| rite of passage | A rite of passage is a ritual that marks a change in a person's social or sexual status. Rites of passage are often ceremonies surrounding events such as childbirth, menarche or other milestones within puberty, coming of age, weddings, menopause, and death | ry |
| rite of passage | a ritual performed in some cultures at times when a individual changes his status (as from adolescence to adulthood) | en |
| rite of passage | ceremony or tradition that mark major life changes; induction ceremony | en |
| rite 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. 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 | en |