define rite of passage

"rite of passage". I have heard this term used in this forum as well as on t.v. I am still sketchy on what the definiton is or what are some common examples of such.

My guess would be milestone in a young male life. But what are consider some examples?

Tradional rites of passage involved a journey, where the three parts, separation, crossing a threshold, and return, are each symbolic. Sometimes such rites of passage are still arranged, for example by sending a teenager on a retreat to some place away from home. More commonly today, the phrase "rite of passage' just refers to some threshold point, or crossing a figurative bridge, after which a new stage in the journey to adulthood begins. There are lots of common examples. Some of the big ones in everyday life, in no particular order:

Bar mitzvah or confirmation
first drink or getting drunk
loosing virginity
getting driver's license
getting first car
first job
getting married
first child expected
first morgage


Other are a little less wholesome, depending on who you are, and where you live:

First time getting stoned or tripping
First time getting arrested
First time in jail
etc.

The word rite is actaully an old term for ceremony and passage means moving from one point to another.
Rite of passage means to move from one point in a person's life to another with some event signaling the change. That event is the rite. Usually there is a defining moment that signals that change. A moment that we all look back on as the moment that a new beginning was made. Baptisms, marriages, engagements, the first acknowledgement of puberty. The first shave for a guy. The first kiss, the first sex act. and so on are rites of passage from childhood into teen or adulthood depending on the situation. Certainly graduations from any level. And just passing from grade to grade is a rite of passage.

Some rites of passage are not things to celebrate. The rite of passage from being an adult who can take care of him or herself to one dependent on others for the rest of their lives is a sad rite of passage. Certainly moving into a nursing home and not being happy about it is a rite of passage as well.

It is a poetic phrase to signify those things as well. Even if the person doesn't recognize the rite of passage the writer does and comments on it in the narrative of a biography or novel.

I hope this helps.

A very interesting Forum. Of course there are also more milestones in life that we all too often over look:

purchase of first automobile
purchase of first home
retirement from active employment
birth of a first child
birth of a first grandchild
the death of a parent (accepting this fact and realizing that you are also growing older)

The list can of course be endless. I had to up date this to bring it to the top so that others could share their milestones.