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Cultural Traditions

Coming of Age

An Introduction to Cultural Anthropology (by Lowie, Robert Harry)
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (Tom ... (by Twain, Mark)
Great Expectations Volume: 1 (by Dickens, Charles, 1812-1870)
Charles Dickens (by Belle Moses, Charles Dickens)

Many cultures around the globe have coming-of-age ceremonies, which mark a person’s transition from childhood to adulthood. The ages, rituals, and ceremonies vary from culture to culture.

An Introduction to Cultural Anthropology states that rituals are commonly linked with puberty and death, the transition to adulthood arriving more dramatically with girls than boys. After going through the beautification rituals associated with adulthood, girls were traditionally presented to the community for probable suitors.

In the Latin American culture, when a girl turns 15, she celebrates her “quinceañera.” Traditionally, the quinceañera is a way for fathers to introduce their marriageable daughters to society. As part of the celebration, the girl attends a Catholic Mass where she receives a blessing. Sometimes she will renew her baptismal vows at the Mass. After the church, a festive dance party is held. Some girls participate in a changing of the shoes ceremony in which they swap their girlish flat shoes for a woman’s high heels.

Boys are often challenged with enduring physical pain. In some Polynesian cultures, a ceremony involving tattooing and enduring pain signified adulthood. An Introduction to Cultural Anthropology also mentions the rituals that boys go through:

Their elders frighten, scratch and generally haze the boys, each of whom has a front tooth knocked out. In return, the youngsters get a new name, sacred stones, the right to marry and eat all kinds of food—in short they ultimately gain full-fledged citizenship.

In Vanuatu’s Pentecost Island in the South Pacific, boys mark their entrance into manhood by participating in a traditional land diving ceremony. The boys leap from a 100-foot tower with a vine tied around their ankles. The vine’s length is carefully chosen to prevent them from hitting the ground.

Seijin-no-Hi is Japan’s annual Coming of Age Day festival. This public holiday is held on the second Monday of January in every city ward in Japan. The festival honors all men and women who celebrated their twentieth birthdays the previous year. The participants are officially recognized as adults and ceremoniously granted the freedoms and responsibilities associated with coming of age. Women usually wear kimonos embellished with fur, and men usually wear a suit and tie.

In literature, many characters earn credibility as responsible individuals by overcoming obstacles, rather than going through adulthood rituals. Mark Twain’s intrepid character Huck Finn fakes his own death in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, so that he can escape living with his alcoholic father. In Great Expectations by Charles Dickens, Pip is an orphan who, despite his many challenges, exhibits great personal growth.

By Regina Molaro