on our way in the days and months ahead.
"I can say in no uncertain terms that this experience has changed my life in profound and lasting ways."– Jon L., 31, community planner
"Wilderness Reflections operates in partnership with the Inyo National Forest, and Sequoia-Kings Canyon and Death Valley National Parks to provide equal opportunity recreational services."

http://www.wildernessreflections.com/pages/programs/programsYQ.html

If you are 15-19, you and your family are going through a period of life transition. You are exploring new roles and taking on more responsibility for your own life. You are preparing to live more independently in the world. And, your parents are likely learning new ways of relating to you as well. But becoming an adult in our modern world can be a confusing process. Every day you are showered with many messages and possibilities for how to live your life. How do you know what is right for you? What path to take? The Youth Quest is for teens that want to know themselves and their path more clearly, who want to mark the changes in their lives and are ready to step into their power and responsibility as young adults. Parents are encouraged to participate in pre- and post-trip activities to witness and support this rite of passage for their son or daughter.
This adventure into the desert mountains involves both alone and group time in the wilderness. It’s a time for reflection, inward journeying, creativity and relating to nature. By encountering yourself and your own unique gifts and struggles, you will also discover your own ‘medicine’ or wisdom for dealing with the challenges that lie ahead for you. In the process, you will be seen and appreciated by your peers and parents as the unique individual you are. When you return to your family and community as a young adult, you may find that you are looking at yourself and the world in a new way.
Comments from past Youth Questers:
"I discovered strength and stability. I learned to be honest with myself.... I came to accept and understand the natural ups and downs we are all bound to experience.... I valued the bonds I made with the other people and the opening effect that had on me."– Jessica Y., 19
"(Since the quest)...The positive influences in my life are becoming stronger, and the negative, I am trying to influence with some of the stuff I have learned...A lot of my close friends have seen positive change in my life, less substance abuse and a much stronger, more articulate Alex emerging. I also know that my life is much more relaxed now, I didn’t even take a minute to realize how much extra stress I was carrying with me day to day."– Alex T., 17
"There were so many valuable things...one thing which stands out in my mind is the opportunity to look inside of myself, and, through the vessel of my body find a new me. I found a person who wanted to dispel fear and live her life with openness.... The greatest help, thrill, comfort and joy I found on this trip were the community that we all built together."– Ariel W., 17
Comments from parents of past Youth Questers:
"My son moved to a new level of maturity through this experience-- more confidence, willingness to be more authentic, more taking responsibility for his actions, less needing to be cool, and a sense of greater respect for himself as well as others....I am learning to trust his judgment more....that he can handle situations as they arise without the illusion that I need to or can protect him from disappointments."– James Baraz
"This initiation into adulthood was a blessing for my daughter. She has emerged more self-confident, courageous, and self-aware....I know that some of the dreams and visions she received will guide her for a long time. I am very grateful to you for providing this for young people to stretch their wings into their coming adulthood-- they will fly more true because of it.”– Sally McGuire
To see poetry, songs, artwork and read more comments from past Youth Questers, go to our Accolades and Expressions pages.


Britannica Concise Encyclopedia:
rite of passage Top
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Any of numerous ceremonial events, existing in all societies, that mark the passage of an individual from one social or religious status to another. The term was coined by the French anthropologist Arnold van Gennep (1873 – 1957) in 1909. Many of the most important rites are connected with the biological stages of life — birth, maturity, reproduction, and death. Other rites celebrate changes that are wholly cultural, such as initiation into special societies. In modern societies, graduation from school is a rite of passage. Scholars often interpret rites of passage as mechanisms by which society confronts and incorporates change without disrupting the equilibrium necessary to social order. See also secret society.
For more information on rite of passage, visit Britannica.comRead more: http://www.answers.com/topic/rite-of-passage#ixzz1MNb1l555


Oxford Companion to the Body:
rites of passageTop
Home > Library > Health > World of the Body
In all societies, major events in the life cycle are subject to ritualized forms of recognition. Across the world, such events are celebrated in diverse and sometimes elaborate ways, with different cultures singling out different stages of life for attention. Where ancestry is important, as in China or many of the societies of Africa, death may be the subject of extended and intricate mortuary ceremonials, which act both to separate the living from the dead and to transform the dead from elder to ancestor. In others, death may be neglected and cultural salience given rather to . marriage, to the installation of office holders, or to initiations into adulthood or into cult groupings In these cultural processes, actual biological events are subsumed and transformed, even negated in the various schemas of culture. Among the Kuria of Kenya and Tanzania, life for both men and women is said not to begin and end with their birth and death but rather to begin in early puberty when they are circumcized and to culminate in dramatic rituals of eldership, which celebrate the achievement of a full life course, of successful fertility, and of wealth as evidenced in the growth of the homestead herd.Despite the variety in the forms and meanings of such rituals, a certain unity has been given to the category by the work of the Belgian scholar, Arnold Van Gennep. His book, Les Rites de Passage, first published in 1909, has formed the backdrop to most anthropological work. Van Gennep envisioned life in society as a house with many rooms, in which the individual has to be conveyanced formally from one defined position to another. From this perspective, life is not a matter of gradual development and change but rather consists of a series of abrupt and ritualized transitions. Rites of passage, he argued, display common features — in particular, a definite three-phase structure, of separation transition, and aggregation. Initial rites of separation serve to remove the individual from normal social life, thus dissolving existing social ties and status. These rites are often mirrored in the opposing rites of aggregation, which end the ritual process and reinstate a normal social life when the individual is welcomed back into a new position in the community. In between these two contrasting phases are the rites of transition. This pattern, though discernible to some extent in all, tends to be most fully recognized in intiation rites, where it may be given added force in the symbolism of death and rebirth.Read more: http://www.answers.com/topic/rite-of-passage#ixzz1MNcGnnZY
LIMINALITY
Of particular interest has been Van Gennep's identification of the mid or transitional phase as one of marginality or liminality (from the Latin, limen, meaning threshold). It represents, he writes, the point of inertia for the novices between contrary ritual movements; they are regarded as being outside society — untouchable, dangerous, sacred as opposed to profane. Sharing with Van Gennep a similar concern with social classification and the cultural imposition of order on natural and social affairs, the British anthropologist, Mary Douglas, has argued that the idea of danger attaches to any situation or object that transgresses or cannot be placed within the dominant schema of social classification. Novices, betwixt-and-between defined social positions, are inherently anomalous and likely to be regarded as both polluted and polluting. Often this state is expressed in strict rules of seclusion, of physical as well as social invisibility, in which the neophyte's condition can be expressed only in terms of ambiguity and paradox. Outside and opposed to normal social life, liminality is also given ritual expression in licence, disorder, and role reversal.Read more: http://www.answers.com/topic/rite-of-passage#ixzz1MNdosSLc
For Van Gennep the theme of passage provides one clue to the diverse symbolic devices employed in such rites. The ritual passage may be represented in spatial terms, by exits and entrances, crossings and journeys, and in the general significance attached to crossroads, boundaries, and thresholds. By extension, too, the term may be used of other ritual events that, like life crisis rituals, are seen to share a concern with the social recognition of time — particularly communal rituals that serve to mark changes in the seasons or calendar, such as first fruits celebrations or those conducted to usher in the New Year. Other events that also imply a dramatic change in social life, such as going to war, or periods when the community prepares itself for major religious festivals, may also be subject to similar forms of ritualizationRead more: http://www.answers.com/topic/rite-of-passage#ixzz1MNewQChh
TRANSFORMATION
Rites of passage, which disconnect ritual moments from the normal flow of life, break the passage of time, representing it as a constant replay of opposed movements. Rather than inexorable processes of growth and decay, the ritualization of the stages of life seems to speak to the discontinuity of personal experience and the oscillation of social life between contrasting moods and phases. These characteristics of rites of passage have been seen to make them most typical of traditional societies and repetitive social orders. In terms of the personal biography of individuals, this gives ritual the formative role, as the essential catalyst in major life changes and the key to the creation of identity and personhood. To explore these aspects, one needs to abandon the simple metaphor of transition, bequeathed to us by Van Gennep, and focus instead on the idea of transformation. Thus life crisis rituals may not simply bestow or formally acknowledge changes in the life history, but in many societies have a truly transformational intent: the main and only means by which boys can be transformed into men, girls into women, elders into ancestors, the sick into spirit mediums, or princes into kings.Read more: http://www.answers.com/topic/rite-of-passage#ixzz1MNg1PvNQ


TYPES AND EXAMPLES

Types and examples
Rites of passage are diverse, and are often not recognized as such in the culture in which they occur. Many societal rituals may look like rites of passage but miss some of the important structural and functional components. Typically the missing piece is the societal recognition and reincorporation phase. Adventure Education programs, such as Outward Bound, have often been described as potential rites of passage. Pamela Cushing researched the rites of passage impact upon adolescent youth at the Canadian Outward Bound School and found the rite of passage impact was lessened by the missing reincorporation phase (Cushing, 1998). Bell (2003) presented more evidence of this lacking third stage and described the "Contemporary Adventure Model of a Rites of Passage" as a modern and weaker version of the rites of passage typically used by outdoor adventure programs.
Coming of age
Bar Mitzvah
Breeching
Débutante ball
Dokimasia
First haircut
Quinceañera in parts of Latin America and elsewhere in communities of immigrants from Latin America.
Russ in Norway
Scarification and various other physical endurances
Sweet Sixteen in the United States and Canada
Sevapuneru or Turmeric ceremony in South India to mark menarche
Etoro tribe and Baruya in Papua New Guinea where young boys must begin ingesting their elders semen, and then stop doing it at a certain age.
getting of the first identity card (e.g. communist regime in the Czechoslovakia try to replace all religious rituals by secular one; identity card was given at the age of 15)
In various tribal societies, entry into an age grade—generally gender-separated—(unlike an age set) is marked by an initiation rite, which may be the crowning of a long and complex preparation, sometimes in retreat.
Religion

Jesus underwent Jewish circumcision, here depicted in a Catholic cathedral; a liturgical feast commemorates this on New Year's Day
Baptism
First Eucharist and First Confession (especially First Communion in Catholicism)
Confirmation (most Christian denominations, such as Catholic, Orthodox, and mainline Protestant churches)
Confirmation in Reform Judaism
Bar Mitzvah and Bat Mitzvah in Judaism
Rumspringa
Circumcision, mainly in Judaism (Bris)
Diving for the Cross, in some Orthodox Christian churches
Saṃskāra a series of Sacraments in Hinduism
Shinbyu in Theravada Buddhism
Vision quest in some Native American cultures
"Quinceañera" many who celebrate include a Catholic mass at church
Coming of Age in Unitarian Universalism
Others
Secular coming of age ceremonies for non-religious youngsters who want a rite of passage comparable to the religious rituals like confirmation
Walkabout
Batizados in Capoeira
Black Belt Grading in Martial Arts
Castration in some sects and special castes
Virginity
Armed forces
Accolade
Baptism by fire
Battlefield commission, equivalent to ennoblement for valor or knighting on the field in the ancien régime
Berserker, berserkergang – an initiatory Nordic warrior-rite; the young Scandinavian warrior of old or Viking had to symbolically transform into a bear or wolf before he could become an elite warrior (cf. Cuchulain's transformation)
Counting coup
Krypteia – a "robber-baron" or "bandit-warrior" rite of the military youths of ancient Sparta
Pas d'armes
Trial by battle, or Judicium Dei (Judgment of God)
U.S. Marines: Crucible
U.S. Navy: Battle Stations
Naval (military and civilian) crossing the equator
In the U.S. Navy and Royal Navy, wetting-down is a ceremony in which a Naval officer is ceremonially thrown into the ocean upon receiving a promotion.
U.S. Army: Victory Forge
In many military organizations, as in civilian groups, new conscripts are sometimes subjected by "veterans" to practical jokes, ranging from taking advantage of their naïveté to public humiliation and physical attacks; see Hazing.
Soldiers and sailors may also be hazed again on obtaining a promotion.
In Greece conscription is mandatory and has been historically linked with maturing of a man. The army was historically perceived as the "natural" way to go and as a final "school" of socialization and maturing for young men before their come out to the real world; also it would be the first time a young man would find himself on his own and away from home. Consequently, draft dodgers, deserters, or men unable to serve encountered prejudice, were often frowned upon and deemed useless by conservative societies
Academic groups
Some academic circles such as dorms, fraternities, teams and other clubs practice
Hazing
Ragging
Fagging
Szecskáztatás, a mild form of hazing (usually without physical and sexual abuse) practiced in some Hungarian secondary schools. First-year junior students (szecskák [singular form: szecska]) are publicly humiliated through embarrassing clothing and senior students branding their faces (with marker pens); it is sometimes also a contest, with the winners usually earning the right to organize the next event.
Entrance into Medicine and Pharmacy (University):
White Coat Ceremony
In Spanish universities of the Modern Age, like Universidad Complutense in Alcalá de Henares, upon completion of his studies, the student was submitted to a public questioning by the faculty, who could ask sympathetic questions that let him excel or tricky points. If the student passed he invited professors and friends to a party. If not, he was publicly processioned with donkey ears.
Entrance to the profession of Engineer:
The Ritual of the Calling of an Engineer, also known as the Iron Ring Ceremony
See also
Pilgrimage
Line-crossing ceremony
The Seclusion of Girls at Puberty
Annaprashana
References
^ Kathleen Garces-Foley, Death and religion in a changing world, M:E: Sharpe, 2006, p. 230.
^ Arnold van Gennep, The Rites of Passage (London 1977) p. 21
^ Victor W. Turner, The Ritual Process (Penguin 1969) p. 80
^ Turner, Ritual p. 81
^ Turner, Ritual p. 80
^ van Gennep, Passage p. 166
Bell, B.J. (2003). "The rites of passage and outdoor education: Critical concerns for effective programming." The Journal of Experiential Education, 26, 1, pp. 41–50.
Cushing, P.J. (1998). "Competing the cycle of transformation: Lessons from the rites of passage model." Pathways: The Ontario Journal of Experiential Education, 9, 5, 7–12.
Turner, V. (1967). "Betwixt and between: the liminal period in rites de passage," Forest of symbols: aspects of the Ndembu ritual, Cornell UP, Ithaca, pp. 23–59.
Further reading
Hatzopoulos, Miltiades B., "Macedonian Cults" (as "Cultes et rites de passage en Macédoine"), Athens & Paris, 1994
Devine, A.M., "Review: Macedonian Cults", The Classical Review, New Series, Vol. 46, No. 2 (1996), pp. 279–281, Cambridge University Press on behalf of The Classical Association
Padilla, Mark William (editor), "Rites of Passage in Ancient Greece: Literature, Religion, Society", Bucknell University Press, 1999. ISBN 0-8387-5418-X
External links
Look up rite of passage in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
A list of rites of passage and similar rituals Various ethnographic examples
This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)
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John Demjanjuk convicted by a German Court Precedential Legal arguments

What I cannot comprehend is how the German Court claimed jurisdiction in this case, and consequent venue in this matter as should have been claimed on both fronts bv International law through the ICJ through a spec ial tribunal and not through a court of a state member ,a national court.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110512/ap_on_re_eu/eu_germany_demjanjuk
By DAVID RISING, Associated Press David Rising, Associated Press – Thu May 12, 7:32 pm ET
MUNICH – A German court convicted retired U.S. autoworker John Demjanjuk on Thursday of taking part in the murder of tens of thousands of Jews as a Nazi death camp guard, breaking legal ground that could pave the way for the prosecution of many low-level cogs in Hitler's machinery of destruction.
The 91-year-old Demjanjuk was sentenced to five years in prison on 28,060 counts of accessory to murder — one each for the number of people killed at the Sobibor death camp during the six months in 1943 when he was convicted of standing guard there.
But Demjanjuk will spend no immediate time behind bars. Presiding Judge Ralph Alt ordered him released from custody pending his appeal — a process that could take at least a year. It was not immediately clear when Demjanjuk would be released or where he would go.
The case was considered groundbreaking because although scores of Nazi war criminals have been tried and convicted in Germany, in this case there was no evidence that John Demjanjuk
Demjanjuk (dem-YAHN'-yuk) committed a specific crime[ey1] .
His prosecution was based on the theory that if Demjanjuk was at the camp in Nazi-occupied Poland, he was a participant in the killing there — the first time such a legal argument has been made in German courts.
"This case is a door opener," said Thomas Walther, a former federal prosecutor who led the investigation that prompted Germany to put Demjanjuk on trial.
Click image to see more photos of John Demjanjuk
AP/Matthias Schrader
The Ukrainian-born Demjanjuk was a Soviet Red Army soldier captured by the Germans in Crimea in 1942. He is accused of then agreeing to serve as a "Wachmann," or guard, the lowest rank of the "Hilfswillige," former POWs who were subordinate to German SS men[ey2] .
Walther said his office has many cases that have been investigated but shelved and could now be reopened. Although it's hard to say how many living suspects might fall into the same category as Demjanjuk, it could be hundreds or more, Walther said.
"It could be very soon that more are brought to the table," he told The Associated Press.
The prospect of Demjanjuk's release pending appeal, though common under the German justice system, drew immediate ire from those who had been pushing for his conviction.
"We don't think that that's appropriate given the heinous nature of his crimes," Efraim Zuroff, the chief Nazi hunter at the Simon Wiesenthal Center, said in a telephone interview from Jerusalem[ey3] .
Still, Zuroff called the conviction "a very important victory for justice."
"The verdict sends a very powerful message that even many years after the crimes of the Holocaust, the perpetrators can be brought to justice," he said. "We're hopeful that this verdict will pave the way for additional prosecutions in Germany."
Demjanjuk attorney Ulrich Busch said he was appealing the decision and expressed confidence he would succeed. Demjanjuk "will not see one day in jail," he said.
Alt said Demjanjuk did not pose a flight risk because of his age, poor health and the fact that he is stateless after being deported from the U.S. two years ago[ey4] .
That meant there were no grounds to hold him, Alt said. "It's the law, and so it's justice," he told the AP. "I say he's guilty, but it's not a final verdict."
Demjanjuk's son, John Demjanjuk Jr., said his father needs daily medical attention and would likely need to be moved into an assisted care facility — the costs of which would be paid by the German government.
"We're in the planning stage and I can't say where he's going to go," he told the AP in a telephone interview from Ohio.
Still, he said he was relieved by the decision to free his father "because he has never deserved to sit in prison for one minute."
The younger Demjanjuk said he planned to visit his father, though he was not sure when. Demjanjuk's 85-year-old wife, Vera, is in poor health and unable to travel.
In handing down the court's ruling, Alt called Demjanjuk a piece of the Nazis' "machinery of destruction."
"The court is convinced that the defendant ... served as a guard at Sobibor from 27 March 1943 to mid-September 1943," Alt said, referring to a period when the Nazi genocide machine was operating at full force.
Demjanjuk sat in a wheelchair in front of the judges as they announced their verdict after the nearly 18-month trial, but showed no reaction. He has denied the charges but[ey5] declined the opportunity to make a final statement to the court.
Integral to the prosecution's case was an SS identity card that allegedly shows a picture of a young Demjanjuk and indicates he trained at the SS Trawniki camp and was posted to Sobibor.
Though court experts said the card appears genuine, the defense maintains it is a fake produced by the Soviet KGB.
The U.S. Department of Justice's Office of Special Investigations also has said the card[ey6] is genuine, but documents recently unearthed by the AP indicate the FBI at one time had doubts similar to those aired by Demjanjuk's defense — though the material was never turned over to his attorneys.
Alt noted that in addition to the card the court found other credible evidence, including transfer lists indicating a guard named Demjanjuk with the same Trawniki number was sent to serve in Sobibor and elsewhere.
Rudolf Salomon Cortissos, whose mother was gassed at Sobibor along with thousands of other Dutch Jews, cried softly in a back row of the courtroom, wiping his tears with a white handkerchief, as Alt somberly read out the names of his mother and others who were killed in the death camp.
"It's very emotional. It doesn't happen every day," he said, adding that he was happy with the verdict and sentence. "For me it is satisfying."
Vera John de Jong of Belgium, whose parents were gassed in Sobibor, was stoic about the decision to release Demjanjuk for the time being.
"He's been convicted, and that's what is important," she told AP. "He was probably better off in prison than he will be now because he was very well looked after there."
Demjanjuk has been stripped of his U.S. citizenship and has been in custody in Germany since his deportation.
Three Sobibor survivors and about three dozen other people who lost family members at the death camp joined the trial as co-plaintiffs as allowed under German law.
Cornelius Nestler, a lawyer for the co-plaintiffs, said Demjanjuk likely would serve three years at most, given the time he has already spent in German custody.
But he said he, too, was satisfied with the sentence, which came close to prosecutors' call for a six-year term. That call took into account Demjanjuk's age and the time he had already served in Israel in the 1980s.
Charges of accessory to murder carry a maximum term of 15 years in Germany, which does not allow consecutive sentences for multiple counts of the same crime.
The verdict won't entirely end more than 30 years of legal wrangling. Along with the German appeal, proceedings continue in the United States.
In the 1980s, Demjanjuk stood trial in Israel after he was accused of being the notoriously brutal guard "Ivan the Terrible" at the Treblinka extermination camp. He was convicted, sentenced to death and then freed when an Israeli court overturned the ruling, saying the evidence showed he was the victim of mistaken identity.
Demjanjuk has always maintained he was a victim of the Nazis — first wounded as a Soviet soldier and then captured and held as a prisoner of war under brutal conditions before joining the Vlasov Army, a force of anti-communist Soviet POWs and others that was formed to fight with the Germans against the Soviets in the final months of the war.
Prosecutors said that after his capture, the evidence shows Demjanjuk agreed to serve the German SS and was posted to Sobibor.
Now in the U.S., new litigation is under way following the AP report that brought to light the 1985 FBI report questioning the legitimacy of the Trawniki identity card used in the current prosecution. That revelation has led to new court action, with a federal judge in Cleveland agreeing this week to appoint a public defender to represent Demjanjuk there.
___
Andrea M. Jarach in Munich and Geir Moulson in Berlin contributed to this report.

[ey1]case groundbreaking on the legal argument that he was present at the camp ergo he was a participant in the killing

[ey2]Hilfswillige

[ey3]Efraim Zuroff’s comment

[ey4]not a flight risk

[ey5]trained at Trawniki and posted to Sobibor

[ey6]why not turned over to attys