Coming Of Age Traditions Essay

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As you all well know, a sweet sixteen is the American celebration of the passage into adulthood. I say American because these traditions exist in different cultures all over the world.
The Jewish tradition, for example, is the Bar and Bat Mitzvahs, which is celebrated at the age of thirteen for both boys and girls. This ritual recognizes that their new responsibility for following Jewish law and demonstrates their commitment to the Jewish faith. The celebration allows them to participate in religious ceremonies and in the minyan.
Another popular coming of age celebration is that of Hispanic origin: the Quinceañera. In this tradition, celebrated at the age of fifteen, a girl begins by renewing her baptismal vows in a special Mass and solidifies …show more content…

A small tribe in Ethiopia, the Hamar tribe, has a rite of passage ritual called “Cow Jumping” or Ukulai Bula. Unlike other cultures’ rituals, the Hamar perform theirs at two milestone ages: eight and twenty. At the age of eight, boys begin to help the family to raise livestock. The age of twenty is when they are considered to become an adult. The ritual requires a boy to jump naked over a line of castrated cows four times to prove himself a man. The absence of clothing symbolizes the childhood that the boys are leaving behind. The coming of age tradition in Vanatau, land diving, is one of the most dangerous and fatal rituals in the world. Young boys prove their manhood by jumping off of a 98-foot-tall tower with a bungee-like vine tied to their ankles, which barely prevents them from hitting the ground. In contrast to other traditions, the Vanatau people perform this custom frequently. Starting at the age of seven or eight, boys begin jumping (from a smaller tower, of course). During their first dives, their mothers will hold an item from their childhood. After the boy has completed the jump, the object will be thrown away, symbolizing the end of childhood. To prove their manliness to the crowds, boys will jump from taller towers as they grow

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