It is believed among these people that young girls form romantic attachments to water spirits. Before they are considered marriageable and allowed to receive mortal suitors, they must first free themselves from these attachments. This is accomplished by the coming together of the girls at the river on successive dawns to sing the songs they have learned. On the final day, the initiates return to the riverbank and the water spirits are expected to attempt to seize the girls by force. This can be prevented by the Osokolo, a member of owuper society (the male counterpart of the egbelereme). He strikes the girls with sticks, driving them back to the village, ensuring both their safety and future fertility." (Delaney)
These rites of passages play an important role in the life of adolescents. Sadly in our modern society, such rites have lost their significance and these important phases of life are either neglected or celebrated in meaningless ways. celebrating the entrance into adulthood by awarding high school diplomas, giving robes on graduation day etc. are all our ways of celebrating this new phase in life. But do they have the same impact as traditional rites?
In modern America, laws regarding child labor and mandatory school attendance, and also the organization of the educational system into age grades have served to isolate adolescents from the rest of society. The obligation to spend the day together in a scholastic environment has led to a strong tendency for adolescents to socialize among themselves during their leisure time." (Delaney)
It is believed that the entire high school entry system and when the person is actually with his peers in high school, it serves as an important rite which is similar in significance to the rites of passage. Students are surrounded by peers their age, teachers treat them differently and they are constantly...
Rites of Passages of puberty followed by Eskimo and Australian Aborigines. The indigenous cultures of the past have always held a great regard for the traditional and superstitious. Elaborate rituals are associated with each aspect of life and the people celebrate these rituals as a community. The community being patriarchal in most circumstances the dominance of the male hierarchy is clearly seen and that the rituals are associated then with
Boon should have nursed the dogs" (The Bear, 215). Irving Howe points comments of Sam's role as a mentor as well as his place as the priest in the ceremony: "the boy's mentor, in the hunt and the acknowledged priest of the ceremony that could be held only in the forest" (William Faulkner: A Critical Study, 93). The symbolism of the characters and the events in Faulkner's short novel is
Some Chinese researchers assert that Chinese flutes may have evolved from of Indian provenance. In fact, the kind of side-blown, or transverse, flutes musicians play in Southeast Asia have also been discovered in Africa, India, Saudi Arabia, and Central Asia, as well as throughout the Europe of the Roman Empire. This suggests that rather than originating in China or even in India, the transverse flute might have been adopted through the
Social Contracts: Media Articulation Of The Rites Of HETEROSEXUAL vs. HOMOSEXUAL MARRIAGE RIGHTS In the Land of the Free where the Bill of Rights is supreme, all marital unions between consenting adults should be accorded the same level of societal respect and legality under federal and state laws. It was just a few decades ago when the Gay Rights Movement was born in a raucous Greenwich Village bar, but homosexuals have become
The piano plays quick octaves and the urgent bass motive portrays an intense wild ride. This strong galloping is also being formulated by the piano's triplet rhythm which allows for the development of the dramatic storyline's urgency. 5. ) There are four different characters in this piece: the Narrator, the father, the son, and the Erlkonig. Although Schubert uses one singer to portray and sing all of the four parts
Sacraments and Learning Having a Catholic background but not being particularly religious, I learned a lot from this course about the history of the Church's use of sacramentals and sacraments, rituals and symbols. Whereas before, I was somewhat aware of these without really understanding their significance or their origins, now I can appreciate what they mean and how they developed out of cultural and historical practices. What I expected to learn
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