Rites of Passage: Notes, Exercises, Examples, Thoughts

Yesterday I came across an essay by a teacher - Ceallaigh S. MacCath - on Rites of Passage. She defines what a rite of passage is by using the work of two scholars who have written on the subject. She provides a literary example and asks workshop questions for comprehension (which I will answer here). 

Here is the link: https://csmaccath.com/blog/what-rite-passage  - please read her essay before you proceed reading my response to it! 

I realized I was worried and nervous after I read the post and after exchanging notes with MacCath. I have my own personal issue with the idea of performance. I take issue with the idea of performance, generally. 

MacCath's example, from Terry Pratchett's book Monstrous Regiment, is a startling elucidation of *performance* that I felt a deep aversion to (in it, a girl pretends to be a boy in order to join an army, and then must act in certain ways as a boy to gain acceptance by the entire company, I assume which consists of males). I do not accept gender labels such as these, in fact, I hate the idea of gender as performance completely. So when I started putting two and two together, the whole idea of a rite of passage seemed completely unnatural. 

During an online exchange with MacCath, she clarified that a rite of passage, indeed, is a performance of a kind, and, as she writes eloquently in her essay, a rite of passage by definition follows a 3-fold structure of separation, transition, and incorporation.

Marriage seems very clear to me here; she uses that example in her essay. Separation from the "single" life, then, transition (by way of a period of engagement), and finally, incorporation (a life shared and lived together, marked by a wedding). The rite of passage seems to be a series of events, then, or acts: proposal, engagement, wedding / separation, transition, incorporation.

My own example (after realizing that accepting a job offer, in terms of folkloric traditions, doesn't quite make the cut) would be one in which I perform a funeral for a dead fish, who I named Crystal Light. Separation: the death of my goldfish, found floating at the top of a glass bowl. Transition: preparing a box for my goldfish, placing Crystal Light inside, then inviting my childhood friends (one of which was my cousin) to the "funeral". Incorporation: making a speech about my fish, making my childhood friends kiss the box, digging a hole in the backyard and placing the box in and finally burying Crystal Light, placing a stone above the site, saying goodbye to a life lived with Crystal Light. The series of events: death, wake/funeral, burial (separation, transition, incorporation). 

Of course, I merely followed the same procedures I had witnessed from various funerals I had been to up until that point in my life. But rite of passage, I feel, had the same intention and emotion behind it.

I hope my example is a correct one. 

Now I want to try answering MacCath's exercise questions in relation to Monstrous Regiment.

MacCath already explained *separation*: when Polly leaves home and/or when she announces her decision to become a soldier. 

Transition: I'd think the transition is shown in the dialogue when Polly begins to answer beyond just saying yessir or no'sir, when she adds her own, personal answers to the mix: i.e. when she says, "Yes, sir. No'sir I just want to join up to fight for my country and the honor of the Duchess, sir!" - so she says yes and no, she's a bit shaky, but then finally comes up with her own answer. There's a brief period of Polly being a bit "on her toes" when answering the Corporal and Sergeant, and this would be the transition. Even when she can finally answer more assuredly and comfortably, as before, such as when she's asked if she's keen to join and she says, "Keen as mustard, sir" - this is still the transition (of proving herself to the Corporal and Sergeant). 

Incorporation: When Polly, when urged by the Sergeant, signs her name on the official document, and then when she is prompted to kiss the Duchess (symbolizing her being like the others, her joining up with the rest of the "team"). Her reward: money and a pint of ale. 

So the transition: being able to answer questions appropriately by officers in positions above her, and finally, incorporation: doing as the entire army does, acting as the army acts. 

I honestly hate this rite of passage example but it definitely works to help me understand what this concept and procedure actually is. 

Reflecting on rites of passages in my life, I cannot think of any (besides perhaps marriage in a sense and funerals, again, in a certain sense) that have been completely voluntary. It is quite difficult, indeed. 

Lastly, I have come to realize through thinking about this that I am much more familiar with the idea of *ritual* and practicing *rituals* than I am with rites of passage. Not only more familiar with ritual,  but much more comfortable with it than the 3-fold structure of the rite of passage.