Part I:

Rituals are very important within a society. Societies use rituals to unite groups of people who share similar cultural beliefs in order to signify progress or obtain status within a community. Rituals are often performed to display some form of transition from one status of society to the next. For instance, in American culture, a very common ritual performed by a large majority of society is a wedding. The wedding ceremony can include a variety of different themes, dances, foods, etc. but there is a ritualistic practice that is incorporated into each ceremony that signifies unity between the two individuals and is accepted by society as proof of their union. Following this ritual, both individuals’ status changes within society and their classification within the legal system, their employment, their social security, their taxes, etc. change as a result of this union.

Part II:

I have gone through a variety of rituals in my lifetime. The most memorable for me was the ritual of American childbirth. In America, it is hard to think of childbirth in a hospital as a form of ritual. Something about all of the doctor’s appointments and rushing to the hospital for medical staff to assist with delivery does not seem as special as other cultural ritual practices of childbirth, but it certainly is. The doctor’s appointments leading up to birth of the child can be determined as the preparation for birth and motherhood. All of the medical tests, ultrasounds, vitals, blood draws, etc. are in preparation for a successful birth ritual. The day of birth, you are admitted into the hospital, given special clothes, prepared by doctors to meet certain predetermined standards, and hooked up to machines where you sit in a hospital bed surrounded by family, friends, and multiple forms of medical staffing. There are different specialists who will visit and perform tests and provide treatments throughout your stay. At the moment of delivery, there are specific methods of coaching that are implemented to progress the woman through childbirth. Everyone involved is supportive and understands the steps of the ritual. Once the child is born, the medical staff take the baby and perform certain tests and provide treatments to it while the mother finishes the end of the childbirth process and is cleaned up. The baby is then handed over to the parents for a beautiful moment of shock and awe and then everyone is asked to leave while the mother is asked to breastfeed for the first time with the help and support of the medical staff and the other parent. Once the child has been fed, the mother has gotten her rest, and the medical staff have finished all of their final tests, the family and friends are welcomed to return back to the room for visiting. At the time, it was scary and I felt unsure about everything. I had never been admitted to the hospital before and even with the hospital visit before the day of childbirth, everything felt foreign and intimidating. I had a lot complications, so I remember worrying about the fact that the ‘ritual’ kept having to change from my original expectations. I remember these chaotic adjustments invoking fear in my family members, which scared me even more. Looking back, I now know that most of what occurred is common among many women but is rarely discussed. I have also learned that although many women are educated about childbirth and the steps of the ritual, that there are many things that occur that are not often discussed. For instance, what happens if you are not fully dilating at the expected rate of time and the steps of the rituals immediately following removal of the baby. I do know that within society, my status has changed and I gained societal admission to many new groups and communities as a result of becoming a parent.

Part III:

The concept of belonging-liminality-belonging can definitely be applied to my college experience. In the beginning, you are removed from one group and put into a different group of people who have also been removed from their respective groups to begin this new journey. In my case, I never lived in a college dorm. From my first day of school, I lived in an apartment with roommates who went to the same school as I did. For all of us, it was our very first time living away from our parents and taking college-level courses. It was a vulnerable stage in my life walking onto campus and trying to find my first class. Seeing so many people that had so many different majors, minors, societal statuses, etc. it was definitely a shock. I did not feel like I belonged and wondered how I would ever come to a point in life where this felt normal. Which brings me to the second transition of my college experience or the liminal period.  During this period, I was taking college-level courses and learning more about my chosen major each day. I was straying away from the group of friends I had made in high school and started to bond with people I had seen in classes and around campus. In the final step of belonging, that would occur following the end of my college studies and transitioning into employment, which I am very close to. I anticipate this transition into the ‘real world’ being just as intimidating as the first week of college, as I will likely not feel as though I belong and will wonder how I would ever get used to it.

The college experience is often culturally perceived as a time of exploration. For males, it is expected that they spread their wings and take full advantage of being away from their parents with the freedom to drink, party, have endless sexual encounters, and experiment with different types of classes and employment along the way. I have perceived the expectation for women to be a lot different. Although, they are gifted with the same exact freedom as men during this rite of passage, women are expected to study hard and attempt to find employment or internship opportunities early, so as to find a job immediately following school. I have learned that individuals are not as accepting of women who do not have a declared major or employment goal for the end of college. It is also expected of women to be able to organize and juggle many extracurricular activities while also maintaining good grades, while that expectation for men is not typically as high. As I’ve grown up in society, I have also found this to be true in many other situations, as well.