rite of passage

Definition

A ceremony or series of ceremonies, often very ritualized, to celebrate a passage or transition from one stage of a person's life to another.

Etymology

From rite + of + passage, a calque of French rite de passage. The French term was coined by French ethnographer and folklorist Arnold van Gennep (1873–1957) and popularized in his work Les rites de passage (1909).

Example Sentences

• "The passage through the jambs would thus signify regeneration or new birth, which was to be followed by either sacrifice or by the purifying rite of passage through the fire; for although the passages are so narrow that they could not be used as ordinary gates, they were wide enough for this purpose, for the sacrificial victims were always youthful."
• "The so-called rites of passage, which occupy such a prominent place in the life of a primitive society (ceremonials of birth, naming, puberty, marriage, burial, etc.), are distinguished by formal, and usually very severe, exercises of severance, whereby the mind is radically cut away from the attitudes, attachments, and life patterns of the stage being left behind."
• "After John officially attained his majority, Robert bought him his first beer. This is a common American rite of passage."