Part I

Oftentimes people in Western culture struggle to believe that they partake in any rituals of transition. The reality, however, is that people in cultures across the globe all experience transition, they just may not be as distinct as others that are commonly studied. In the United States, perhaps the most obvious rituals of transition include birth and death. It is fairly common across the country for Americans to celebrate, or at least acknowledge, these occurrences. Each family may hold their own unique traditions for celebrating these events, however they often hold the same basic structure. There are other rites of passage celebrated in the United States that are not celebrated for every citizen, such as college graduation, marriage, having children, or obtaining a career. 

If you were to ask an American what rituals of passage they themselves have experienced first-hand, they may initially struggle to find one. A person of the Christian faith may say their confirmation, or someone that is Jewish might describe his or her bar or bat mitzvah. Some people, like myself, were not raised to have such strong religious beliefs, and therefore can not relate to these rituals. When I began watching these lecture videos, I was first convinced that none of the things mentioned would be relevant to me. I quickly realized that I myself had fallen victim to this same belief held by many Americans. I came to the realization that rites of passage are not always the traditional rituals that students learned about in high school world history lessons, such as young boys being dropped in the wilderness to fend for himself for days or displaying a young woman’s first menstrual experience for her family. 

Part II

As I mentioned, I was not raised in a very traditional family, in a sense that there were no stern rites of passage that I had to look forward to. Instead, I think I placed the emphasis on myself to transition into different sectors of my life and mature at my own pace; something I appreciate and commend my parents for providing me with the comfort and ability to do. Through this, I was taught not to conform to gender or sometimes even age normalities. If I wanted to play with a race car as a young girl, my parents encouraged this and perhaps even provided me with a race track. If I had a question that many would believe was beyond my years, such as about puberty, my parents were open with giving me the truth to understand my own body and allowing such information to be readily available. Small things like these that I experienced as I was growing up allowed me to steadily transition into my teen and adult years without having any sudden shocks or confusions. As I learned more about the real world and adult life, I was eager to begin work and make money of my own. I vividly recall walking around my neighborhood with flyers, advertising my availability for babysitting. My parents encouraged this motivation, and commended me when I got my first job. Although it was only for the afternoon and just down the street, I felt that I had gained my first taste of independence. This first experience has encouraged me to continue growing, improving, and prospering in my professional life, and for that reason I believe that this first job was certainly a rite of passage in my life towards transitioning into a young adult. With a lot of dedication, babysitting eventually turned into tutoring, which taught me valuable life skills regarding interacting with people and having a mutual respect for others. These things allowed me to easily transition into future jobs and continuous growth.

Although this ritual of transition may seem unconventional to many (and not quite comparative to the definition of a ritual), I sincerely believe that this one small experience as a young child molded me into the driven person that I am today. As something that my parents encouraged of me, I could fairly assume that their parents had some touch of this parenting as well. Because my grandparents were first generation immigrants to America, I feel as though they took advantage of the capability of raising their children less traditionally than the upbringing they experienced in India. Since I feel that I have gained so much from this, I certainly will continue to mend and improve these tactics on my own kids in the hopes that they feel the same success and pride that I have. 

Part III

The example of college students within the liminal stage in the lecture video is incredibly relevant to the experiences that my peers and I have felt in the past few years. One of the most profound things I have noticed is regarding when I come home from the summer. During the school year I am used to coming and going when I please, but now that I am living with my parents again I have to get used to having a curfew again. This is a difficult thing for me to get used to every year because it is such a quick culture shock. 

College is certainly a time that many young adults struggle gaining comfort in their own bodies and learning how to properly behave without having an adult hovering over your shoulder for assistance. As children, many girls are socialized to like dolls and pink, frilly things, while boys become accustomed to blue and more “masculine” toys. I think that an implicit message that I gained from moving to the liminal stage of college is that these gender constrictions are not and should not be held in modern times. Although I mentioned before that I was raised untraditionally in this sense, I still held the mindset that girls should wear dresses and boys wear suits. Through my time at MSU, I have found that people are gaining comfort in challenging these roles. The fact that it takes many people 18 or more years to be proud of their own skin shows that coming of this age means partaking in a rite of passage for many. 

From an explicit perspective, I have noticed some strict gender rules regarding the Greek Life community that I am a part of. When first joining, I could not grasp the outdated norms regarding the gender segregation of the things men in fraternities and women in sororities can do. Perhaps the most shocking part, was that the national committees of each of these houses are the people that enforce these segregations the most. Men are loosely watched by their nationals and allowed to throw parties, trash their homes and treat their new pledges poorly. Women on the other hand are expected to dress properly and formal conversations with the women that are rushing. From my perspective, this is a counterintuitive action that adults who attended college 30 years ago are enforcing, rather than attending to the normalities of today.