NYC-Feature Story

What's a Rite of Passage?

I wanted to learn more about rites of passage and the role they play in teens' lives. So I interviewed Dr. Anita Gurian, clinical assistant professor of child and adolescent psychiatry at New York University School of Medicine, and the author of many articles and books on child development.

—April Daley

NYC: What is a rite of passage?

Dr. Anita Gurian: Most people think of a rite of passage as a stage of life or a ritual that marks a celebration of a change in a person's social, sexual or working status. The big four are birth, coming of age, getting married and dying.

NYC: Who takes part in rites of passage?

Gurian: It's generally the adults indoctrinating the children in the culture of their group. In formal rites of passage, it's the adults planning the ceremony.

NYC: When do rites of passage start?

Gurian: Many people think of rites of passage as starting in the teenage years, but they start at birth. It's all a process of becoming part of your family and community at every age. Birthday parties start very early. And some people keep baby books in this country-marking a first smile, a first day of school, a first haircut. A baby book is very valuable to the parents, and represents to the child, as she or he grows, the passage from one stage of life to another.

NYC: When do rites of passage take place for teens?

Gurian: Coming of age usually coincides with puberty and adolescence. Rites of passage can be religious, like a bar mitzvah, or they can be something like getting your first driver's license, going to a prom, applying to college, a first date, or in certain cultures, a debutante ball that introduces young people to society.

NYC: Why do we participate in rites of passage?

Gurian: For many reasons. The first reason is that most young people want very much to please their parents and relatives, and to feel they're bonded to a group or culture. For young people, a rite of passage serves as a road map or blueprint for how to behave and acceptable ways to act and to dress. And a rite of passage forms strong bonds between people in the community. In turn, it strengthens the community as young people join.

NYC: What are some interesting rites of passage?

Gurian: Recently I read about something in Japan. When a baby girl was born, the placenta (birth material expelled after the mother gives birth) was buried in the ground outside the entrance to the house. That was to ensure the girl would marry and leave the family. For the boy, the placenta was buried inside the house to ensure the boy stayed at home. Whether this worked or not, I don't know.

NYC: What is a negative rite of passage?

Gurian: A lot of college students are joining fraternities and sororities. And sometimes that can be a negative rite of passage. There's hazing, which can be very cruel. Also, joining a sorority or fraternity means you're excluding other people.

This is also an age when we see a lot of eating disorders in young women as they become so preoccupied with perceiving their bodies as consistent with what our culture expects.

Experimenting with drugs or alcohol is also a negative rite of passage.

NYC: How important are rites of passage to psychological development?

Gurian: I think they're very important. As children grow up, this is the way they learn what's expected, valued and treasured in their culture. Rites of passage bind the generations. In a formal rite of passage, lots of people assemble to note this; they focus on and welcome the child to a new stage of life.

When you think of how many different kinds of families we have today, rites of passage are even more important to help children develop a solid sense of who they are and what their culture is. With so many different types of families and the divorce rate so high, rites of passage are even more important to help children develop a sense of their heritage. I think new rituals and new rites of passage are going to grow out of this diversity of families.

NYC: Do rites of passage differ by culture?

Gurian: In small communities, the traditions are more settled and the particular forms that rites of passage take are more expected and less likely to vary. In a more urban atmosphere, there are so many different cultures converging and there's much more interchange taking place between and among cultures. You see traditions evolving and changing.

NYC: Do different cultural ceremonies have different purposes for teens or do they all serve the same purpose?

Gurian: They serve the purpose of indoctrinating the child into the customs and values of the culture, but different cultures have different values. So if you wear your hair in dreadlocks in one place, it's part of the culture but in another place it would be seen as quite foreign.