Coming Of Age Essays (1205 words) - Rites Of Passage, Commandments

Coming Of Age Coming of Age is a very important ritual in some cultures. Many cultures believe that you need a coming of age ritual to do exactly what it says; come of age, which if u analyze, may mean be of age to produce children. Most coming of age rituals take place around puberty, between the ages of ten and thirteen. Of the ones I have found, they all involve a big celebration of some kind including the whole family. Coming of age rituals may involve boys becoming men, girls becoming women, or both. Of the ones that celebrate both, they may stress more on one sex then the other. The Navahos, the Aruntas, people who study the religion of Judaism, and the Yanomamis are all cultures that have rituals for coming of age. The Navahos of the mid-west united states celebrate both the boys and the girls coming of age, yet they stress the girls a lot more then the men. The men go simply on a vision quest by themselves to find a lifelong helper and guide. The women's rituals are more complex. They celebrate the Kinaalda, which translates to ?Changing Woman?, which is a 4 day ritual for them. The ?Changing Woman? is said to bring fertility and long life to other women of the tribe. A major part of the kinaalda is the traditional run towards the sun's rays, which symbolize life, truth, beauty, and goodness. After the run is completed she will grind corn; which symbolizes the sun to the Navahos, for a cake. At the end of the fourth day they place the cake over a fire for the night. While the cake is baking everyone of the family stays up all night singing and praising, until the break of dawn when the sunlight's rays touch the girl. They sing one final song and then the ceremony is over. The Aruntas, and aboriginal tribe of Australia, celebrates the boys coming of age around the age of ten or twelve. This celebration gives the boy power and approval by the ancestors. First he is taken away from girls and made to march to a camp. Men throw him in the air while women scream and shout. Many patterns are painted on his body by relatives, he is instructed not to play with women or girls, and he is cut in the nasal septum so that he can wear a nose bone. Older men role play in dances as ancients and chant stories about the heroes of sacred times. The boy's future mother in law gives him a burning stick and he must keep the flame alive, symbolizing keeping faithful in a marriage to her daughter who was picked as his bride when he was born. After this, in the men's camp, many rituals are performed over three days to pass down knowledge and tradition from other generations, since they have no written language. He is forbidden to speak unless spoken to. Then the adult women re join the celebrants, but instead of welcoming them back, the men throw pieces of bark at them, symbolizing the removal of the boy from women's influences. After a couple more ceremonies which are very difficult to explain for the culture of these people is very complex, the women are allowed back into camp and the ceremonies are over. The people who study Judaism, many times referred to as Jews, have celebrated the Bar Mitzvah similarly as we know it today since the sixth century CE. I don't prefer to call them ?Jews? because it seems to have almost a mocking tone to it, something Hitler would have said, and we all know what Hitler did. The Bat Mitzvah was not developed until the middle ages. The difference between the Bar and Bat Mitzvah is that the Bar Mitzvah is for the boys becoming man and the Bat Mitzvah is for the girls becoming women. Mitzvah can be translated as ?good deed? or commandment. The Bar/Bat Mitzvah occurs when a child has reached thirteen years of age. Before thirteen it had to been seen that the parents were obliged to carry out religious responsibilities for the child. During the religious service of the Bar/Bat Mitzvah,