Van Gennep's "Rites of Passage", Durkheim and Turner's Theory of Communitas
I. Classify using Van Gennep's categories and point out aspects which would be
of particular interest to Turner and to Chapple and Coons.
The Mescalero girls' puberty ceremony is an example of a "Rite of
Passage," a ceremony that marks the transition of an individual from one stage
of life to another (Chapple and Coons, p. 484). The ceremony marks the
transition from girl to "mother of a nation" (p.252). The ritual serves as a
means of establishing equilibrium after the crisis of puberty (Chapple and Coons,
p. 484). It is a method of making this transition from girl to woman easier.
I classified this ceremony as a Rite of Passage, rather than a Rite of
Intensification, because it is held in response to a non-periodic change
(puberty) and it affects the participants individually. The community plays an
important role in supporting the girls-by building the tepee, for instance. At
times, as when the......
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