Adolescent Rites of Passage

Bridging the crack cocaine Adolescent Rites of Passold age General Purpose To inform. Specific Purpose At the end of my speech, my audience pull up stakes understand how cultures use adolescent rites of modulation to help population mark the regeneration from childhood to expectanthood. primal Idea Adolescent rites of buy the farmure hand over marked the exit of children into adulthood around the world, and elements of those rituals be organism used in modern American society. INTRODUCTION How did you celebrate your eighteenth birthday? Do you repudiate your graduation ceremony?If youre like most Americans, such events marked the moment you became an adult. It may collect been the day you walked off a lighted stage, clutching your diploma to your chest. Yet if you were an Arunta from Australia, it might be the moment you uprise off of the smoking tree branches you were lying upon and were proclaimed an adult. Regardless of which be the most person altogethery signific ant, we all have moments in our life that we would consider rites of passagemoments that carry us across the threshold amidst two lives.In societies around the world, collective rites of passage have been seen as shipway to initiate young people into adult life. In researching on this topic, I have discovered the important role rites of passage duck soup for youth around the world, and I would like to share this with you this afternoon. Today we will look at the ways in which cultures throughout the world have used rites of passage to mark the transition to adulthood for some(prenominal) boys and girls, and how elements of those rituals are being used today in American society. Transition)To begin, allows look at some of the different rites of passage from around the world that show traditional coming-of-age ceremonies in other cultures that are the basis for new American rituals. BODY I. Rites of Passage in Cultures Puberty is often a signboard in most cultures that a boy or girl is ready to become an adult.A. The Navajo of the American souwest celebrate this milestvirtuoso with the vision quest. 1. The ritual begins when a fifteen to sixteen-year- old boy is taken into a sw prey lodge, where he will be purified in both body and soul before he begins his quest. . During the period before he leaves he will also be advised by a medicine man regarding his coming quest. 3. Finally, he ventures into the wilderness or desert on his own, fasting until he receives a vision that will determine his new name and the direction of his life. 4. When he receives his vision, the community welcomes him indorse as a man (Transition)Like their priapic counterparts in the Navajo, females also have special coming of age rituals. B. The Okrika of Nigeria celebrate coming of age with the Iria ceremony for seventeen-year-old girls. 1.The highlight of this ritual is when the girls enter the Fattening Room. 2. Only leave to travel to the river, the girls stay in the rooms t o gain the weight that the tribe considers attractive. Girls are major powerd to eat large quantities of food. 3. Female friends and family teach the girls how a woman should act. 4. When a girl leaves the Fattening Room, she is considered a woman. (Transition)These examples of the rites of passage for Navajo males and Okrika females show us how different cultures mark the transition from childhood to adult status in the community.Now lets look at the increasing popularity of traditional rites of passage in the United States. II. Increase in Rites of Passage in United States The United States is an ethnic melting pot of cultures and traditions. A. Yet our diversity prevents us from having a single experience, common to all, that celebrates our entrance into the adult community. 1. Some ceremonies are religion specific, such as Jewish Bar and Bat Mitzvahs or Christian baptisms and confirmations. 2. Many children, without religious or ethnic heritage, have no sort of recognition outs ide of high school graduationsif they choose to graduate.Yet Cassandra Delaney writes about graduates, They often are non equipped with the necessary components of a stable adult personality such as a well-reasoned deterrent example code, a faith or world review which sustains them during crisis, and perhaps most importantly, a validatory and cohesive self image. B. With this problem in mind, many Americans are turning to tribal traditions like the ones set forth earlier to help their children have a positive rite of passage. 1. The African-American community is turning rump to its cultural roots to aid companionable ills among young males. a.The MAAT Program attempts to instruct at-risk African-American males on social behavior through sessions with older mentors that incorporate African tribal tradition. b. Program sessions begin by entreaty and an offering of a drink to the ancestors. c. At the end of the design, writes Aminifu Harvey and Julia Rauch of Health and Social Work magazine, the boys mark their passage to manhood by giving themselves another African name, based on their personality, at the final retreat. d. In this way, African-Americans use the rite of passage concept to develop a positive sense of identity for youth. . scour in Washington State, rites of passage are growing. a. An article in the Spokane Spokesman-Review by Jeanette White tells of Stan Crow, who runs a three-week program called The Coming of Age Journey. b. Here activities include challenging hikes and vision quest style nights alone in the wilderness in an attempt to promote self-reliance. c. Rites of passage like these, says psychologist Michael Gurian in the Spokesman-Review article, promote positive self-image because they force children to develop skills to meet challenges, to reflect on goals, and to learn leadership. . In Washington and the entire United States, rites of passage are becoming more popular as a way to fulfill the spiritual and moral needs of yout h while identifying them to a community. CONCLUSION In conclusion, adolescent rites of passage mark the transition to adulthood. In the United States, questions have been raised as to whether rites of passage like those used by Africans, autochthonal Americans, or others might be useful in helping with social problems. Some programs have assay to experiment with the positive potential impact of rites of passage in modern American society.Though coming-of-age ceremonies do not automatically make us adults, they are the milestones of a maturing process we are all on. Think again about what you consider to be your rite of passage. Did the license, the diploma, or the keys to your dorm or apartment make you an adult? Perhaps some are yet mired in that no-mans land called adolescence. Yet it one day might be different. Your child might one day swelter in a Western-style sweat lodge or eat in the Fattening Room your child might depart on a vision quest.Regardless of the method, bridgi ng the gap between childhood and adulthood is , and will always be , one of the most universal and important milestones of human life. BIBLIOGRAPHY Coming of Age as an Australian Aruntas. international nautical mile Jewish Online Education. 1999. Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit. 9 October 2000 . Coming of Age in the Navajo Nation. Michigan Jewish Online Education. 1999. Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit. 9 October 2000 . Delaney, Cassandra Halleh. Rites of Passage in Adolescence. Adolescence 30 (Winter 1995) 891. Elan, Jessica. A Cross-Cultural analogy of Puberty Rites and Ceremonies for Females. The Oxford Review. 5 May 1998. Oxford College of Emory University. 8 Oct. 2000 . Harvey, Aminifu R. and Julia B. Rauch. A comprehensive Afrocentric rites of passage program for black male adolescents. Health and Social Work 22. 1 (Feb. 1997) 30-37. White, Jeanette. Too few of todays children experience traditional rites of passage, experts say. Spokesman-Review 4 Ju ly 2000 A1. Emphasize Pause Put on First opthalmic Pause Use Visual 2 Pause Gesture 1,2,3 Gesture 1,2,3 Slower