2024 Author: Harry Day | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 15:43
In a previous post, I focused on two important aspects of the problem of masculinity: the lack of tools for a clear transition from the state of "boy" to the state of "man" (loss of an understandable structure of values), and also strong fear, in connection with which men regulate their behavior and aspirations under his dictation, because of which all achievements are essentially compensation.
Let's look back at history and remember in what form the initiation was present earlier.
I noticed that the rituals took different forms (depending on cultural traditions), but quite often the stages of transformation were very similar. Let me remind you that the main goal of the male initiation ritual is to help reveal the deep meaning of existence in this world, to join spiritual values, to give responsibility and make (according to Mircea Eliade) "a fundamental change in the existential state of a young man."
Conventionally, rituals were divided into stages:
Stage 1. Separation from the comfortable maternal hearth.
Boys were suddenly, and sometimes forcibly, pulled out of their former lifestyle, filled with comfort and protection in the face of maternal care. Naturally, no one voluntarily wanted to leave such a safe abode. This action was a kind of separation, separation from the maternal element, physical and spiritual, getting rid of the maternal complex.
Stage 2. Symbolic death.
Some peoples literally imitated funerals and burials, and mothers mourned the "dead" sons. It was believed that a boy and an adult man are two completely different people. To transform into a man, the boy had to be killed. Something was happening that helped to leave the past behind. For example, the Canadian Indians gave young men a powerful hallucinogen that erases memory.
Stage 3. Revival and training.
The boy begins to come to terms with the new reality. Life must go on. At this stage, the elders of the tribe give him the knowledge and skills he needs, and more importantly, they attach him to the spiritual principle, explain his new rights, initiate him into what it means to be a man, connecting him with the myth of the primordial, divine nature of all things, revealing for him the highest meaning of existence. It was a deep, transcendental experience, literally shaping a new personality. This was embodied in a name change.
Stage 4. An ordeal.
The elders send the young man into isolation, into a dark forest, a cave, or perform some painful act. Mandatory attributes are a confrontation with pain, horror and suffering: survival in the forest, hunting a wild animal alone, making cuts on the skin or tattoos, bloodletting, fighting with another member of the tribe, etc. The young man has to adapt, take risks, show his courage and overcome fear, thus demonstrating that it can be held accountable. And it literally expands and makes him stronger.
Stage 5. Return in a new status.
Having successfully passed the test, the former boy, and now the man, becomes a worthy representative of his people. Society accepts it and treats it with due respect. He also has the right to choose his woman and marry. But more importantly, a man now really feels like a man. The initiation is considered complete.
Naturally, now such outlandish rituals are carried out only in those places of the planet where tribal life has been preserved. In a highly modified form, they are also present in modern society, for example, "hell week" among American college students or among the Jewish people bar mitzvah. However, these rituals are isolated and only rare elements of the former structures remained in them.
In the next article I will speculate about how in modern realities a man can find himself.
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