The Ritual Process: Liminality - Bryan Trumble

Liminality is a very confusing concept, because at times there is not exact beginning nor an exact end for a person, and in addition to that it is not always the same for all people. Taking for instance the idea of a pilgrimage, once could say that the liminal stage is while you were on the journey, and they would be right. However when exactly did that journey start? Was it when it when the journey physically started for a person, and was this physical start when the person physically began preparing and packing, or was it when they entered the trail? Or was the beginning a mental start, and if so did this come when the voyager began thinking about the trip, mentally preparing for the trip, or once they were on the journey and had some sort of revelatory experience?
The liminal stage in a right of passage is one of the most important stages, even though at times its concept can be vary vague. The liminal stage is one in which the voyager is separated from the community which they came from. This stage of separation is where they are used to living. This stage is extremely unstable and really tests the individual. In this stage the individual is placed at the same level with all the other individuals on the journey, or right of passage. Normally they are all given the same uniform (if any) and treated the same way, such as in boot camp in American society. This commonality among the people dispels any hierarchal tendencies allowing the individuals to focus on the tasks at hand, their voyage. This gives the members sense of comradery that allows them to endure this rigorous liminal stage.
The Liminal stage also includes a creation, through the destruction of hierarchy, of ‘comitatus’. This is different from community or as Turner calls it ‘communitas’, in which there is a structure. The comitatus is a social group in which everyone is equal, unlike the caste like systems that can be seen in communitas. This creation of ‘comitatus’ creates a somewhat unpleasant situation for the voyagers; but as Turner claims “the high could not be high unless the low existed, and he who is high must experience what it is like to be low”. In this sense the creation of the comitatus has two functions, served at the same time. In creating an unpleasant state of affairs it allows the group members to bond and also allows them to experience the lows of life. In experiencing the lows they will be better suited to tackle life’s obstacles.
I recall experiencing this on the Appalachian Trail this summer. The liminal stage of being on the trail allowed the group to form a tighter bond through the tough times we experienced, especially on the first grueling day. Afterwards there was an evident increase in the comradery among the group, and it was also clear that people were learning the ways of the trail by experiencing the “lows” of the hiking trip. I recall learning the value of food by accidentally spilling my dinner in the fire the first night of the trip.