Rights of Passage by Rob Dufour

I remember watching a movie in class that had a segment of it devoted to showing the tribal ritual that took place for when a young girl in the tribe was to officially become a woman. Similarly, I was watching a show on National Geographic a few days ago which was documenting a tribal ritual for becoming a man in the tribe. It seemed to be quite a sacred practice within the tribal community that everyone took very seriously. This got me to thinking about the rights of passage within our own society. What is it to be a man/woman in American culture? Other than the Jewish process of becoming a man/woman I can’t think of another ritual process in our culture in terms of maturing into adulthood. I think one of the main reason we don’t see such processes in our culture is because of the differences in what is expected in our own culture and through how our accomplishments are celebrated. In tribal cultures manhood could be achieved by something such as becoming a hunter/provider for the tribe, but in our culture there really aren’t lions to slay to prove our manhood. Or are there? Maybe the “lions” in our culture are representative of having a successful job or becoming a spouse or a parent. As I think more about it we too have stipulations to becoming an adult, the difference is that there is no set procedure or process like in a tribe. I remember Dr.Redick talking about when he took his son to the top of a mountain and conducted almost a ceremony to signify that Caleb was now a man in his eyes because he hiked and survived the AT for two weeks. I guess it comes down to the fact that each individual or possibly each family has their own guidelines for growing up. Also I guess the law our culture abides by has a bit to say about when we become adults as well. This is something a primal culture would have a hard time understanding as the only aspects that govern their world are their religious beliefs and their land. I believe that’s how it was intended to be.