Rites of Passage part 1

”A rite is the beginning and ending. It marks the closure of an important time while signifying the beginning of another…rites are often bigger than ourselves…a rite brings the "star" into a community experience. This passageway is not to be done solo, but is celebrated together with loved ones, family, and friends….”

                                                                                                                                          David Olshine

Lately I've been thinking a little about rites-of-passage. Christmas is coming, the end of another year is almost upon us and a new year is soon to begin.

A rite of passage can simply be defined as a ritual event that marks a person’s progress from one phase of life to another, for example; the leaving of childhood and the entering of adulthood.

The idea of a rite of passage is certainly not new. It was and still is a key component of the Jewish faith and other traditional cultures.

I’ve been doing some reading on this topic and discovered that Arnold Van Gennep wrote a book in 1902 entitled The Rites of Passage. In this he identifies rites of passage as having 3 distinct phases – separation (from a previous world), transition (threshold between the old and the new), and re-incorporation (into the new world).

As a father of four children (including three sons), all still living at home, I’m wanting to be intentional about developing some relevant rites of passage practices that will serve each individual child and our family community well.

Two years ago, as our eldest son Scott was transitioning from leaving primary school ('old world’) to commencing high school ('new world’) I decided to take him out for some quality father-and-son time. We shared some food and drink and we talked about things such as expectations for the new year and the new school. We also talked about faith, responsibility, physical development and parental support. It wasn’t a particularly lengthy conversation, but I believe it was certainly worthwhile - I'm pleased we could do this together. I also gave Scott a book at the time, written for teenagers by a local Christian author.

Our second son Tim will soon be finishing up at his local Primary School before commencing high school in the new year. I plan to take him out and have a conversation in a similar vein to what I shared with Scott. I'll get a book to give Tim as well – have to say that I’m looking forward to practising this simply family ritual, again.

In my next post I hope to share a few thoughts about rites of passage and youth ministry – stay tuned.