Some “Rites of Passage” in Life
Recently I discussed a concept with a couple of my friends. I learned about it from my own culture yet found it hard to explain what exactly it is.
What is it?
Once I asked one of my friends for help, “how can I describe these moments on humans that are ‘memorable’? Like a birthday party, a formal, or just a letter?”
She said, “Ummmm, I thought about this for a long time as well. It looked like there was no official definition.”
I wanted to figure out. So I went back to read one of my favorite books since childhood. Little Prince. The fox told the little prince that they must observe the proper rites, and wanted him to come back at the same hour so that his heart could be ready to greet.
The little prince then asked, “what is a rite?”
“They are what make one day different from other days, one hour from other hours.” Said the fox.
The fox asked him to visit the roses before he left. He went. The little prince finally realized, “you are like my fox when I first knew him. He was only a fox like a hundred thousand other foxes. I have made him my friend, and now he is unique in all the world…”
Does it remind us of a familiar term…. called the rites of passage?
In the English dictionary, they usually mean events or ceremonies such as birth, marriage, and death, marking the critical stages in people’s life. How vital are they? People often find life tedious because they pay less attention to the details of important moments. Hence, they might not realize that these bring us gratefulness, happiness, and memories.
I would like to redefine the rites of passage a bit to make them apply to more occasions — but at the core they represent different important stages in people’s life. Rites of passage can be either simple or large, can be taken into mind different but! They would be special to individuals.
Small or large: it’s between us and the world.
Having rites of passage doesn’t mean living in an extravagant life, but they help build special moments that recognize our efforts. When you achieve, the award ceremony honors your efforts. When graduating, you formally dress to celebrate the moments of completing college works and becoming alumni.
Practicing rites of passage also allows people to maintain healthy relationships with society as well. A birthday party may gather a group of friends to people entering adulthood. A wedding sets for a couple who reach a milestone of becoming a new family, and friends, colleagues, and families came along to celebrate for them.
Believing in one thing: we give the rites of passage to each other. You make those moments happen, and they also do for you. Pictures, letters, gifts. They mark out our days to be brilliant and meaningful.
We are all lucky. Rites of passage bring the best memories throughout of lifelong time.
Hey people, catch those rites of passage for yourselves! You won’t regret because they can be simple stuff but should mean a lot to you. They are what make one day different from other days, one hour from other hours, one moment from other moments. Go get it.
(Note: special thanks to my Cornell friend Gita who provides insights about rites of passage in terms of culture and language differences.)
