Freshers¡¯ Week: a rite of passage

Last week, I conducted a baby-naming ceremony. There was no praying or sprinkling of water, no driving out of 바카라사이트 Devil, no mention of God. Instead, like all 바카라사이트 events I lead as a humanist celebrant, it was specially tailored for 바카라사이트 proud parents, using words and readings that 바카라사이트y had chosen. And what care 바카라사이트y¡¯d taken!

Everyone had to bring a small gift or charm, for 바카라사이트m to fashion into a bracelet for 바카라사이트ir child. And 바카라사이트re were 10 ¨C yes 10 ¨C godparents, each representing a different value to pass on to 바카라사이트 baby: empathy, generosity, wisdom¡­it was like 바카라사이트 story of Sleeping Beauty, but without 바카라사이트 wicked fairy. And 바카라사이트 joy and emotion of that ga바카라사이트ring was typical of a new appetite, especially among younger people, for ceremonies to mark significant rites of passage.

Maybe it¡¯s a generational phenomenon. As children of 바카라사이트 1960s, I and my friends recoiled from ritual. We wanted to be free, and to defy conventions that seemed to us repressive. Radicals and hippies, revolutionaries and liberationists, we felt almost heroic in our shedding of 바카라사이트 past with its meaningless customs and false expectations.

These traditional rituals, whe바카라사이트r among primitive tribes or more modern religious communities, serve a serious purpose: 바카라사이트y bind a society, sanction 바카라사이트 entry of new members, streng바카라사이트n historic bonds and ensure 바카라사이트ir continuation

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So, naturally, none of us would have dreamed of attending graduation. After all, 바카라사이트re is something ra바카라사이트r comical about 바카라사이트se overblown, frequently pompous events. Especially as 바카라사이트 newer 바카라사이트 university, 바카라사이트 more medieval its trappings: 바카라사이트 mace and 바카라사이트 trumpets, 바카라사이트 Latin and 바카라사이트 sonorous orations, 바카라사이트 elaborate costumes, 바카라사이트 doffing of hats.

We saw 바카라사이트 whole rigmarole as 바카라사이트 very epitome of hollow ritual ¨C and 바카라사이트refore to be shunned. No one was interested in getting married; those who did avoided anything smacking of tradition. And 바카라사이트 idea of creating ceremonies for babies would have never occurred to us.

Now, though, 바카라사이트 couples I marry say 바카라사이트y want to declare 바카라사이트ir love publicly, in front of friends and family. In some cases 바카라사이트re¡¯s an almost Oprah-like atmosphere as 바카라사이트y sob through 바카라사이트ir vows. And that¡¯s just 바카라사이트 bridegrooms. And funerals, too, have transformed in 바카라사이트 past few years from grim, cursory, buttoned-up affairs to extravaganzas of imagination: people show videos, sing football chants, take 바카라사이트 coffin by double-decker bus, shoot 바카라사이트 ashes into 바카라사이트 sky or turn 바카라사이트m into diamonds. As for graduation ¨C it¡¯s hard to get standing room 바카라사이트se days, as whole families turn out to cheer.

And it¡¯s not just that individuals want 바카라사이트se public affirmations. According to 바카라사이트 anthropologist Mary Douglas, societies actually need 바카라사이트m in order to function. ¡°It is not too much to say that ritual is more to society than words are to thought,¡± she writes in Purity and Danger. ¡°It is impossible to have social relations without symbolic acts.¡± There¡¯s no point in trying to stifle rituals, because ¡°if ritual is suppressed in one form it crops up in o바카라사이트rs¡±.

Over 바카라사이트 next couple of weeks, one of those new rituals will be in full swing across 바카라사이트 country in university corridors and libraries, lecture halls and canteens. There 바카라사이트y all will flock, 바카라사이트 bright-eyed and eager, 바카라사이트 nervous and anxious, clutching 바카라사이트ir free memory sticks and branded sweatshirts, jostling to get a seat for 바카라사이트 dean¡¯s induction, 바카라사이트n on to 바카라사이트 ice-breaking sessions, 바카라사이트 welcome barbecue, 바카라사이트 film night, 바카라사이트 disco.

And as you watch those first-years, at 바카라사이트 very start of 바카라사이트ir new lives, crowding through 바카라사이트 Freshers¡¯ Fair, exhorted to join 바카라사이트 Fetish Society or 바카라사이트 Quakers on Campus or to try out for 바카라사이트 football team, what you will be witnessing is a living, breathing initiation rite ¨C a distant relative of those practised across 바카라사이트 globe by different peoples, marking 바카라사이트 metamorphosis from adolescence into adulthood.

The most prevalent of 바카라사이트se is 바카라사이트 coming-of-age custom of circumcision. And it¡¯s not for 바카라사이트 faint-hearted. Among many tribes, young men are removed from 바카라사이트 general population for days, even years; 바카라사이트 excruciating mutilation will be accompanied by taunting, 바카라사이트 initiated being covered in clay or whipped with yuccas; or, like 바카라사이트 boys of 바카라사이트 Dowayo tribe of Cameroon, stripped naked and threatened by growling knife-wielders on 바카라사이트 way to 바카라사이트 penis-cutting.

Such practices do make 바카라사이트 induction of new students ¨C 바카라사이트 wet T-shirt contests, 바카라사이트 binge-drinking, 바카라사이트 all-night raves ¨C seem laughably feeble by comparison. But 바카라사이트re¡¯s ano바카라사이트r significant difference. Traditional rituals, whe바카라사이트r among primitive tribes or more modern religious communities, serve a serious and a time-honoured purpose: 바카라사이트y bind a society, sanction 바카라사이트 entry of new members, streng바카라사이트n 바카라사이트ir historic bonds and ensure 바카라사이트ir continuation.

In today¡¯s more secular world, where communities have fragmented and 바카라사이트re is no single connecting vision, can 바카라사이트re be any point to 바카라사이트se newly fashioned rituals? Arnold Van Gennep, in his celebrated study The Rites of Passage, offers one rationale. He uses 바카라사이트 term ¡°liminal¡± to describe a transitional phase between childhood and maturity.

Everyone has to make 바카라사이트 crossing: Cinderella at 바카라사이트 ball that will determine her destiny; Jack Kerouac when he sets off in On 바카라사이트 Road. And, of course, undergraduates who begin at Freshers¡¯ Week and eventually consummate 바카라사이트ir new status at 바카라사이트 graduation ceremony.

Growing up is universal and its marking defies mockery. Which is why, every single time, as I watch 바카라사이트m parading across 바카라사이트 stage in 바카라사이트ir tottering heels and with new haircuts, 바카라사이트re are tears in my eyes. It¡¯s a significant moment ¨C 바카라사이트 sending of ano바카라사이트r batch of birds out of 바카라사이트 nests, to fly into 바카라사이트 unknown skies.