Coming of Age Rituals Around the World

Every traditional culture has marked the moment at which a child becomes an adult. The exact form of the marking varies enormously, from the synagogue Torah reading of the Bar Mitzvah to the elaborate waltz and última muñeca of the Quinceañera, from the secret bush initiation of a West African teenager to the public bowing of a Japanese twenty-year-old on Seijin-no-Hi. But the underlying shape is remarkably consistent: the candidate is taken out of ordinary life, held in a betwixt-and-between state, instructed, tried, and returned to the community in a new status.

This section surveys the coming-of-age rituals of the world. It treats the Bar and Bat Mitzvah of the Jewish tradition; the Quinceañera of the Latin American Catholic tradition; the Christian Confirmation of Europe and Latin America; the West African Poro and Sande initiations; the Brazilian debutante ball; the Indian Upanayana; the Japanese Seijin-no-Hi; the Chinese Guan Li; the Thai Buathuk; the Apache Sunrise Ceremony and the Apache Na’ii’ees; the Jewish conversion ceremony; the Muslim coming-of-age prayer; the Bahá’í coming-of-age ceremony; and the Samaritan ritual of the Paschal lamb. It draws on the pattern first described by the anthropologist Arnold van Gennep: separation, liminality, and reincorporation.

The Pattern of the Rites of Passage

Van Gennep’s threefold pattern, refined in the later work of the folklorist Victor Turner, has become the standard lens through which folklorists read coming-of-age rituals. In the separation phase, the candidate is taken from the everyday world. The Jewish Bar Mitzvah begins, in effect, with the moment the boy turns thirteen and is counted in the minyan, the quorum of ten adult men required for prayer; the Quinceañera begins with the previous night, in which the girl is prepared for the mass. In the liminality phase, the candidate is held in a state between two worlds, often subjected to instruction and ordeal. The Apache Sunrise Ceremony is four days of dancing; the West African Poro initiation may last several years in the bush. In the reincorporation phase, the candidate is brought back to the community, recognised in the new status, and celebrated.

The pattern can be detected, in slightly different forms, in the Bar Mitzvah of the synagogue, the Quinceañera of the Latin American church, the Upanayana of the Hindu boy, the Seijin-no-Hi of the Japanese adult, and the secret initiations of the West African Poro and Sande societies. The same shape is visible in the seasonal festivals of the agricultural year, in which the year itself is treated as undergoing a death and a rebirth.

The Jewish Bar Mitzvah and Bat Mitzvah

The Bar Mitzvah, at which a Jewish boy at thirteen reads from the Torah for the first time, is treated in detail in its own dedicated article. Its folk roots reach back to the Talmudic period and to the older agricultural calendar of the Jewish people, and its modern form is shaped by both the Sephardic and the Ashkenazi traditions. The Bat Mitzvah, the equivalent ceremony for girls at twelve, was a much later development: the first public Bat Mitzvah in the modern sense was that of Judith Kaplan, the daughter of the rabbi Mordecai Kaplan, in New York in 1922. Both ceremonies are tied, in the wider folk imagination, to the seasonal calendar and to the oral tradition of the Jewish people.

The Latin American Quinceañera

The Quinceañera, the great celebration of a Latin American girl on her fifteenth birthday, is treated in its own dedicated article. Its roots reach back to the Aztec and Maya coming-of-age rituals of pre-Columbian Mexico, and its modern form was shaped by the Catholic Confirmation introduced by the Spanish missionaries and by the 19th-century debutante ball of the European and American bourgeoisie. The ceremony includes a mass, a reception, a waltz, the última muñeca (the last doll), and the formal presentation of the girl to the community. The custom has survived in Mexican-American and other Latin American communities, and it is treated, by folklorists, as one of the most striking examples of the Latin American folk tradition.

The Christian Confirmation

The Christian Confirmation, in which a young person in their early teens is confirmed in the faith by the bishop, has its roots in the apostolic practice described in the Acts of the Apostles. The medieval ceremony involved the laying on of hands and the anointing with chrism. In the Latin American Confirmación, the ceremony was blended, in many regions, with the older pre-Columbian coming-of-age rituals of the indigenous peoples, in a process described in the Quinceañera article. In modern Europe and North America, Confirmation is often deferred to the mid-teens, and the family celebration is a central part of the rite.

The West African Poro and Sande Initiations

In West Africa, the most elaborate coming-of-age rituals are those of the Poro and Sande societies, secret initiation societies that have existed for centuries among the Mende, Temne, and other peoples of Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Guinea. The Poro is the society for boys, the Sande is the society for girls. Both involve the seclusion of the candidates in the bush, the instruction in the lore of the society, the symbolic death and rebirth, and the public return to the community. The Sande mask, the carved wooden helmet of the Sowei spirit, is one of the great masterpieces of African folk art, and is described in the wider West African folk tradition. The Griot, the professional storyteller of the Mande world, often plays a role in the public return of the initiate.

The Brazilian Debutante Ball

In Brazil, the baile de debutantes is the public presentation of a young woman to society, on her fifteenth or sixteenth birthday, in a great formal ball. The custom has roots in the Portuguese and European aristocratic tradition of the 19th-century debutante ball, and it was brought to Brazil by the imperial court of Pedro II in the mid-19th century. The Brazilian debutante ball is a striking parallel to the Quinceañera of the Spanish-speaking countries, and the two are often discussed, by folklorists, as parallel adaptations of a common European ancestor to the realities of Latin American Catholic society.

The Indian Upanayana

The Upanayana, the sacred-thread ceremony of the Hindu boy, is one of the oldest coming-of-age rituals in the world. It is described in the ancient Grihyasutras and the Dharmasutras, and it has been performed, in essentially the same form, for more than two thousand years. The boy, usually between the ages of eight and twelve, is invested with the yajnopavita, the sacred thread that crosses his chest from the left shoulder, and is initiated into the Gayatri mantra and the study of the Vedas. The ceremony is still performed in Hindu families across India, and it is treated by folklorists as one of the clearest examples of the samskara, the life-cycle ritual, in the living Asian folk tradition.

The Japanese Seijin-no-Hi

The Seijin-no-Hi, the Coming-of-Age Day observed in Japan on the second Monday of January, is the public ceremony at which young people who have turned twenty in the previous year are recognised as adults. The young men wear dark suits; the young women wear the furisode, the long-sleeved kimono with elaborate patterns. The ceremony is held at the local city or ward office, and is followed by family gatherings. The Seijin-no-Hi has roots in the older genpuku ceremony of the Heian court, and it was revived in 1948 as part of the post-war Japanese calendar. The Japanese Matsuri calendar, treated in the seasonal festivals section, includes a number of related coming-of-age rites.

The Chinese Guan Li

The Guan Li (also written Kuan Li), the capping ceremony of the Chinese tradition, marked the moment at which a boy, usually around the age of twenty, was recognised as an adult. The ceremony has roots in the Confucian classic Li Ji (the Book of Rites), and it was performed in essentially the same form for more than two thousand years. The boy was capped three times — once with a cap of plain cloth, once with a cap of silk, and once with a cap of the highest rank — and given a zi, a courtesy name, by which he would be known as an adult. The Guan Li has been largely discontinued in mainland China since 1949, but it is still observed in some families in Taiwan, Hong Kong, and the Chinese diaspora.

The Thai Buathuk

The Buathuk, the Buddhist novice ordination of the Thai boy, is the moment at which a young man, usually in his teens or twenties, is ordained as a Buddhist monk for a period of weeks, months, or years. The ceremony is often treated as a coming-of-age ritual, in which the young man earns merit for his parents and demonstrates his readiness for adult responsibility. The Buathuk has roots in the older Theravada Buddhist ordination, and it is one of the central rites of the Thai calendar. The wider Buddhist festival calendar is treated in the seasonal festivals section.

The Apache Sunrise Ceremony and the Apache Na’ii’ees

The Apache Sunrise Ceremony (also called Na’ii’ees, the Enemy Way Ceremony, or the Puberty Ceremony) is the central coming-of-age ritual of the Apache girl, observed over four days at the time of her first menstruation. The girl is dressed in the traditional buckskin outfit, painted with white clay, and led through a series of ritual dances and chants. The ceremony is built around the figure of White Painted Woman, the Apache deity, and it is treated by folklorists as one of the most elaborate surviving indigenous coming-of-age rituals in North America. The wider Native American tradition supplies the context.

The Jewish Conversion Ceremony

The Jewish conversion ceremony, in which an adult enters the Jewish people, is itself structured as a kind of coming-of-age ritual. The candidate studies for at least a year, is examined by a rabbinical court, immerses in the mikveh, and, if male, is circumcised. The ceremony has roots in the biblical practice of proselytism, and it has been performed, in essentially the same form, for more than two thousand years. The wider Jewish folk tradition, of which the conversion ceremony is a part, is treated in the Bar Mitzvah article.

The Muslim Coming-of-Age Prayer

In much of the Muslim world, the moment at which a child is expected to begin the daily prayers is treated as a quiet kind of coming-of-age. In some traditions, the child is given a small prayer rug, a misbaha (prayer beads), and a copy of the Qur’an, and is led through the first prayer by the father. In other traditions, the child is sent to the madrasa, the religious school, to begin the formal study. The ceremony is less public than the Bar Mitzvah or the Quinceañera, but the underlying pattern — instruction, recognition, reincorporation — is the same.

The Bahá’í Coming-of-Age Ceremony

The Bahá’í faith has a striking coming-of-age ceremony at the age of fifteen, in which the young person reads from the Bahá’í writings, pledges to serve humanity, and is recognised as a full member of the Bahá’í community. The ceremony is observed across the world, and it has been taken up, in the last fifty years, in Bahá’í communities from Iran to the United States. The Bahá’í calendar of festivals is treated in the wider Asian folk tradition.

The Samaritan Ritual of the Paschal Lamb

The Samaritans, the small ancient community of Mount Gerizim, observe one of the oldest continuous coming-of-age rituals in the world: the sacrifice of the Paschal lamb on Mount Gerizim at Passover. Boys at the age of thirteen take part in the slaughter of the lamb, marking their entry into the adult community. The ritual is described in the Samaritan version of the Pentateuch, and it has been performed, in essentially the same form, for more than two thousand years. The wider Jewish and Samaritan folk tradition is treated in the Bar Mitzvah article and in the seasonal festivals of the Jewish calendar.

The Recurring Pattern

When these rituals are placed side by side, the recurring pattern is unmistakable. The candidate is separated from ordinary life. They are held in a liminal state, in which they are neither child nor adult, and in which they are subjected to instruction, ordeal, and symbolic death. They are reincorporated into the community, in their new status, in a public ceremony. The Bar Mitzvah, the Quinceañera, the Poro, the Upanayana, the Seijin-no-Hi, the Sunrise Ceremony — all are doing the same work, in their own local forms. The work is, in the end, the work of the whole festival tradition: it is the human community reminding itself, in the body of one of its members, of what it means to belong.