| RELIGIOUS RITES |
|
| 4 THE CONCEPT AND FORMS OF RITUAL |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Rites of passage are ceremonial events,
existing in all historically known societies, that mark the passage from one
social or religious status to another. This section describes these rites among
various societies throughout the world, giving greatest attention to the most
common types of rites, and discusses their purposes from the viewpoints of the
people observing the rites, and their social, cultural, and psychological
significance as seen by scholars seeking to gain an understanding of human
behaviour. (see also cultural
anthropology) |
|
|
|
|
|
Many of the most important and common
rites of passage are connected with the biological crises of life--birth,
maturity, reproduction, and death--all of which bring changes in social status
and, therefore, in the social relations of the people concerned. Other rites of
passage celebrate changes that are wholly cultural, such as initiation into
societies composed of people with special interests--for example, fraternities.
Rites of passage are universal, and presumptive evidence from archaeology in the
form of burial finds strongly suggests that they go back to very early times.
The worldwide distribution of these rites long ago attracted the attention of
scholars, but the first substantial interpretation of them as a class of
phenomena was presented in 1909 by the French anthropologist and folklorist Arnold
van Gennep (1873-1957), who coined the name rites of passage. Van Gennep
saw the rites as means by which individuals are eased, without social
disruption, through the difficulties of transition from one social role
to another. On the basis of an extensive survey of preliterate and literate
societies, van Gennep held that the rites consist of three distinguishable,
consecutive elements, called in French séparation,
marge, and agrégation, which
may be translated as separation, transition, and reincorporation, or as
preliminal, liminal, and postliminal stages (before, at, and past the
threshold). The person (or persons) on whom the rites centre is first
symbolically severed from his old status, then undergoes adjustment to the new
status during the period of transition, and is finally reincorporated in society
in his new social status.
Although the most commonly observed rites relate to crises in the life cycle,
van Gennep saw the significance of the ceremonies as being social or cultural,
celebrating important events that are primarily sociocultural or man-made rather
than biological. The British anthropologist A.M. Hocart (1884-1939) held that
the passage from one status to another was the result rather than the cause of
these ceremonies; thus the rites both induced and allayed personal and social
stress rather than merely allaying it. Basing his views on circumstances in a
few ancient civilizations, Hocart thought that all rites of passage were based
on the model of ritual of investiture of kings, in which symbolic killing and
rebirth of the new ruler, and sometimes actual killing of the old, were
required. Later scholarship has shown that symbolic death and rebirth into the
new status are common forms of symbolism in rites of passage of various kinds
and that the symbolic killing and rebirth of rulers is therefore not
appropriately viewed as the prototype of all rites. |
|
|
|
|
|
Modern scholars in the social sciences
characteristically accept the views of van Gennep about the social and
psychological significance of rites of passage; that is, passage rites are seen
to have positive value for the individual in relieving stress at times when
great rearrangements in his life occur, such as are brought by coming of age,
entering marriage, becoming a parent, or at the death of a close relative, and
in providing instruction in and approval of his new roles. The rites are seen
also to be socially supporting in various ways. Such support includes roles of
the rites in preventing social disruption by relieving the psychological stress
of the individuals concerned; providing clear instruction to all members of
societies to continue life in normal fashion with new social alignments; the
affirmation they provide of social and moral values expressed and thus
sanctioned as part of the ceremonies; and the social unity they foster by joint
acts and joint expression of social values. During most of man's history, rites
of passage have generally been religious events; that is, they have been
conducted in a religious framework and regarded as religious acts and hence
possessed special authority. From the viewpoint of modern social science,
however, their nature is generally seen as being fundamentally secular. Mankind
gives social attention to all events regarded as being socially important. Until
recent times, religion was intimately connected with most aspects of life, and
events of such social importance as the changes in society that the rites
celebrate were most frequently incorporated in the system of religious belief
and act. The tendency of recent decades toward secularization of rites of
passage strongly suggests that the primary significance of most rites is social
or secular rather than religious. In the modern, scientifically minded nations
of the world many rites of passage, such as rites of initiation into fraternal
and honorary societies are wholly secular; others have only small elements of
religion, and even marriage may be a wholly secular rite. |
|
|
One of the primary functions of rites of
passage that is often overlooked by interpreters, perhaps because it appears
obvious, is the role of the rites in providing entertainment. Passage rites and
other religious events have in the past been the primary socially approved means
of participating in pleasurable activities, and religion has been a primary
vehicle for art, music, song, dance, and other forms of aesthetics. |
|
|
From its beginning, the study of the
significance of rites as a class of phenomena has attempted to account for
similarities and differences in the rites among societies of the world. The
similarities are striking and doubtless reflect the close similarity in ways of
human thought. Modern attempts to account for similarities and differences have
generally given little attention to and reached no consensus concerning the
nature of the innate psychological factors involved in the genesis of the rites.
Attempts to understand rites of passage have instead generally been
sociocultural interpretations that view the rites as part of an integrated
sociocultural system, the man-made part of human life. Religion and rites of
passage are thus seen as elements in this system that affect and are affected by
other elements in the system such as means of gaining a livelihood and the
manner in which society is aligned in groups. Most modern analysts accordingly
have interpreted both differences and similarities in rites of passage on the
basis of their sociocultural context. The inventive and symbolic capabilities of
mankind are treated as a constant factor, and analytic attention is given to
differences and similarities in the sociocultural contexts in which rites are
found. In attempting to understand why marriage is an extremely elaborate rite
in one society and very simple in another society, for example, scholars have
looked to the social order and to the manner of gaining a livelihood to judge
the relative importance of the enduring unions of spouses. Following the view
that culture, including the social order, composes a coherent, inclusive system,
modern scholarship has, in short, most commonly interpreted rites of passage in
terms of their functional significance in the social system. |
|
|
The significance or stated goals of
rites of passage as these exist in the minds of the actors are regarded as quite
inadequate for gaining an understanding of the functional significance of the
rites. Very often, rites of passage are said to have goals such as dispatching
the spirit of a dead person to another world, protecting the newborn, the new
adult, and the newlywed from evil influences. Often the explicit goals of the
rites have been forgotten and their continuation is a matter of following
tradition, so that means have become goals. Although scholars have noted the
explicit goals of these rites, they have characteristically given greatest
emphasis to inferring functional significances that are not obvious to the
actors in the rites. In so doing they have broadened their investigations from
observations of the symbolism of rites to include prominently all of the
behaviour during the rites and their social contexts, learning the social
identities of the performers, and their relationships to other performers and
the entire society. |
|
|
|
|
|
No scheme of classification of passage
rites has met with general acceptance, although many names have been given to
distinguishable types of rites and to elements of rites. The name purification
ceremonies, for example, refers to an element of ritual that is very common in
rites of passage and also in other kinds of religious events. In most instances,
the manifest goal of purification is to prepare the individual for communication
with the supernatural, but purification in rites of passage may also be seen to
have the symbolic significance of erasing an old status in preparation for a new
one (see also Purification rites
customs ,
below). (see also purification rite) |
|
|
Other names that have been given to
passage rites often overlap. Life-cycle ceremonies and crisis rites are usually
synonymous terms referring to rites connected with the biological crises of
life, but some modern scholars have included among crisis rites ritual
observances aimed at curing serious illnesses. Ceremonies of social
transformation and of religious transformation (for both see this section,
below) overlap and similarly overlap crisis rites. Religious transformations,
such as baptism and rites of ordination, always involve social transformations;
social transformations such as at coming-of-age and induction into office may
also bring new religious statuses, and life-cycle ceremonies similarly may or
may not involve changes in religious statuses. It is nevertheless sometimes
useful to distinguish the various rites by these names. |
|
|
|
|
|
Life-cycle ceremonies are found in all
societies, although their relative importance varies. The ritual counterparts of
the biological crises of the life cycle include numerous kinds of rites
celebrating childbirth, ranging from baby "showers" to pregnancy rites
to rites observed at the actual time of childbirth and, as exemplified by Baptism
and the fading Christian rite of Churching of Women, a ceremony of thanksgiving
for mothers soon after childbirth. These rites involve the parents as well as
the child and in some societies include the couvade,
which in its so-called classic form centres ritual attention at childbirth upon
the father rather than the mother. At this time the father follows elaborate
rules of ritual procedure that may include taking to bed, simulating labour
pains, and symbolically enacting the successful birth of a child. In all
societies some ritual observances surround childbirth, marriage, and death,
although the degree of elaboration of the rites varies greatly even among
societies of comparable levels of cultural development. Rites at coming-of-age
are the most variable in time in the life span and may be present or absent. In
some societies such rites are observed for only one sex, are elaborate for one
sex and simple for the other, or are not observed for either sex.
Characteristically, rites at coming-of-age are not generally observed in the
modern industrial civilizations or, as in the Jewish Bar Mitzva and the
Protestant confirmation of the United States, exist today more or less as
vestiges of formerly important religious rites. Among the elaborate
civilizations of Asia, rites at coming-of-age have similarly waned in recent
times. The elaborate rites observed a century ago in Japan when young men and
young women reached social maturity are only rarely observed today and are
virtually unknown to the general population. Death is given social attention in
all societies, and the observances are generally religious in intent and import.
In societies that fear dead bodies the deceased may be abandoned, but they are
nevertheless the focus of ritual attention. Most commonly, rites at death are
elaborate, and they include clearly all of the stages of separation, transition,
and reincorporation first noted by van Gennep. See below under Death rites and customs
. (see also
birth rite, death
rite) |
|
|
|
|
|
Ceremonies of social transformation
include all of the life-cycle ceremonies, since these involve social transitions
for the subjects of the ritual and also for other persons. When a man or woman
dies, for example, he assumes a new social role as a spirit that may be socially
important to the living; the bereaved spouse becomes a widow or widower; and the
children have an unnamed but changed status as lacking one parent. A vast number
of rites of social transformation, such as rites of initiation into
common-interest societies, have no direct or primary connection with biological
changes. These are abundant in the United States and European nations, usually
as secular ceremonies. In primitive societies, rites of this kind mark induction
into age-graded societies, principally limited to males, and a variety of
common-interest societies such as warrior societies, curing societies (special
groups whose purpose is to cure illnesses), and graded men's societies that are
hierarchically ranked in prestige. Whether hereditary or achieved by appointment
or election, assumption of important office in various kinds of societies is
often observed by elaborate ritual. Any other events involving changes in social
status tend to become the subjects of institutionalized ritual, which is then a
prerequisite for the new status. Common examples are initiation ceremonies of
college fraternities, sororities, and honorary societies; adult fraternal
societies, and social groups of other kinds centred on common interests. Other
social changes of importance that apply to a substantial number of people but do
not involve initiation into organized social groups are also given ritual
attention. Common among these are graduation exercises, festivities marking
retirement from work, and various kinds of award ceremonies. (see also
initiation rite) |
|
|
|
|
|
Religious-transformation ceremonies
signal changes in religious statuses, which may be matters of the greatest
importance to the people. Performing ritual such as making sacrifices and
offerings may be required in the normal course of life, and these acts may be
regarded as conferring a new religious status or state of grace. Sacrifices
are a frequent feature of rites of passage, and for important ceremonies such as
coronations and funerals of rulers, have sometimes required the sacrifice of
many human beings (see also above Sacrifice
). Among the laity, entry into a religious society or the
assumption of any other new religious role is customarily an event celebrated by
rites such as those of baptism and confirmation. Among professional religious
personnel, the achievement of any distinct status of specialization is
ordinarily observed by rites corresponding to the Christian rites of ordination--the
rites through which religious functionaries become entitled to exercise their
respective functions. As with other rites of passage, these rites may be simple
or complex, and their degree of complexity may generally be easily seen as
reflecting the religious and social importance of the newly acquired status. A
single element of an elaborate rite in one society, such as circumcision or the
dressing of the hair in a distinctive way, may in another society be the central
or sole event of rites of either social or religious transformation. These
ceremonies may, accordingly, be called rites of circumcision or be identified by
the name of the style of hairdress. |
|
|
|
|
|
The term rites of passage is
occasionally applied to institutionalized rites for curing serious illness and,
rarely, to cyclic ceremonies such as harvest festivals. No new social or
religious status is ordinarily gained by recovery from illness or participation
in harvest rites, however, and these ceremonies have probably been included
among the rites of passage because of similarities in their ritual procedures.
In some societies, recovery from a very critical illness is regarded as a divine
sign that the erstwhile invalid should assume the role of a religious
specialist, but rites of ordination are quite separate. Some elements of
ceremonies pertaining to changes in the seasons may be seen as incorporating
acts of separation and incorporation, symbolically saying goodbye to the old
season and welcoming the new, but these are not customarily called rites of
passage. Although clearly denoting a change in social status, divorce has rarely
been regarded as a rite of passage. Festive observances at this time are perhaps
common in some societies, but they are often informal practices of the
individual or simple acts of local custom, such as discarding wedding rings,
that are not institutionalized in the entire society. The absence of divorce
from the conventional roster of rites of passage illustrates an outstanding
characteristic of this class of rites: all celebrate events that are either
socially approved or, like death and illness, unavoidable. Rites of passage that
signal the assumption of social statuses disapproved by society are both out of
keeping with the prevailing interpretation of the rites as being socially
supportive and would broaden them to cover such events as trials by jury and
commitment to prison for serious crimes. |
|
|
|
|
|
Whatever their subclassification,
elaborate rites of passage are commonly rich in symbolism that prominently
includes representations of the states of separation and transition and,
especially, insignia of the new status. Most common among these markers of new
status are alterations and embellishments of visible or invisible parts of the
body, distinctive garments and
bodily decorations, and insignias corresponding to symbols of office. All parts
of the body that may be altered or embellished without ordinarily causing
serious disability have served as the symbols of social statuses and have been
elements of rites of passage. Outstanding among these insignias are special
styles of hairdress, clothing, and ornaments; the filing, staining, and removal
of teeth; the wearing of ornaments in pierced ears, noses, or lips; tattoos and,
among dark-skinned people upon whom tattoos would not be visible, their
counterpart of scarification, which produces designs in relief; and circumcision
or other genital operations (see also Religious
dress and vestments below).
(see also religious
symbolism, body modifications
and mutilations) |
|
|
Several motifs or themes of symbolism
commonly recur among societies widely separated from each other geographically
and culturally. One such theme symbolizes death and rebirth into the new status.
Initiates may be ceremonially killed and then made symbolically to act like
infants who, during the rites, are made to mature into their new statuses.
Another common form of symbolism makes use of doors or other portals that
signify entry into the new social domain. Ordeals are a rather common feature of
coming-of-age ceremonies for both males and females, and they are also used in
rites of initiation into men's societies of various kinds. Success in passing
the ordeals is customary and signifies mastery of the roles that are to be
assumed. |
|
|
A universal feature of rites of passage
is the proscription of certain kinds of ordinary behaviour. Sexual continence is
a common rule, as is the prohibition of ordinary work such as farming, hunting,
and fishing. Many rites prohibit certain behaviour or prescribe the reverse of
ordinary behaviour. Among Indians of the western United States, for example, a taboo
against scratching the body with the fingers was common during ritual periods.
In other societies, ritual behaviour required that the subjects of ritual sit in
a remarkable fashion, wear articles of clothing inside out or backward, or wear
the clothing of the opposite sex. These acts all may be seen as dramatizations,
by contrast, of the events that they celebrate, thereby making them memorable. |
|
|
|
|
|
Rites of passage marking very important
events customarily include all of the three stages described by van Gennep. A
representative example is afforded by the traditional rites surrounding
childbirth as these were commonly observed in Japan until recent years.
Observances began when a woman learned she was pregnant. Partly for stated
reasons of promoting health and partly for supernaturalistic reasons, she
thenceforth abstained from certain foods and ate others. During the fifth month
of pregnancy she donned a special girdle, ordinarily procured from a Buddhist
temple and supernaturally blessed. Relatives offered prayers for the well-being
of the woman and her child. When birth seemed imminent, she was isolated from
all other persons except the women who attended her and remained in isolation
for a fixed number of days after parturition. This period was most commonly 33
days, which was divided into stages preceeding from severe restriction of her
acts to final complete resumption of all normal activities. She had at first to
follow a number of special rules of diet and could not perform normal household
tasks. During the period of isolation, the mother was regarded as polluted from
the flow of blood during childbirth and therefore dangerous to other people and
dangerous or offensive to supernatural beings of the Shinto
religious pantheon. She could not make the usual offerings or say prayers before
the household shrines to Shinto gods or have any other kind of contact
with them. To avoid offending the sun goddess, her clothing and that of her
child when laundered could never be hung in direct sunlight to dry but instead
were placed in the shadows of the eaves of the house. For the same reason, she
covered her head with a cloth when she stepped outside the house near the end of
the period of isolation. Water and cloths used in washing the mother after
parturition were considered to be polluted and were buried in the ground beneath
the floor of the room of confinement. After a fixed number of days passed, the
mother was permitted to resume bathing and again perform some but not all of her
ordinary work in the house. Other restrictions on behaviour were removed at
fixed times, and when the full period passed, the mother and her female aides
performed a ceremony of purification by sprinkling salt on the mother and on the
floors of the dwelling. The beginning of a new, normal period free from
pollution also was symbolized by kindling a new fire in the household cooking
stove. Now ready to return to normal life, the mother ate a ceremonial meal with
other members of the family and resumed ordinary relationships with supernatural
beings and other human members of the community. (see also birth rite,
Japanese religion, purification
rite) |
|
|
|
|
|
Most of the scholarly interpretations of
rites of passage of the 20th century have considered their relation to the
social system and have seen the functional significance of the rites as a
contribution to the maintenance of society as a system of congruent parts.
Explicit or implicit in this line of reasoning is the idea of equilibrium found
in any scientific theory concerned with systems. For the system to operate
effectively, its elements must be mutually supportive or congruous, and the
system is then described as being in a state of equilibrium. Social systems
embrace a fixed number of people and a fixed number of roles. Changes in either
the number of the people or the proportions of statuses disturb social
equilibrium. When a child is born, a new member is added to society; the social
behaviour and statuses of its parents change, and these changes also affect
other members of society. Other social changes that are the subjects of passage
rites similarly disrupt the state of social equilibrium. Rites of passage are
seen to foster the development of a new state of equilibrium in adjustment to
the social changes upon which the rites focus. By means of the rites, members of
society are informed of the new social circumstances and at the same time give
social approval to them. Individuals upon whom the rites focus are assured of
success in their new roles by the ritual observances and are given psychological
reassurance in a number of other ways. They and all other members of society are
instructed by the ritual enactment of their new social relations to return to
normal behaviour incorporating the added or lost personnel and the added, lost,
or changed social statuses. The same general kind of reasoning is applied to
various other religious ceremonies. The anthropologists Eliot D. Chapple and Carleton
S. Coon interpret all rites of passage and other group rites as
"rites of intensification." Calling special attention to the ritual
depiction of habitual relationships for the statuses involved, Chapple and Coon
state that this behaviour "has the effect of reinforcing or intensifying
their habitual relations, and thus serves to maintain their conditioned response
. . . In the technical (physiological) sense, the performance of these rites
prevents the extinction of habits . . . to which the individual has been
trained." |
|
|
Closely related to the function of
passage rites in restoring social equilibrium, in the anthropologists'
interpretation, are a group of additional effects or functions, some of which
apply first to the individuals whose statuses change and, through their
behaviour, to the entire social group. Other functional effects apply directly
to the entire society. By allaying the anxiety of individuals who are undergoing
change, social disruption is avoided. Rites of passage characteristically give
assurance of mastery of the new roles and often include instruction in the new
roles. In the many societies in which statuses and roles are clearly
distinguished by sex, the rites symbolically emphasize these differences,
thereby instructing the initiates and aiding them in sexual identification. The
anxiety and potential social disruption caused by death and the grief of the
bereaved are similarly held in check. Funeral rites customarily point up grief
and then firmly instruct the bereaved to resume normal behaviour that is not
disruptive to others. The joint performance of rites and the joint expression of
moral and other social values that are included among ritual acts may be seen as
directly promoting group solidarity through communion with one's fellows and
affirmation or reaffirmation of rules and ideals that foster social harmony. |
|
|
Rites of passage and all other group
rites are seen to be socially supporting in still another implicit way. The
joint rites are customarily a rehearsal or dramatization, with supernatural
sanction, of a part or all of the social order of the society. Relatives have
special roles that are congruent with, or enactments of, their positions in
normal social life, and the entire social hierarchy may be on display during the
rites through the assignment of ritual roles. Thus statuses of kinship, caste,
social equality, and hierarchy are all seen to be reinforced by dramatic
presentation of them. |
|
|
Accepting this group of interpretations
of the social significance of rites of passage, anthropologists have also
attempted to understand variations in the degree of elaboration of rites of
passage among societies of the world. A fundamental assumption is the
commonplace idea that the greater the importance of a social change the greater
the ritual attention will be. The birth, marriage, and death of a ruler
obviously are more important to the entire society than these events in the life
of a commoner. The importance of such events is not always obvious, however, and
their relative importance is often difficult to see when different societies are
compared. Rites of marriage, for example, may be very simple or very elaborate
in different societies of the same economic base and comparable levels of
cultural development. Recourse to consideration of features of the social order
has allowed a reasonable explanation of the differences. Marriage
rites in matrilineal
societies, for example, which are organized into subgroups primarily upon a
principle of descent through female lines only, tend to be simple, and divorce
in these societies is also simple. Marriage rites in patrilineal
societies (in which descent is through male lines), however, tend to be
elaborate, and divorce initiated by females is difficult. |
|
|
In matrilineal societies, the social
core is composed of groups of male and female relatives united by female lines,
which are economically distinct from other groups and self-sufficient. Where the
matrilineal principle of organization is strong, the role of the husband and
father, who belongs to a matrilineal group different from that of his wife, is
not that of economic provider for his wife and children. Instead, he is the
economic mainstay for his sister and her children, and his contact with his wife
may be limited to spending nights with her. The brothers or other male relatives
of a mother not only provide economically for her children but also assume what
is elsewhere the role of the father in socializing children. Enduring unions of
marriage are not vital to such matrilineal societies. If marriages end in
divorce, the matrilineal ordering of society assures approved social
identification, economic support, and affective ties for the children and their
mother and also assures continuance of the society as long as males are
available as procreators. In patrilineal societies, however, the role of the
mother, who is the outsider in the group, is vital for the birth and rearing of
the children, and she and her children are dependent upon her husband for
economic support. Strong sanctions are placed upon marriages in these societies
to help ensure lasting unions. Marriage ceremonies are correspondingly
elaborate, often involving the transfer of property, which among some African
societies is called marriage insurance for the reason that it must be returned
if the marriage falls asunder. (see also
family, kinship) |
|
|
In societies such as those of the United
States and European nations, where the important unit of kinship is ordinarily
limited to the nuclear family
of parents and children and where important social affiliation does not depend
upon descent through one sex of progenitors, enduring unions of marriage are
also vitally important. Rites of passage at marriage traditionally have been
required by law as well as by the church, and many other sanctions on lasting
marriages are imposed by laws concerning divorce, communal property, and the
care of children. The bride and groom who have undergone the whole series of
traditional rites of passage from engagement parties to the religious ceremony
may reasonably be seen as more firmly married than couples united by a simple
civil ceremony (see also FAMILY AND
KINSHIP ). |
|
|
|
|
|
Less scholarly attention has been given
to psychological than to social or cultural aspects of rites of passage, in
large part because the scholars concerned with such rites in world societies
have been principally anthropologists, who lean toward sociocultural
interpretations. As the foregoing discussion of passage rites in social context
illustrates, psychological aspects of rites nevertheless enter strongly if often
implicitly into anthropological interpretations as fundamental matters in social
solidarity and social disorder. Emotional ties to kin and other members of
society, personal identification with social groups and religious statuses, and
commitment to religious ideology and other values are reinforced and sometimes
created by rites of passage. In a realistic sense, the rites serve as blueprints
for social relations and religious behaviour, making clear the acceptable ways
to act and at the same time pointing up and reinforcing affective relations with
other people and with the supernatural. Familial rites of ancestor worship, for
example, are not only reinforcements of familial solidarity but also have
psychological value in reinforcing emotional ties among relatives. |
|
|
Psychological interpretations of passage
rites have given greatest emphasis to their value in allaying personal anxiety.
A recurrent feature of the rites are acts of magic
that assure that the outcome of the endeavour will be successful. In the words
of the anthropologist Bronislaw
Malinowski these acts serve symbolically and psychologically "to
bridge over the dangerous gaps in every important pursuit or critical
situation" that exist because of man's lack of control of the universe. By
such magical means as miniature boats floated in streams or carried away by the
tide, the dead are shown symbolically to go successfully to the other world, and
childbirth and successful maturation are similarly depicted magically. The
subjects of rites of passage frequently act out their future roles to the
approval of all others. Numerous acts of magic that are not essential to changes
in social status may be incorporated in rites of passage and may be seen to give
psychological assurance relating to the future life of the individual.
Traditional Japanese practices at childbirth, for example, required that when a
girl was born, the placenta be buried in the ground outside the entrance to the
dwelling to insure that the girl, when mature, marry in normal fashion and leave
the family. When a boy was born, the placenta was buried inside the house to
ensure that he remain at home when mature. The ordeal that a young man or young
woman must often undergo during rites of coming-of-age may similarly be seen to
provide psychological assurance of success in the new status. Ordeals of this
kind are characteristically uncomfortable or frightening, but they are events
that any human being ordinarily can endure. (see also Japanese religion,
birth rite) |
|
|
The psychotherapeutic value of passage
rites surrounding events in which stress may be acute, such as childbirth,
death, and serious illness, is clearly apparent and essentially follows the
principles of modern secular psychotherapy. The subject is made the centre of
concentrated attention by many people, is given reassuring evidence of their
regard for him, and, by means of magic and the intervention of supernatural
beings, is assured of a successful outcome. These events are carried out on a
high emotional pitch, which gives them added force. When anxiety is induced by
religious beliefs themselves, such as by ideas that if ritual acts are not
performed calamitous results will follow, the rites of passage may be said both
to create and to allay anxiety. |
|
|
Where particular social statuses have
special honour and prestige, the mere existence of these statuses offers
opportunities for gaining psychological satisfaction, and the requirements for
gaining these statuses serve to guide behaviour in socially approved channels
that offer psychological satisfaction. |
|
|
Other interpretations of psychological
aspects of passage rites have relied upon ideas derived from or inspired by the
psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud
(1856-1939). These have sometimes concerned the symbolism involved in the rites
and, in anthropological interpretations, have dealt with both Freudian ideas of
symbols and the social order. The psychologist Bruno
Bettelheim has interpreted cicatrization
(inducement of scars) of males in rites at coming-of-age as symbolic wounds
indicating subconscious male envy of the vagina, the counterpart of Freud's idea
of penis envy. A psychologically oriented anthropologist J.M. Whiting, and
others have combined sociological and psychoanalytic theories in attempting to
explain why male initiation ceremonies are conducted in some societies and not
in others. Harsh rites, sometimes including genital operations, are held to be
correlated with societies in which infant males have long and intimate contact
with their mothers, and husbands are prohibited from sexual intercourse with
their wives for a period of two years or more. The long and exclusive
relationship between mother and son is assumed to lead to strong emotional
dependence upon the mother by the son, which becomes potentially disruptive at
the time the son reaches puberty. The harsh rites are seen to break the bond of
dependency and avoid potential social disruption that might otherwise result
from discord between son and father at this time. (see also
Oedipus complex) |
|
|
|
|
|
Certain passage rites represent first
and foremost transformations in the religious statuses or circumstances of the
people concerned. As already noted, rites of passage are customary upon the
assumption of a new status as a religious professional. During most of man's
history, however, rites of passage have carried among their implications a
change to a new religious state for the ordinary members of society as well as
for the professional religious person. Among the culturally advanced societies
of the world with orders of priests, ideas of the significance of symbolism in
passage rites may be elaborate and sophisticated, representing the rites as
different states of grace or, as in Hinduism, cyclic states involving death and
rebirth. In many societies, one is not fully or properly a human being until he
has undergone the rites of passage appropriate for his age and sex. In some
societies, fully human status is not reached until the rite of Baptism has been
performed, and children who die before that time may be interred with special
rites in places separate from those of the dead who have been baptized. When
passage rites are religious ceremonies, as has generally been the circumstance
until modern times, some state of sacrament or divine blessing, vaguely or clearly
defined, is entailed. At the time of death, rites of passage placing the
deceased in the realm of the supernatural customarily have been required.
Symbolism in many rites of passage denotes communion with the supernatural. In
common with many other kinds of religious events, then, passage rites relate the
individual and the society to the sacred world, conferring benefit upon him
thereby (see also above The
sacred or holy ). |
|
|
Rites of passage frequently have ethical
import of value for the maintenance of social equilibrium. Where ethical or moral
codes and religious beliefs are intimately connected or identified as one
and the same, as in Christianity, Judaism, and Islam, the role of
religious beliefs and acts may be seen to have strong value as social sanctions
since the moral injunctions apply to human relations as well as to man's
relations with the supernatural world. All societies have moral or ethical
codes, rules of what is appropriate and inappropriate in human relations, and
these are enforced by various means. Rites of passage, as noted above, commonly
incorporate statements or dramatizations of moral values, and rites at
coming-of-age often give moral instruction in highly explicit terms. No
necessary or inherent connection exists, however, between morality and religious
beliefs. Any serious breach of proper moral conduct results in the imposition of
a network of sanctions, many of them secular. In some societies, religious
beliefs have little bearing on morality in relations with one's fellow men,
although violations of rules applying to relations with supernatural beings and
supernatural forces may be regarded as bringing inevitable punishment or
misfortune through the supernatural agency. Whenever morality is a part of
religious precepts, the direct sanctioning force of passage rites stressing
moral rules may be powerful and important to the maintenance of society. In
other societies, the ethical import of passage rites and other features of
religion may operate less directly. An example is provided by societies that
revere but do not deify ancestors. Any breach of morality reflects unfavourably
upon the ancestors, who may undertake no action of censure but nevertheless
serve as a sanctioning force that is reinforced by death rites. |
|
|
|
|
|
In simple, primitive societies dependent
for subsistence upon hunting and gathering, in which social groups are small and
specialization in labour is limited to distinctions by sex and age, no social
statuses may exist except those of child, adult, male, female, and disembodied
spirit. Among primitive societies somewhat more advanced technologically and
culturally, however, specialized groups based upon common interests appear, and
these customarily require rites of induction or initiation. In culturally
sophisticated societies, with elaborate divisions of labour, social statuses of
leadership and specialized occupation are multiple. If all societies of the
world, preliterate and literate, are considered, the most commonly recurrent
rites of passage are those connected with the normal but critical events in the
human life span--birth, attainment of physical maturity, mating and
reproduction, and death. |
|
|
|
|
|
Rites surrounding the birth of a child
are often a complex of distinct rituals that prescribe different behaviour on
the part of the mother, the father, other relatives, nonfamilial members of the
society, and with respect to the newborn. Observances may begin when pregnancy
is first noted and may continue until the time of delivery, when the full rite
of passage is observed, and for a variable period of time afterward. In many
simple societies and in European societies of the past, the expectant mother is
isolated from other members of society at this time for the stated reason that
the blood that flows during childbirth has inherently harmful qualities. Where
this belief is strong, the classic couvade may be practiced. Regions of the
world in which this practice was formerly common include the Amazon Basin of
aboriginal South America, Corsica, Spain, among the Basques of France and Spain,
and among various societies of Asia. Old ethnological writings have created the
impression that ritual attention is limited entirely to the father. Later
investigations have made it appear doubtful that the mother in any society is
free from ritual requirements. In many societies, rites that have been called
the couvade are observed by both parents. The anthropologist Alfred
L. Kroeber (1876-1960) reported that among most of the many tribes of
aboriginal California, rites at childbirth were much alike for both mother and
father. To prevent harm to their child and to other people during the ritual
period, the parents observed food taboos; ate in seclusion; avoided contact with
other people; did as little work as possible; and refrained from various other
acts of ordinary behaviour that included cooking, touching tools, and eating
salt, meat, and fish. Women often were under injunctions to scratch themselves
only with a stick or a bone for fear that their nails at this time would leave
permanent scars on their bodies. |
|
|
Practices of sympathetic and contagious
magic relating to birth and the later well-being of both child and mother are
abundant and diverse. Among Indians of aboriginal British Columbia, the mother
inserted a smooth beachstone, an eel, or other slippery object under her garment
at the neckline, permitting it to slide to the ground to symbolize and insure
quick and successful childbirth. In societies of Southeast Asia and Indonesia,
religious specialists dressed as women simulated successful delivery. Rites
directed toward the newborn similarly symbolize or ensure health and well-being
and, after some days, weeks, or months have passed, often include Baptism or
other ritual acts that introduce the child to supernatural beings. Both child
and mother are often regarded as being defenseless at this time, and many ritual
acts have the purpose of protecting them from harmful supernatural beings and
forces. In Southeast Asia and Indonesia, a practice called mother roasting,
which requires that the mother be placed for some days over or near a fire,
appears once to have had the goal of protecting the mother from such evil
influences. This practice survives today in altered form in the rural
Philippines, where it is regarded as having therapeutic value. |
|
|
Native explanations of the ritual
procedures at childbirth reflect beliefs of a mystic affinity between parent and
child, and many of the prescriptions have the manifest goals of preventing harm
to the infant until it is able to fend for itself. Among South American Indians
practicing the classic couvade, this belief of affinity between father and child
relates to the soul, which is not fully transmitted to the child until the end
of the ritual period. |
|
|
In addition to the social (communal) and
psychological significances of birth rites already noted, scholars have offered
interpretations of these ceremonies as reinforcing familial ties. The classic
couvade has been seen by Malinowski as a sympathetic symbolic stressing of the
relationship between the husband and the wife and her kin, which is instituted
when the child is born. In addition to serving as a means of allaying husbandly
anxiety over the welfare of the wife, the practices of the couvade establish
social paternity, which, in turn, promotes familial and societal solidarity. |
|
|
|
|
|
The most prevalent of rites of
initiation among societies of the world are those observed at coming-of-age.
These have frequently been called puberty rites, but, as van Gennep argued long
ago, this name is inappropriate. Puberty among females is often defined as the
time of onset of menses (the menstrual flow), but no such clearly identifiable
point exists in the sexual maturation of males. Moreover, the age at which rites
of attaining maturity are observed vary greatly from society to society, going
far beyond the normal range of years at which sexual maturity is attained. The
definition of maturation is thus seen to be largely social or cultural rather
than solely biological. |
|
|
The full range of stages of passage
rites is often followed in rituals at coming-of-age. Ordeals
or other tests of manhood and womanhood are also common. Some of these practices
in preliterate societies seem incomprehensible or absurd until their nature as
evidence of qualification for the new social statuses is understood. Among the
Bemba tribe of Africa, for example, girls were required to catch water insects
with their mouths and to kill a tethered chicken by sitting on its head. Circumcision
or other genital operations are also a fairly common feature of rites
celebrating the attainment of maturity. Although most commonly applying to
males, genital operations are performed on females in a few societies. It seems
quite clear that circumcision and other alterations of the sexual organs have
not until modern times been regarded as therapeutic surgery. These operations
may have psychological significance following Freudian lines of interpretation,
but it seems clear that they are also significant as insignia of social status.
Where circumcision is the practice for male initiates, the uncircumcised male is
not a full-fledged adult. It may be remembered that at this time other parts of
the body are also modified, by incision, piercing, filing, tattooing, and by
other kinds of practices that are not painful. Circumcision may in fact have no
direct relation to the attainment of sexual maturity. In native Samoa, boys were
circumcised at any age from three to 20. |
|
|
An outstanding feature of rites at
coming-of-age, which is generally less prominent or absent from other rites of
passage, is their emphasis upon instruction in behaviour appropriate to the
status of adults. Instruction in dress, speech, deportment, and morality may be
given over a period of months. Very commonly, instruction is first given at this
time in matters of religion that have heretofore been kept secret, and initiates
may at this time be expected or required to commune with the supernatural,
sometimes by means of revelatory trances induced by fasting, violent physical
exertion, or the consumption of plant substances that produce hallucinations or
otherwise alter the sensibilities. |
|
|
Separation of male initiates from their
mothers and all other females is also common, and ritual events may dramatize
the transition from a world of women and children to one that is ideally male.
Symbolism of these rites dramatizes the separation in such ways as by requiring
the young men temporarily to wear the clothing of women and by rigid exclusion
of all females from participation in the rites. |
|
|
Among the technologically and
scientifically advanced societies of the world, initiation rites have become
increasingly secular. The great religions of the world all included rites at
coming-of-age, but for much of the modern population of these nations the rites
either are not observed or are simply vestiges of the old religious ceremonies.
The most common rites of initiation are predominantly or wholly secular
ceremonies conducted to celebrate such events as entry into a common-interest
association or graduation from school. Rites of initiation such as into
age-graded groups or common-interest societies follow essentially the same
pattern as those at coming-of-age, and their simplicity or elaboration may be
correlated with the importance of the new statuses. |
|
|
As seen by social analysts, the
significance of initiation rites of all kinds is the same as that of other rites
of passage. Some emphasis is given to their didactic value and to their
significance in sex-role identification. One question that has not been answered
is why rites at coming-of-age are so poorly developed today among the
technologically advanced societies of the world. Many factors, including changed
views of the nature of the universe and changed social conditions, appear to
have contributed to the decline of rites of passage. The supernaturalism
traditionally present in the rites is no longer acceptable to many people, and
in the United States and parts of Europe the association of adult status with
sexual maturity as expressed in the term puberty rites has been unwelcome, a
matter that should be excluded from notice rather than celebrated. Probably far
more important in discouraging the rites has been the extreme variation in these
nations in the age of social maturity. In the United States the ages differ at
which one may legally drive a car, enter marriage, own and control property, buy
alcoholic drinks and tobacco, enter military service, and vote; and in some of
these matters the ages differ from state to state. The demands of modern
civilization have, moreover, lengthened the age of social maturity, the time at
which one is an economically productive member of society, and, dependent upon
the number of years of formal education, have produced great variation in the
age of full social maturity. The social and psychological value of rites of
coming-of-age in making the transition to adulthood appears to be substantial,
but modern cultural circumstances seem incompatible with the conduct of such
rites. |
|
|
|
|
|
It is assumed by anthropologists that
marriage is one of the earliest social institutions invented by man, and, as
already noted, rites of marriage are observed in every historically known
society. These rites vary from extremes of elaboration to utmost simplicity, and
they may be secular events or religious ceremonies. Subclasses of rites of
marriage, named and unnamed, exist in many societies, beginning with ceremonies
of betrothal that require
complex formalities of transfer and exchange of goods, which are often regarded
as compensation to the bride's kin group for their loss of the bride. Ceremonies
of dramatic, sham "capture" of the bride by the groom and his
relatives and friends have been common in both preliterate and literate
societies. Marriage in these societies is seen by social analysts as a
cooperative liaison between two different groups of kin, between which some
feelings of hostility exist. Ceremonies of token capture are conducted even when
betrothal and all other arrangements for marriage have long been completed to
the expressed satisfaction of both sides, and the sham captures are interpreted
as socially sanctioned channels for the expression and relief of feelings of
hostility between the two kin groups. In some historically known societies of
Africa, such sham battles between kin of brides and grooms may occur, with full
societal approval, for years after a marriage during any kind of religious rite. |
|
|
Like rites at coming-of-age, ceremonies
at marriage have often included clearly visible insignia of the new social
status, in such forms as wedding rings, distinctive hair dress and garments, and
tattoos, ornaments, or other embellishments that are regarded also as being
decorative. Traditionally, preliminary rites have often provided instruction in
the wifely role. Such instruction might be informal or conducted as a part of
ritual. Rites of marriage proper also often give instruction through mimicry,
dancing, and other symbolic acts that dramatically depict the woman's role in
society, expressing her economic and social obligations and privileges with
reference to her children, husband, other relatives, and still other members of
society. Tests of maturity and rites with the purpose of promoting fertility
have also commonly been included. |
|
|
In addition to sharing the functional
significances of other passage rites, marriage ceremonies may be seen especially
to stress social bonds between husband and wife and their kin groups. In most
societies and during most of human history, romantic love has not been the means
by which spouses are selected. Convention, often strongly sanctioned, has
limited marriage to only certain classes of people. Mutual attraction between
the spouses has been a matter of little or no importance. The importance of
marriage with respect to spouses, children, other kin, and the orderly
maintenance of society is readily inferable. Rites of marriage place a sanction
on unions of marriage that may be very powerful and thus serve as both a means
of conducting an orderly and satisfying human life and also as sanctions for the
orderly maintenance of society. A general correlation may be seen between the
degree of elaboration of marriage rites and the social importance of enduring
marriages in the society in question. Where, as in some of the large, industrial
nations of the world, marriage rites are simple and sometimes secular, a host of
other sanctions operate similarly to foster lasting unions. |
|
|
|
|
|
All human societies have beliefs in souls
or spirits and an afterlife, and all conduct rituals when people die. See below
under Death rites and customs. (E.N.) |
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
