A MODERN-DAY PERSPECTIVE ON ARNOLD VAN GENNEP’S THE RITES OF PASSAGE
A MODERN-DAY PERSPECTIVE ON ARNOLD VAN GENNEP’S THE RITES OF PASSAGE

Summary/Abstract: The paper takes a closer look to a cornerstone of anthropology, folkloristics and ethnography, Arnold van Gennep’s The Rites of Passage. The book, published in 1909 is a vast and varied collection of rites collected by van Gennep from different cultures, rites depicted in detail and analyzed in order to provide a basic classification and structure. This perspective on life as a continuous passing from one stage into another, marked by rites, offers us a better understanding on the ease life seems to have in the past. Moreover, the book offers no only structure, but van Gennep’s immensely vast knowledge on the many different cultures, tribes and customs he witnessed or collected recollections of, rites of birth and childhood, of initiation, of territorial passage, of betrothment, marriage, and childbirth, of reaching old age, of passing and funeral. All rites are made up of three stages: the separation, the transition and the inclusion, and all rites mark the shift from stage of one’s life into another, from belonging to one group, to belonging to another, thus offering the people involved a chance of respite and reflection, providing balance, stability and a sound structure on which one could lean on in hard times.

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