L: Coming of age ceremonies are rituals, and rituals are important to humans, particularly in helping to keep the culture alive. We have to understand that these rituals are embedded within cultures.
J: Using words like ‘savage’ to describe a cultural practice shows how we judge people from other cultures that are not our own. If you live with lions everyday, then dealing with lions is something you have to learn, just like Navajo women have to learn how to work with corn that they eat everyday. I thus support the point that different cultures ask different things from their youth and from this understanding I believe we should not judge what these ceremonies include until we understand how people live their lives in these cultures and what they need to know to do so.
F: A discussion of ‘modern times’ may indicate that these rites of passages are no longer needed. However, Grof is of the opinion that people needs rites of passage and they continue to be needed in contemporary society (6). These rites of passage take place within a community that cares about the individual and share a common understanding and thus can offer support. In the USA where people are so fragmented and such communities hardly exist, rites of passage are needed to provide individuals with an accepted context for dealing with both positive and negative emotions (Grof 9). Rites of passage have played an important role in human development and this continues to be the case in a lot of cultures. These continue to be important for children moving into adulthood, and when rites of passage are missing there can be negative consequences.
Works Cited
Grof, Christina. “Rites of Passage: A Necessary Step Towards Wholeness.” Crossroads: The Quest for Contemporary Rites of Passage. Eds. Louise Mahdi, Nancy Geyer Christopher, and Michael Meade. Open Court Publishing, 1996. 3-16. Print.
