EDF 1005- Reflection 5

Rites of passage is a ceremony in which a person transcends to a new part of their life. They use these ceremonies in all types of cultures. For instance, when Jewish boys have their Bar Mitzvah to celebrate their transformation from boy to man. When Catholics have their baptisms to celebrate their transformation of being with God. Marriage is another example of a more common rite of passage in our society. So you see, these ceremonies can emphasise the acknowledgement of your new position in life.

Facing Mt. Kenya is about female rite of passage in which they perform clitoral circumcision. I had mentioned this in class to my professor, and he hushed me. Now I know why, to preserve the initial shock when reading the article for my classmates. :)

Anywho, these women must be ridiculously brave to go through with this situation. Not only do they tolerate this happening to them, but they do it happily. Although, I do not understand why they do this, and I completely disagree with what is going on, these are their customs. It is completely bizarre for me but these women are proud of their culture and wouldn't have it any other way.
Did you know: That there is a non-profit organization called Clitoraid and they help to restore the clitorises of those women who have suffered through clitoral circumcision and have made the decision moved from their homes and change these customs?

In the article, The Sambia, I learned of a custom in which they think that swallowing semen brings good fertilization. It's an awkward notion but doesn't anyone who wants high fertility do what they believe? For instance, here, when a woman is trying to get pregnant, the doctor tells you what days you're ovulating and when you are in your highest fertile point in the month. Couples will sometimes religiously have sex in those days of the month in order to try and conceive a child.

In class, we read Sitting Quietly Reveals Crocodiles Tricks. In this ritual, the children are isolated to prepare to fight "the forest thing." If their children survive through "the forest thing," they put their children through four years of bush school. In this school they are taught how to become a man. They "would learn and grow, suffer and yet bear the suffering, share each other's pain and promise, and die together to childhood." So as you can see, some rites of passage are very similar to our own education. We send our children to school so that they can learn and graduate with a degree that is supposed to mean they are prepared for the world. Our graduation is also a ceremony which I would consider a rite of passage as well.
I believe that initiation rites and rites of passage ceremonies can have a lot to do with teaching and learning. You can teach the students different rites of passage in different cultures. Especially, the ones that may seem awkward to us. The reason being is that if you give your students knowledge on different cultures, they might be more understanding of others. They will see that some customs, although they are bizarre to us, are normal to other people. They will learn to understand before jumping to any conclusions.

These are important topics as well, because the preservation of culture is important.