Coming of Age Ceremonies from Around the World

I did a virtual field trip on the different coming of age traditions, I visited “13 Amazing Coming of Age Traditions From Around the World” (Nunez & Pfeffer, 2016). There are several coming of age traditions all over the world. Each culture has a different way in which they celebrate the transition from childhood to adulthood. It is the period in which one goes from being a girl or a boy to a young woman or man. The age of this transition and the how of the celebration largely depends on the particular culture.

One of the most well-known comings of age traditions is Bar and Bat mitzvah. This is celebrated by Jewish boys and girls at the age of twelve and thirteen years respectively. (Nunez & Pfeffer, 2016). It is a demonstration of their commitment to the Jewish faith. Young Hispanic girls celebrate their Quinceanera during their fifteenth birthday, it starts with a Catholic mass and then they have a large fiesta – party- with friends and families. The Maasais of Kenya has several rites of passage that take place between the ages of ten and fifteen. There are celebrations characterized by drinking milk and cow’s blood and eating large chunks of meat, they are then followed by circumcision.

In the Apache Tribal lands in New Mexico, the people base their traditional rites on their deity, White Painted Lady (Madison, 2016). It is a four-day ceremony that is characterized by intermittent fasting, eating ritual foods, vigorous prayer sessions, and abstinence from bathing. The first and last mornings of the ritual start with ceremonial runs. On the last evenings, the girls dance together until dawn. When compared to the Hispanic quinceanera tradition, one can spot several differences. The quinceanera is basically a Christian religious ceremony. The girls renew their baptismal vows during the mass before the party. They dress up in pretty dresses for the ceremony and are given presents since the ceremony coincides with their birthday. The entire event takes place in one day. In the Apache ceremony, the girls are streaked bright yellow on their faces and scalps with bee pollen. This is a fertility agent. This is collected from the local cattails and stored in bee pollen, no one is allowed to buy the bee pollen.

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