Initiation rite
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Initiation rites are formalized, ceremonial rites of passage as an individual moves from stage to stage within a social career or formally acquires such status.
Scope of use
The term often relates to the transition from childhood to adulthood, and may involve secret or private procedures and/or painful and difficult trials before the initiate can become a "real" or "accepted" man or woman who the community is bonded to; and who is bonded to the community.Examples include:
- Hunter-gatherer societies have a reputation for dramatic pre-requisites before an initiate can become a full adult, marriageable member of society. Especially for boys, the path to manhood often includes one or more endurance tests, often involving pain, deliberate wounds, even body modifications such as tattoos, branding or other scarring. This often has a religious/mythical meaning; for example the New-Guinean Sepik tribe organizes its adolescents (and men who have put it off) to be completely stripped and after a mildly sedating cold river bathing carved by initiated men for hours, all over their body, with hundreds of bleeding cuts (requiring equally painful natural antisceptic; some died from bloodloss or infection) forming a pattern symbolizing the tribal tottem animal, the crocodile; as the wounds are on all sides of the body, they remain naked in agony to heal slowly on dried plant material.
- Secret societies often require their candidates for membership to undergo such rites, which can be their most secret and important activity, in a closed building or retreated in the wild, often organized from time to time for a whole group, e.g. once a year or less in a small community.
- In modern societies, both harsh and milder, playful forms of hazing (in many forms, see there) still exists in many walks of organized life, such as schools, athletic and other teams, clubs, military units (e.g. the joining run in the UK's Royal Marines)...
- The first haircut is an initiation rite in certain cultures and religions.
- In Christianity, baptism is an initiation rite. Some Christian churches offer a traditional sacrament of confirmation as an initiation rite recognizing full membership status, and as a remembrance of infant baptism.
- In Judaism, a Bar Mitzvah or a Bat Mitzvah ceremony performs a similar religious coming-of-age function.
- Initiation by an Outer Living Satguru (Sat - true, Guru - teacher) is required in the spiritual tradition of Surat Shabda Yoga.
- Many school and training systems feature a graduation ceremony as a rite of passage marking the end of (at least a stage of) learning, which is usually festive, not enduring, and public.
Patents for initiation devices
The United States Patent and Trademark Office has issued patents for devices to be used in initiation rites, including:- No. 654,611 Initiating Device (issued in 1900)
- No. 920,837 Combined Lifting and Spanking Machine (issued in 1909)
- No. 953,411 Trick Weight-Lifting Machine (issued in 1910)
- No. 6,293,874 User-operated amusement apparatus for kicking the user's buttocks (issued in 2001)
See also
Sources and External links
- [Encyclopaideia] A list of male initiation rites
- [Puellarium] A list of female initiation rites
- [Initiating Device]
- [Baka Pygmies Rituals] Culture and Rites of initiation among Baka Pygmies
- [Becoming a Pygmy] A young Italian ethnologist went through a Pygmy rite of initiation
- [Ugandan circumcision video] Documenting a mass adult circumcision initiation ceremony in Africa
- National Geographic Channel documentary (film material used in several programs)
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