The Role of Rites of Passage in Modern Day Life
The role of Rites of Passage in Modern Day Life
By Teeya Blatt
Before reflecting on the role of rites of passage in our modern day lives, lets first remember what they did for our ancestors, when we lived closer to the Earth and to the natural cycles. There were the rites that marked the cycles, the winter solstice, the summer solstice in northern Europe, the rites that marked the time of fruiting trees, the run of salmon upriver. There were also the rites that marked thresholds in life, menarche, boy-to-manhood, marriage, parenthood. Very few rites were held for single individuals except for one, the near to final one of death. Rites put one in harmony and connection with what was going on in our lives – through the environment, in our community or our development, but they did more than that.
Rites put us in touch with the story in our lives because traditionally, rites, all of them, were reenactments of our tribal or community story. The most obvious one to us in the West is the Christmas story and mass for Catholics. Then there’s the story of Saint who became known to us and our children as Santa Claus. For the Jewish, the story of the light that lasted eight days became the rite of Chanuka, for Mohamedans, the story became the rite of
Ramadan.
This is no less true for the rites of passage. Girls experiencing menarche were put in mind of the story of the Goddess, the deep mystery of what transpired in her body was exactly the same as that which transpired in the ground to make a seed sprout. The boys had their own stories too, boys were to pass this particular test because the god or hero in their story had passed it on his journey to become a man. What the rites do is place us exactly in the knowledge that what happens to each of us is no different to that which happened to the great persona that sustains our culture, and to every member therein. Rites thereby give us a real sense of belonging to something big - to a story, the community, other people,
By Teeya Blatt
Before reflecting on the role of rites of passage in our modern day lives, lets first remember what they did for our ancestors, when we lived closer to the Earth and to the natural cycles. There were the rites that marked the cycles, the winter solstice, the summer solstice in northern Europe, the rites that marked the time of fruiting trees, the run of salmon upriver. There were also the rites that marked thresholds in life, menarche, boy-to-manhood, marriage, parenthood. Very few rites were held for single individuals except for one, the near to final one of death. Rites put one in harmony and connection with what was going on in our lives – through the environment, in our community or our development, but they did more than that.
Rites put us in touch with the story in our lives because traditionally, rites, all of them, were reenactments of our tribal or community story. The most obvious one to us in the West is the Christmas story and mass for Catholics. Then there’s the story of Saint who became known to us and our children as Santa Claus. For the Jewish, the story of the light that lasted eight days became the rite of Chanuka, for Mohamedans, the story became the rite of
Ramadan.
This is no less true for the rites of passage. Girls experiencing menarche were put in mind of the story of the Goddess, the deep mystery of what transpired in her body was exactly the same as that which transpired in the ground to make a seed sprout. The boys had their own stories too, boys were to pass this particular test because the god or hero in their story had passed it on his journey to become a man. What the rites do is place us exactly in the knowledge that what happens to each of us is no different to that which happened to the great persona that sustains our culture, and to every member therein. Rites thereby give us a real sense of belonging to something big - to a story, the community, other people,