Re: Rites of Passage
Shannon Adams (shannon_adams@byu.edu)
Tue, 20 Aug 1996 09:40:10 -0700
Robert Snower wrote:
>
> geroldf@sdd.hp.com (Gerold Firl) wrote:
>
> >In article <4ut8ln$j5n@mtinsc01-mgt.ops.worldnet.att.net>, rs222@worldnet.att.net (Robert Snower) writes:
>
> >|> .................................................... you find the
> >|> central theme of rites of passage to be circumcision, castration, or
> >|> metaphors thereof.
>
> >That seems like an excessively psycho-analytical view; sometimes a
> >circumcision is just a circumcision. %^)
>
> >Consider an african age-graded society, where young people go through
> >an initiation ("rite of passage") to enter into the next grade of
> >adulthood/seniority; the boys do get circumcised, which makes them into
> >men, but I don't get the feeling that any psychological metaphors of
> >castration play a major role. The ritual marks their public graduation
> >into a new social role.
>
> But why didn't they eat ice cream and cake, and then play bingo? That
> would be a splendid way to "mark their public graduation into a new
> social role." No. They got circumcised. Why?
>
> >Since a major part of the adult role consists of bringing the next
> >generation into existance, the rite should be expected to include overt
> >sexual components.
>
> The "adult role" consists in a million different activities, including
> of course ones related to sex, of which their are an infinite number
> of symbols. Circumcision? Why on earth that?
I think it was van Gennep (not sure about this) that made reference to teeth
filing (canines specifically) as a rite of passage in SE Asia (?)(maybe
India, oh well, I can't remember). Who ever it was said that this rite was a
symbol for controlling the "animal" and emphasing the human. Could
circumcision be something akin to this? Redefining sexual behavior/maturity
as wholely human by separating a human penis from an animal one? (That's
probably way out there but oh well.)
>
> >Consider also the initiations of the masonic orders, which have little
> >or no sexual connotations. Here we see more clearly the importance of
> >broader-based social roles as defined by the rite of passage.
>
> I am not acquainted with the content of these ceremonies. But I would
> see them as degraded or metaphorical versions of the primordial, and
> the emotion which infuses them as of ancestral origin..
>
Maybe the primary difference between rites of passage involving circumcision
and the rites of the masons is that the masons are (traditionally at least, I
have no idea about the present) a society of only males. Sexually maturity,
and the privileges etc. that go along with that status (legitimate sexually
activity, etc.) are not at issue in a masonic rite.
(big snip about the emergence of society etc.)
> Best wishes. R. Snower rs222@worldnet.att.netShannon
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