In an attempt to explore the social, moral, spiritual and cultural reasons behind rites of passage practised by communities throughout the world, we spent Crew time this morning studying the Apache and Fulani tribes. It quickly became apparent that Crew Young were largely ignorant of the term “rites of passage” and its significance in E24 Year 9 at XP East.
We watched Dashina, of the Mescalero Apache Tribe, prepare for the trials of womanhood, by enduring four days of ancient tests of strength, endurance, and character before taking her Apache woman name of “morning star feather”. We saw two adolescent boys of the Fulani tribes of Benin, Western Africa engaged in a whipping trial to prove their strength and courage before tribal elders.
We then considered the similarities and differences between these two cultures and made a connection between these rites of passage, and “passage” that is being planned for this term.
It was the French anthropologist and folklorist Arnold van Gennep, who coined the phrase rites of passage in 1909. In 2020 at XP East our students’ preparations for a more academic “passage” are well under way.