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Rites of Passage/Separation, initiation, and reintegration

Rites of Passage are significant transition points in the lives of people. They occur often and in many ways throughout a lifetime and in all cultures. There is a marking or a celebration of times that are considered to be a special period of growth, a period of separation from the past and a transition or journey forward to a new stage of life often involving a challenge to change and become new, to mature or move into a different period of growth. These times are celebrated with rituals or ceremonies that include whole communities. A mythologist named Joseph Campbell “put forward the idea of a threefold rite of passage called the monomyth”. He used it in hero roles in legends and myths to illustrate how it applies to humanity as well. A rite of passage included three parts, separation, initiation, and reintegration. It had to do with the coming of a time to separate oneself from family, friends, old ways, or an old life. It is a time when one separates themselves from everyday surroundings and society and takes a ‘sacred voyage’ or journey to a special place, a sacred place. This place is often where one endures hardships or tests that cause a person to think about all they have learned and have been and who they really are and intend to be. This stage is often called the initiation and is marked by a challenge or struggle. It is a time of overcoming, a time of accomplishment and at its end one emerges a changed person returning to their daily existence. They are reintegrated into society in a new way, a new person. An example of a rite of passage here in the United States among adolescents could be found in the Catholic Church practice of confirmation. In the Catholic Church, babies are baptized at birth. This is the parents and congregations commitment to raise the

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