Rites of passage

‘If you don’t initiate your young men into the tribe, they will burn down the village’ says an old African proverb.

As I watched the London and then the national riots in 2011, quite literally it seemed that the ‘village’ was being burned down. Young people who felt alienated from society were taking to the streets.

But even without the riots, there seems to be a growing destructive reality among disillusioned young people in our culture today.  It’s not just the tabloid headlines as young people head off to Syria to fight or horrendous acts of gang violence in pockets of our urban landscape, it’s also about the self-harm epidemic and the fact that suicide is the biggest killer of young men in the UK today.

For me, lots of this lies in the fact that we are living in world that focuses so much on our rights and not enough on our responsibilities. We talk about the right to do what we want to do but not about the responsibility that comes with these rights.

The question is how could or should youth work help to address this balance. I believe that one of the key ingredients is the re-introduction of rites of passage.

A rite of passage is very simply a ritual that marks the change in status from boyhood to manhood, from girlhood to womanhood. These rites of passage exist in many cultures as individuals move through the seasons of life.

It was the German anthropologist Arnold Van Gennep who coined the term rites of passage. He had studied numerous tribes and had found there were three distinct stages. Firstly, there is a separation from the main community. Secondly, a time of transition and finally, re–integration into the community in a new state.

The Yao tribe is a great example of this process. In East Africa, groups of boys aged 11 are taken into the bush as part of the ‘Jando experience’ where they are circumcised. As they work through the healing process, over a month, they are taught how to cook, how to grow food, how to look after children and be a good husband. As part of this process, they are taught how to behave within community and how to relate to their elders and contribute to community meetings.

When the 11 year olds are re-integrated back into their community, there are significantly different expectations upon them, not as boys but as young men.

Now, I am not suggesting, that next Wednesday’s youth club should involve taking the 11 year olds into the woods to be circumcised, but there is something profound about this experience that we have lost in the UK.

In the UK today, a rites of passage has been belittled to drinking too much on your 18^th birthday or losing your virginity. The ‘coming of age’ US films celebrate the right to party, to drink to excess and to get laid but very rarely talk about the responsibilities that come alongside these rights. Much of the issue here is that when the rites of passage are peer led rather than being led by elders, the responsibility to the wider community is never the focus.

I believe that rites of passage are part of our heritage. The Jewish tradition celebrates this journey into adulthood. Although it is not found in scripture, it has been celebrated since the first century. The Bar Mitzvah (meaning Son of the Commandment) and Bat Mizvah (Daughter of the Commandment) ceremonies mark a coming of age at 13 for boys and 12 for girls (as they traditionally enter puberty).

It’s during this ritual that the young men and young women become responsible for all of their actions and are able to be involved in all areas of Jewish life. They can own property, get married and must follow the 613 laws found in the Torah.

Wouldn’t it be stunning to see this idea of punctuating a journey into adulthood celebrated more across our youth work practices? How could this shape a generation’s understanding of both rights and responsibilities?

Ultimately, when I look at the ministry of Jesus, I see this concept of rites of passage being outworked. Jesus chose disciples, who were probably little more than teenagers, who left normality and went through a transformational experience. Then, after the resurrection, they were commissioned with a depth of understanding of the rights and the responsibility they had as carriers of the life transforming Gospel.

Here are 5 practical thoughts in creating a rites of passage…

1. There needs to be has to be something about stepping away from normality. Time away from the norms of society.
2. Rites of passage should be an experience. Jungian psychologists Sanford and Lough outline four important dimensions – the physical, social (about finding out how you fit into the social order), psychological (establishing a distinct identity that is separate from that of their parents) and spiritual dimensions (a way of connecting with the divine order). How can these be worked through practically?
3. There has to be some kind of ritual. Baptism and communion have been important rituals in Christianity. Is there a way in which they could be tied in? Or are there things that can be learned from the uniformed groups who have often recognising and celebrating the journey in adulthood?
4. There needs to be elders. It’s vital that manhood and womanhood are spoken over young people not just by their peers but by those older than them. How could this be tied in with mentoring?
5. Finally, the young adults need to be re-integrated into community and the community need to affirm the shift that has taken place. 

Andy Frost is Director of Share Jesus International