coming-of-age

Coming of age is a young person's transition from being a child to being an adult. The specific age at which this transition takes place varies between societies, as does the nature of the change. It can be a simple legal convention or can be part of a ritual or spiritual event.

In the past, and in some societies today, such a change is often associated with the age of sexual maturity (puberty), especially menarche and spermarche. In others, it is associated with an age of religious responsibility.

Particularly in Western societies, modern legal conventions stipulate points around the end of adolescence and the beginning of early adulthood (most commonly 16 and 18 though ranging from 14 to 21) when adolescents are generally no longer considered minors and are granted the full rights and responsibilities of an adult. Some cultures and countries have multiple coming of age ceremonies for multiple ages.

Many cultures retain ceremonies to confirm the coming of age, and coming-of-age stories are a well-established sub-genre in literature, the film industry, and other forms of media.

These ceremonies can represent acceptance into a larger culture, feelings of importance, legal rights and permissions, or entrance into the marriage landscape, depending on the culture.

Cultural

Ancient Egypt

In ancient Egypt, each gender had its own benchmarks of coming of age, but for both genders the cultural custom of marriage was an important indicator of coming of age. Adult maturation was generally considered a social prerequisite for marrying, and this was measured differently by gender. Females were considered of physical maturity and thus marriage-ready once they had their first menses. However, for males marriage-readiness was indicated by them socially establishing themselves and being able to support a family.

Generally however, the early childhood stage of life was considered to have ended when puberty began. At this point, young Egyptians begin adapting to their respective societal roles. Hence, for example, 14-year-old ancient Egyptians were considered full adults, involved in the traditional activities of adulthood such as work and having a family. A factor in this is ancient Egyptian average lifespan; estimates are that people lived to be around 30 years old. If a child lived past the age of five, they were considered to have evaded most of the mortality risks associated with infancy.

Transitioning into adulthood also came with different opportunities depending on socioeconomic class. For most, readying for adulthood meant participating in an apprenticeship to learn a trade or skill for support oneself. There was general expectation that children would follow in their parents’ footsteps unless they demonstrated some particular talent, like a natural inclination for priestly studies. The middle and upper socioeconomic classes of ancient Egypt were broadly the scribes and nobility. For these children, formal education was typical. The extent of formal education would also vary by gender.

Education and marriage were cornerstone markers in a child's transitioning to adulthood. Marriage, in particular, and the subsequent household founding, was considered the end of the transitional period. Educationally, literacy was regarded as a characteristic of being and adult, so developing literacy signified that the transitioning into adult was occurring.

For males, formal education was completed by male youth. Royal children and other children of higher social status families would receive education focused on government official and military officer training, the latter consisting of the physical education that royal princes receive. A standard for whether a boy was physically prepared to become a solider is height. A boy was "taken to be a soldier as a child of pole length." One ancient Egyptian pole converted to modern metrics is about 60 centimeters, suggesting under a literal interpretation, that a boy's role as a soldier was from birth. Another interpretation is that this metric converts to 1 meter, which on average, corresponds to an age of about 7 years old. Sons of soldiers would typically follow their fathers into the profession at a very young age.

Ancient Greece

In certain states in Ancient Greece, such as Sparta and Crete, adolescent boys were expected to enter into a mentoring relationship with an adult man, in which they would be taught skills pertaining to adult life, such as hunting, martial arts and fine arts.

Ancient Rome

The puberty ritual for the young Roman male involved shaving his beard and taking off his '' bulla'', an amulet worn to mark and protect underage youth, which he then dedicated to his household gods, the Lares. He assumed the '' toga virilis'' ("toga of manhood"), was enrolled as a citizen on the census, and soon began his military service. Traditionally, the ceremony was held on the Liberalia, the festival in honor of the god Liber, who embodied both political and sexual liberty, but other dates could be chosen for individual reasons.

Rome lacked the elaborate female puberty rituals of ancient Greece, and for girls, the wedding ceremony was in part a rite of passage for the bride. Girls coming of age dedicated their dolls to Artemis, the goddess most concerned with virginity, or to Aphrodite when they were preparing for marriage. All adolescents in ritual preparation to transition to adult status wore the ''tunica recta'', the "upright tunic", but girls wove their own. The garment was called ''recta'' because it was woven by tradition on a type of upright loom that had become archaic in later periods.

Roman girls were expected to remain virgins until marriage, but boys were often introduced to heterosexual behaviors by a prostitute. The higher the social rank of a girl, the sooner she was likely to become betrothed and married. The general age of betrothal for girls of the upper classes was fourteen, but for patricians as early as twelve. Weddings, however, were often postponed until the girl was considered mature enough. Males typically postponed marriage till they had served in the military for some time and were beginning their political careers, around age 25. Patrician males, however, might marry considerably earlier; Julius Caesar was married for the first time by the age of 18.

On the night before the wedding, the bride bound up her hair with a yellow hairnet she had woven. The confining of her hair signifies the harnessing of her sexuality within marriage. Her weaving of the ''tunica recta'' and the hairnet demonstrated her skill and her capacity for acting in the traditional matron's role as ''custos domi'', "guardian of the house". On her wedding day, she belted her tunic with the ''cingulum'', made from the wool of an ewe to symbolize fertility, and tied with the " knot of Hercules", which was supposed to be hard to untie. The knot symbolized wifely chastity, in that it was to be untied only by her husband, but the ''cingulum'' also symbolized that the bridegroom "was belted and bound" to his wife. The bride's hair was ritually styled in "six tresses" ''(seni crines)'', and she was veiled until uncovered by her husband at the end of the ceremony, a ritual of surrendering her virginity to him.

Anglo-Celtic

The legal age of majority is 18 in most Anglo-Celtic cultures (such as Australia, New Zealand, and Ireland). One is legally enabled to vote, purchase tobacco and alcohol, marry without parental consent (although one can wed at 16 in United Kingdom and New Zealand) and sign contracts. But in the early twentieth century, the age of legal majority was 21, although the marriageable age was typically lower. Even though turning 21 now has few, if any, legal effects in most of these countries, its former legal status as the age of majority has caused it to continue to be celebrated.

Brazil

In the Sateré-Mawé tribe of the Brazilian Amazon, young boys celebrate their coming of age at 13 where they participate in the Bullet Ant Initiation. During this ceremony, the boys go out and search for bullet ants, and the ants are sedated. Then, the ants are woven into gloves. The ants are woven into the gloves so that their stingers are facing inwards- towards the skin. When the ants wake up, they're furious. The boys then have to wear the gloves for 20 minutes to prove their manhood. They will do this 20 times over the course of many months for the initiation to be finished. Any scream or cry is seen as a sign of weakness.

United Kingdom

In the United Kingdom, the legal drinking, smoking, and voting age is 18. This is also when citizens are legally considered an adult. The UK was the first country to lower these restrictions to age 18.

United States

In the United States, people are allowed to drive at 16 in all states, with the exception of New Jersey, which requires drivers to be 17 and older, and sometimes receive the responsibility of owning their own car. People are allowed to drive at age 15 in Idaho and Montana. At 16, people are also legally allowed to donate blood and work in most establishments. In spite of this, it is not until the age of 18 that a person is legally considered an adult and can vote and join the military (age 17 with parental consent). The legal age for purchasing and consuming alcohol, tobacco, and recreational marijuana (in states where it is legal) is 21. Multiple localities have also raised the minimum purchase age independent of state laws.

Although the US consists of and continues to practice the cultures of the many countries that make it up, something unique to this country is the "Sweet Sixteen". This tradition is also widely celebrated in Canada. The tradition we know the American Sweet Sixteen as today dates back to the early-mid 20th century. These parties represent not necessarily adulthood, but being a more "grown-up" teenager, and are more commonly celebrated for girls and by the wealthier, since these parties can be so extravagant. They are usually the fanciest party a child would ever have. The birthday girl wears an extravagant ball gown, and sometimes a crown. Sweet Sixteen parties vary by person, often consist of a DJ or a band, dancing, a rented out venue, and food and drink bars. In the late 20th century, when women began gaining more rights, and fighting for liberation, Sweet Sixteens became something to be questioned. Since they have correlation to the debutante ball, another coming of age ceremony that taught women to cohere to their gender roles, and handed them off to the men of the community, they were largely rejected in the era of women's liberation. In modern times, the 16th birthday has less significance than it did before, but some do still participate in this celebration. Some movies that depict Sweet Sixteens are "Sixteen Candles" (1984), and "16 Wishes" (2010).

Vietnam

During the feudal period, the coming of age was celebrated at 15 for noblemen. Nowadays, the age is 20 for both genders.

Religious

Baha'i

Turning 15, the "age of maturity", as the Baha'i faith terms it, is a time when a child is considered spiritually mature. Declared Baha'is that have reached the age of maturity are expected to begin observing certain Baha'i laws, such as obligatory prayer and fasting.

Buddhism

Theravada boys, typically just under the age of 20 years, undergo a Shinbyu ceremony, where they are initiated into the Temple as Novice Monks ( Samanera). They will typically stay in the monastery for between 3 days and 3 years, most commonly for one 3-month "rainy season retreat" ( vassa), held annually from late July to early October. During this period the boys experience the rigors of an orthodox Buddhist monastic lifestyle – a lifestyle that involves celibacy, formal voluntary poverty, absolute nonviolence, and daily fasting between noon and the following day's sunrise.

Depending on how long they stay, the boys will learn various chants and recitations in the canonical language (Pali) – typically the Buddha's more famous discourses (Suttas) and verses ( Gathas) – as well as Buddhist ethics and higher monastic discipline ( Vinaya). If they stay long enough and conditions permit, they may be tutored in the meditative practices ( bhavana, or dhyana) that are at the heart of Buddhism's program for the self-development of alert tranquillity ( samadhi), wisdom ( prajna), and divine mental states ( brahmavihara).

After living the novitiate monastic life for some time, the boy, now considered to have "come of age", will either take higher ordination as a fully ordained monk (a bhikkhu) or will (more often) return to lay life. In Southeast Asian countries, where most practitioners of Theravada Buddhism reside, women will often refuse to marry a man who has not ordained temporarily as a Samanera in this way at some point in his life. Men who have completed this Samanera ordination and have returned to lay life are considered primed for adult married life and are described in the Thai language and the Khmer language by terms which roughly translate as "cooked", "finished", or "cooled off" in English, as in meal preparation/consumption. Thus, one's monastic training is seen to have prepared one properly for familial, social, and civic duty and/or one's passions and unruliness of the boy are seen to have "cooled down" enough for him to be of use to a woman as a proper man.

Christianity

In many Western Christian churches (those deriving from Rome after the East-West Schism), a young person is eligible to receive confirmation, which is considered a sacrament in Catholicism, and a rite in Lutheranism, Anglicanism, Methodism, Irvingism, and Reformed Christianity. The Catholic and Methodist denominations teach that in confirmation, the Holy Spirit strengthens a baptized individual for their faith journey. This is usually done by a bishop or an abbot laying their hands upon the foreheads of the young person (usually between the ages of 12 and 15 years), and marking them with the seal of the Holy Spirit. In some Christian denominations, the confirmand (now an adult in the eyes of the Church) takes a Saint's name as a confirmation name.

In Christian denominations that practice Believer's Baptism (baptism by voluntary decision, as opposed to baptism in early infancy), it is normatively carried out after the age of accountability has arrived, as with many Anabaptist denominations, such as the Mennonites. Some traditions withhold the rite of Holy Communion from those not yet at the age of accountability, on the grounds that children do not understand what the sacrament means. In the 20th century, Roman Catholic children began to be admitted to communion some years before confirmation, with an annual First Communion service – a practice that was extended to some paedobaptist Protestant groups, such as Lutheranism and Anglicanism–but since the Second Vatican Council, the withholding of confirmation to a later age, e.g. mid-teens in the United States, early teens in Ireland and Britain, has in some areas been abandoned in favour of restoring the traditional order of the three sacraments of initiation.

In some denominations, full membership in the Church, if not bestowed at birth, often must wait until the age of accountability and frequently is granted only after a period of preparation known as catechesis. The time of innocence before one has the ability to understand truly the laws of God and that God sees one as innocent is also seen as applying to individuals who suffer from a mental disability which prevents them from ever reaching a time when they are capable of understanding the laws of God. These individuals are thus seen, according to some Christians, as existing in a perpetual state of innocence.

Catholicism

In 1910, Pope Pius X issued the decree '' Quam singulari'', which changed the age of eligibility for receiving both the sacrament of Penance and the Eucharist to a "time when a child begins to reason, that is about the seventh year, more or less." Previously, local standards had been at least 10 or 12 or even 14 years old. Historically, the sacrament of confirmation has been administered to youth who have reached the "age of discretion". The catechism states that confirmation should be received "at the appropriate time", but in danger of death it can be administered to children. Together with the sacraments of baptism and the Eucharist, the sacrament of confirmation completes the sacraments of Christian initiation, "for without Confirmation and Eucharist, Baptism is certainly valid and efficacious, but Christian initiation remains incomplete."

In Eastern Catholic Churches, infants receive confirmation and communion immediately after baptism. In Eastern Christianity the baptising priest confirms infants directly after baptism.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints sets the age of accountability and minimum age for baptism at 8 years of age. All persons younger than 8 are considered innocent and not accountable for their sinning. The Church considers mentally challenged individuals whose mental age is under 8 to be in a perpetual state of innocence, while other doctrines teach that no one is 'without sin', both believe that those at a certain age are considered innocent.

Confucianism

According to the Grand Historian, the Duke of Zhou wrote the Rites of Zhou about 3000 years ago, which documented fundamental ceremonies in ancient China, including the Coming of Age rite. Then Confucius and his students wrote the Book of Rites, which introduced and further explained important ceremonies in Confucianism. When a man turned 20, his parents would hold a Guan Li (also named the capping ceremony); when a girl turned 15, she would receive a Ji Li (also known as the Hairpin Ceremony). These rites were considered to represent a person being mature and prepared to get married and start a family; therefore, they were the beginning of all the moral rites.

During this rite of passage, the young person receives his/her style name.

Hinduism

In Hinduism coming of age generally signifies that a boy or girl is mature enough to understand his responsibility towards family and society. Some castes in Hinduism also have the sacred thread ceremony, called Upanayana, for '' Dvija'' (twice-born) boys that mark their coming of age to do religious ceremonies. A rite of passage males have to go through is Bhrataman (or Chudakarma) that marks adulthood.

Ifá

In the traditional Ifá faith of the Yoruba people of West Africa and the many New World religions that it subsequently gave birth to, men and women are often initiated to the service of one of the hundreds of subsidiary spirits that serve the Orisha Olodumare, the group's conception of the Almighty God. The mystic links that are forged by way of these initiations, which typically occur at puberty, are the conduits that are used by adherents to attempt to achieve what can be seen as the equivalent of the Buddhist ''enlightenment'' by way of a combination of personalized meditations, reincarnations and spirit possessions.

Islam

Children are not required to perform any obligatory religious obligations prior to reaching the age of puberty, although they are encouraged to begin praying at the age of seven. Once a person begins puberty, they are required to perform salat and other obligations of Islam.

A girl is considered an adult when she begins puberty, while a boy is considered an adult at twelve-to-fifteen years old. The evidence for this is the narration of Ibn Umar that he said: "Allah's Apostle called me to present myself in front of him on the eve of the battle of Uhud, while I was fourteen years of age at that time and he did not allow me to take part in that battle but he called me in front of him on the eve of the battle of the Trench when I was fifteen years old, and he allowed me to join the battle." (Reported by Bukhari and Muslim). When Umar Ibn Abdul Aziz heard this Hadith he made this age the evidence to differentiate between a mature and an immature person.

In some Islamic cultures circumcision ( khitan) can be a ritual associated with coming of age for boys, taking place in late childhood or early adolescence.

Judaism

In the Jewish faith, boys reach religious maturity at the age of thirteen and become a '' bar mitzvah'' ("bar mitzvah" means "son of the commandment" literally, and "subject to commandments" figuratively). Girls mature a year earlier, and become a '' bat mitzvah'' ("bat mitzvah" means "daughter of the commandment") at twelve. The new men and women are looked upon as adults and are expected to uphold the Jewish commandments and laws. Also, in religious court they are adults and can marry with their new title of an adult. Nonetheless, in the Talmud; Pirkei Avot (5:25), Rabbi Yehuda ben Teime gives the age of 18 as the appropriate age to get married. At the end of the bar or bat mitzvah, the boy or girl is showered with candies, which act as "sweet blessings". Besides the actual ceremony, there usually is a bar or bat mitzvah party.

Chassidim

In various Chassidic sects when boys turn 3 years of age, they have an '' upsherin'' (sect related typical ''Brooklin-Yiddish'' for Yiddish ''Abshern'', for German ''Abscheren'', "Haare schneiden", engl. ''hair cut'', ) ceremony, when they receive their first haircut. Until then, their parents allow their hair to grow long, until they undergo this esoteric rite. Little girls for the first time co-light some extra ''″Shabbat'' candles, after their mothers did so, also when they turn 3 years of age.

Shinto

In the Shinto faith, boys were taken to the shrine of their patron deity at approximately 12–14 years old. They were then given adult clothes and a new haircut. This was called Genpuku.

Sikhism

In Sikhism, when one reaches the age of maturity, the men will typically partake in a ceremony called Dastar Bandhi. This is the first time the proper Sikh Turban is tied on the adolescent. Women who wear the turban may also partake in the ceremony, although it is less common.

See also

* Adolescence
* Age of consent
* Age of majority
* Age of Majority (Catholic Church)
* Bildungsroman
* Coming of Age (Unitarian Universalism)
* Coming-of-age story
*
* Manhood
*
* Poy Sang Long
* Quinceañera (age 15)
* Rite of passage
* Self-discovery
* Sweet sixteen (birthday)
*'' Coming of Age in Samoa''

References

External links

{{Authority control

Rites of passage
Adolescence
Young adult
Age and society