Rites of Passage Tonya Taylor-Moyd ANT 101 Anthropology Dr.  Katie Bojakowski May 9, 2016 1) Select one aspect of your own culture (African-American) from the list provided for Part I.Be sure to review the relevant sections of the textbook for each topic. Once you've made your selection, please delete all other options. Rite of Passage This is the ritual that symbols the transition from one chapter of development to the subsequent. The types of rites of passage include birth, adulthood, marriage, death (Crapo, 2013). They are used to achieve diversified social transitions in the society. Even though several cultural assimilations have taken place in the American society, these beliefs on rites of passage are widely practiced in the African-American community. Birth of a child is marked with celebrations such as of naming the child and marking of the growth chart. Transition to adulthood on the hand is marked with various activities. While some take the children to the mountains for hiking and camping for some days. Some are isolated from the community for a period and even shaved. Marriage is where two people leave behind their families and join in matrimony to form a family of their won. It is marked with joyous celebration (Crapo, 2013). The next transition is death which is marked with funeral celebrations. The African-Americans do not practice the eldership rite of passage in the cultures. After the marriage ritual, the next ritual one looks forward to is his death. These older people once they retire are taken to senior homes where they start to use hearing aids, stop driving and taking part in other activities. When such activities start taking place, it is clear that their end is nearing and that they should be ready for funeral arrangements. The culture of aging is one that is not guided by cultural importance and thus the elders do not have a smooth pass to death and even afterlife. Among the African-American communities, all their rites of passage have practiced the people fully, but those of eldership and ancestry are not fully adopted. Rites of Passage Page 5 of 7 2) Select a source to use for Part I of the paper. You will be using your textbook and the article by Miner for this section as well, but for this assignment, include the source you found on your own. Review the tutorial onEvaluating and enter the reference in the space below. Reference entry in APA format: . Crapo, R. H. (2013). Cultural Anthropology. San Diego, CA: Bridgepoint Education Serei, C. (1972). African Rites of Passage. Thought,47(2), 281-294. doi:10.5840/thought197247220 3) Select one article from the list for Part II. Once you've made your selection, please delete all other options. Tsuji, Y. (2011). Rites of passage to death and afterlife in Japan. Generations, 35(3), 28-33. Retrieved from the EBSCOhost database. 4) Summarize each of your sources. Summary of your source for Part I (include one to two paragraphs). Enter the summary in the ...

1. Rites of Passage
Tonya Taylor-Moyd
ANT 101 Anthropology
Dr. Katie Bojakowski
May 9, 2016
1) Select one aspect of your own culture (African-American)
from the list provided for Part I.Be sure to review the relevant
sections of the textbook for each topic. Once you've made your
selection, please delete all other options.
Rite of Passage
This is the ritual that symbols the transition from one chapter of
development to the subsequent. The types of rites of passage
include birth, adulthood, marriage, death (Crapo, 2013). They
are used to achieve diversified social transitions in the society.
Even though several cultural assimilations have taken place in
the American society, these beliefs on rites of passage are
widely practiced in the African-American community. Birth of a
child is marked with celebrations such as of naming the child

2. and marking of the growth chart. Transition to adulthood on the
hand is marked with various activities. While some take the
children to the mountains for hiking and camping for some
days. Some are isolated from the community for a period and
even shaved. Marriage is where two people leave behind their
families and join in matrimony to form a family of their won. It
is marked with joyous celebration (Crapo, 2013). The next
transition is death which is marked with funeral celebrations.
The African-Americans do not practice the eldership rite of
passage in the cultures. After the marriage ritual, the next ritual
one looks forward to is his death. These older people once they
retire are taken to senior homes where they start to use hearing
aids, stop driving and taking part in other activities. When such
activities start taking place, it is clear that their end is nearing
and that they should be ready for funeral arrangements. The
culture of aging is one that is not guided by cultural importance
and thus the elders do not have a smooth pass to death and even
afterlife. Among the African-American communities, all their
rites of passage have practiced the people fully, but those of
eldership and ancestry are not fully adopted.
Rites of Passage
Page 5 of 7
2) Select a source to use for Part I of the paper. You will be
using your textbook and the article by Miner for this section as
well, but for this assignment, include the source you found on
your own. Review the tutorial onEvaluating and enter the
reference in the space below.
Reference entry in APA format:
.
Crapo, R. H. (2013). Cultural Anthropology. San Diego, CA:
Bridgepoint Education

3. Serei, C. (1972). African Rites of Passage. Thought,47(2), 281-
294. doi:10.5840/thought197247220
3) Select one article from the list for Part II. Once you've made
your selection, please delete all other options.
Tsuji, Y. (2011). Rites of passage to death and afterlife in
Japan. Generations, 35(3), 28-33. Retrieved from the
EBSCOhost database.
4) Summarize each of your sources.
Summary of your source for Part I (include one to two
paragraphs). Enter the summary in the space below.
Cultural Anthropology
This article describes the different cultural views of people in
the society on rites of passage rituals and practice. Crapo
establishes that there are cultures that have life-marking events
of all rites of passage stages that are, birth, adulthood,
marriage, eldership and ancestry (Crapo, 2013). When most
cultures celebrate the first three rituals, others do not celebrate
the last two. They do not believe that elders should undergo any
other rituals or even be celebrated once they are dead. Contrary
to these other communities support the practice of the rituals for
eldership and ancestry rite of passage. The transition from
adulthood to elderly and to death thereby being an ancestor is
natural (Crapo, 2013). Since they are natural as the other rites
of passage, then they should be accorded the same importance
and be practiced. Rituals are very important in every society
and any society without them has no human social existence.
There is great diversity in people's beliefs based on
environmental, technological and social differences which help
them to choose how to practice the various rituals. There are
universal aspects that define rites of passage such as the ritual
behavior, belief in life after death and belief in transition
through all the stages of life together with the importance of the

4. people in the society. These ritual behaviors function to bring
the community together, establish the various life stages and
their importance and the importance of celebration of life
activities.
Reference
Crapo, R. H. (2013). Cultural Anthropology. San Diego, CA:
Bridgepoint Education
African Rites of Passage
There are five major African components
(birth, adulthood, marriage, eldership, and ancestorship) to the
rites of passage which are central to human progression and
advancement (Serei,1972). These rites of passage were initially
customary performed by African descendants while they were
developing to bond the single person to the communal
environment and the communal environment to the
comprehensive and more powerful divine creation. Rites of
passage are a normal and essential fragment of society, as are
head, arms, hands, legs and foot expected and indispensable
extension of the human frame. These rites of passage are dire
to the person and communal progress, and it must not be
assumed that individuals mechanically cultivate and progress
into accountable, communal-adapted grownups (Serei, 1972).
The process of initiation during the rites of passage distresses
undertaking a vital set of rites to start a new chapter or
commencement of life cycle. It denotes the transitioning from
one chapter of development to the next more established
chapter. Initiation chapter during the rites of passage
essentially has to do with revolution and has been a
fundamental element of customary African beliefs since time
long-established (Serei, 1972). The specifics of the rites of
passage differ among the diverse cultures, but these rites of
passage are nonetheless basic mechanisms of the culture as they
help conduct the individual from one phase in life into the next
phase of one’s lifecycle and advancement, that is, from birth to
bereavement and beyond into spiritual existence (Serei, 1972).

5. Reference
Serei, C. (1972). African Rites of Passage. Thought,47(2), 281-
294. doi:10.5840/thought197247220
Summary of your source for Part II (include one to two
paragraphs). Enter the summary in the space below.
Rites of passage to death and afterlife in Japan
Tsuji talks about the Japanese rites of passage up to death and
afterlife in Japan (Tsuji, 2011). Contrary to the American
society where death at old age is not marked by many people in
the society as a rite of passage, Japanese elders undergo so
many rituals throughout their old age and even after death.
Their culture prescribes the rituals of rite of passage from ages
sixty to one hundred and eleven. Even when this group of
people dies, they do not suffer any aging pain as they know they
will be honored by their descendants. So many changes are
taking place in the rituals in Japan. As a result, the funeral costs
have gone up, and there is increased shortage in grave sites
(Tsuji, 2011). While some take flowers and place on
tombstones, bones of the dead to the house or forests, some
perform the rituals through hosting living funerals. The old
mark the passage of death even before they pass on. The event
is celebrated with all family members to see what the event will
be like on the very day. This practice helps eliminate the
anxiety that comes after when one reaches older ages, and there
is no ritual for this rite of passage. The Japanese elders get to
celebrate their auspicious birthdays and mortuary rituals (Tsuji,
2011). The Americans lack the rituals that help the elderly
people maneuver through their aging process with cultural
guidance. Hence, each society has different cultural
perspectives on some of the issues in the society.
Reference
Tsuji, Y. (2011). Rites of passage to death and afterlife in
Japan. Generations, 35(3), 28-33. Retrieved from the
EBSCOhost database.

6. 5) Write a working thesis statement based on your sources. See
this example.
Working Thesis Statement:
This study aims to compare the rite of passage practices among
the African-American and Japanese communities: the cultural
difference of the rituals on the transition to eldership and death
(Ancestry).