Rites of Passage and Pilgrimage

The following materials are key presentation points developed by the instructor during class lectures. They are not a substitute for student participation in the class lectures, but a highlighting of the pertinent items considered.

Theme: How have peoples defined the "individual" and integrated the experience of the "individual" within the larger fabric of their societal and ecological worlds?  How have various cultures facilitated the process by which their individuals acquire an identity?  Here our focus will be on the "life cycle," and the formation of one's identity through rites of passage, and pilgrimage.  There are various ways "birth," "marriage," and "death" are marked and celebrated, and in turn, hold significance and meaning for the individual and community.  For some people their well-being is ultimately measured in terms of the health of their "community," while for others it is measured in the achievement of an autonomous, self-reliant "individual."  Given each orientation, the manner in which "individual" versus "community" "rights" are negotiated will vary considerably.   What is a "healthy person"?  How are our self identities formed?

Rites of Passage and Pilgrimage

Essential in Tribal-Traditional societies, but expressed in all cultures. A rite of passage entails four universal components:

1. Orphaned Status. Something is missing, a void needs filling, be it one's youthful inexperience and in need of adult wisdom, spiritual chaos and in need for divine guidance, or illness and in need of a healing, for example.
2. Journey and Death.
   • A separation involving a symbolic "journey" and quest, into a "liminal state" - "betwixt and between,"
   • A sacrifice and a symbolic death - "intimacy with death."
     • To "die" is to validate the process
     • To "die" is to be brought to the threshold of the sacred, to journey to the "other side camp"
     • To "die" is to sacrifice and give up something
     • To "die" is to render the neophyte void, as nothing, emptied, and thus very receptive
3. The Acquisition of Power and Knowledge. The void is filled. Having been rendered receptive, as warmed wax, the neophyte can be molded in the imprint of the sacred and/or of adult roles and responsibilities. What one acquires is knowledge of the ancestors, of the Dreamtime. This is knowledge that emanates out of and is associated with societies Margaret Mead calls, "postfigurative." One looks to the past as the guide for one's experiences. This is in contrast with "prefigurative societies," where one looks to one's peers and an anticipated future as a guide to experience.
4. Affirmation and Rebirth. The individual is reintegrated into society, acknowledging the newly acquired status, becoming an "adult" or perhaps a "healer" and spiritual leader (shaman).

For additional discussion of the four stages of a rite of passage, as well as on the context and functions of rites of passage, go to the following page: Rites of Passage.  And for a diagram of the rites of passage and pilgrimage processes.

These four stages are also essential to and are replicated in most forms of pilgrimage, be they a personal or collective pilgrimage.   Examples of pilgrimage include the Huichol pilgrimage to Wirikuta, the sacred land of the Peyote, and the Muslim pilgrimage or the Hajj (44min) Hajj (22 min) to Mecca

An insightful question remains, why are rites of passage so much more essential in Tribal-Traditional societies, and less so in Euro-American societies?  The answer is, in part, the difference between a collective, kinship-based society as opposed to a society that emphasizes "individualism."

For an illustration of the power of rites of passage, the oral tradition, and the journey that unfolds, see "If all these great stories where told, . . . . "

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