rites of passage

Cultural  

1. Ceremonies that mark important transitional periods in a person's life, such as birth, puberty, marriage, having children, and death. Rites of passage usually involve ritual activities and teachings designed to strip individuals of their original roles and prepare them for new roles. The traditional American wedding ceremony is such a rite of passage. In many so-called primitive societies, some of the most complex rites of passage occur at puberty, when boys and girls are initiated into the adult world. In some ceremonies, the initiates are removed from their village and may undergo physical mutilation before returning as adults.

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Rites of passage generally affirm community solidarity, especially in times of change or crisis.

Example Sentences

One of the most common rites of passage for young Americans is spending the long summer hours working as a camp counselor, lifeguarding at the local pool, stocking shelves or serving up dinners to regulars.

From Barron's • May 25, 2026

Crossing up and over the fabled Donner Pass in the northern Sierra Nevada and descending to Lake Tahoe is one of those essential rites of passage for Californians.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 7, 2024

Hers are the films they’ll watch over and over in their rooms — rites of passage, as important as any Joan Didion essay or Sylvia Plath poem, that have transcended generations.

From Seattle Times • Oct. 31, 2023

As she gets older, she realises she missed out on a typical American teenager's rites of passage.

From BBC • Sep. 12, 2023

It felt to him as if he had just undergone some powerful rites of passage and now belonged to the western mountains instead of to the East Coast, fair-haired college culture.

From "The Milagro Beanfield War" by John Nichols