Introduction to Tribal

Society and Culture UNIT 3 RITES OF PASSAGE

Structure
3.0 Objectives
3.1 Introduction
3.2 Pregnancy and Child Birth Rites
3.3 Puberty and Initiation Rites
3.4 Marriage Rites
3.5 Funeral Rites
3.6 Let Us Sum Up
3.7 Further Readings and References

3.0 OBJECTIVES
After studying this unit, you will be able to:
 explain the meaning of rites of passage;
 describe the various types of rites of passage; and
 distinguish between rites of transition, separation and incorporation.

3.1 INTRODUCTION
Rite of passage is any of numerous ceremonial events, existing in all
societies that mark the passage of an individual from one social or religious
status to another. The term was coined by the French anthropologist
Arnold Van Gennep in 1909. Many of the important rites are connected
with the biological stages of life — birth, maturity, reproduction, and
death. Other rites celebrate changes that are wholly cultural, such as
initiation into special societies. In modern societies, graduation from school
is a rite of passage. Scholars often interpret rites of passage as mechanisms
by which society confronts and incorporates change without disrupting
the equilibrium necessary to social order.
In all societies, major events in the life cycle are subject to ritualized
forms of recognition. Across the world, such events are celebrated in
diverse and sometimes elaborate ways, with different cultures singling out
different stages of life for attention. Where ancestry is important, as in
China or many of the societies of Africa, death may be the subject of
extended and intricate mortuary ceremonials, which act both to separate
the living from the dead and to transform the dead from elder to ancestor.
In others, death may be neglected and cultural salience given rather to
marriage, to the installation of office holders, or to initiations into adulthood
or into cult groupings. In these cultural processes, actual biological events
are subsumed and transformed, even negated in the various schemas of
culture. Despite the variety in the forms and meanings of such rituals, a
36 certain unity has been given to the category by the work of Arnold Van
Gennep. Van Gennep envisioned life in society as a house with many Rites of Passage
rooms, in which the individual has to be convened formally from one
defined position to another. From this perspective, life is not a matter of
gradual development and change but rather consists of a series of abrupt
and ritualized transitions. Rites of passage are special rituals societies
employ to assist their members at key times of biographical change.
These life transitions follow a recognizable pattern of behaviour in many
cultures; for example, babies are given a name and social identity, youths
enter adulthood or marry, others retire, gain particular qualifications such
as degrees or enter particular professions, or pass from the world of the
living to the world of the dead. Changes of status can be related to
changes in identity because the term identity embraces social and
psychological aspects of life. The term status tends to refer to sociological
values without reference to the personal feelings and self-evaluation of
individuals. In this sense, the term status emphasizes the social dimension
and identity of the psychological aspects of an individual’s life. The idea
of status in passage rituals was first introduced by the anthropologist
Arnold Van Gennep, who saw regeneration as the law of life and described
rites of passage as a threefold process with phases of separation,
segregation, and integration. For there to be a new self the old self must
ritually die. Candidates for some rite would be separated from the status
to be left behind, leaving familiar companions, surroundings and home,
perhaps encountering actual or symbolic aggression in being wrenched
away or carried off. Second, they enter a “between” period devoid of
distinguishing marks of status and expressions of their old identity, such
as names or clothing. In the case of passage to adulthood, adolescents
may together undergo a degree of discipline and share a mutual sense of
hardship, bonding them together. Their curtailed freedom begins a
reorientation toward their future status and life obligations. This may involve
learning the traditions of their society or the skills of some particular
profession or trade. Only after this period of learning and endurance is
complete do they undergo the third phase of reincorporation into society.
However, they do so with their new status and identity, perhaps involving
a new name or title, forms of dress or style of language and, almost
certainly, new patterns of behavior with appropriate duties and
responsibilities.
Van Gennep likened society to a house with people moving over thresholds
from room to room. The Latin word for threshold is limen, hence his
three phases of rites of passage as preliminal, liminal, and postliminal. He
also argued that, depending upon the final goal of a ritual, the preliminal,
liminal, or postliminal phase would be stressed over and above the others.
Rites of passage sometimes involve more than one type of status change.
In a marriage, for example, it is not only the bride and groom that pass
from being single or divorced to being married but their parents also
become parents-in-law. Parents, siblings, and friends may all enter new
relationships.
Van Gennep’s scheme was constructed to describe patterns of life in
those traditional societies often described as primitive or tribal societies.
In such communities of relatively few people and high levels of face-to-
face contact, many would acknowledge the change of status and identity
of an individual during rites of initiation into manhood, womanhood, or
37
Introduction to Tribal motherhood. However, caution is required when the idea of rites of passage
Society and Culture
is applied to events in contemporary and large-scale societies where little
recognition exists. Such understandings of ritual permit insight into the
significance of funerary ritual, a rite of passage observed in a great
majority of human societies. Numerous changes of identity are associated
with funeral rites, affecting the statuses of the dead, surviving relatives,
and members of the broader community.

3.2 PREGNANCY AND CHILD BIRTH RITES

The ceremonies of pregnancy and childbirth together generally constitute
a whole. Often the first rites performed separate the pregnant woman
from society, from her family group, and sometimes even from her sex.
They are followed by rites pertaining to pregnancy itself, which is a
transitional period. Finally comes the rites of childbirth intended to
reintegrate the women into the groups to which she previously belonged,
or to establish her new position in society as a mother, especially if she
has given birth to her first child. At the onset of pregnancy, a woman is
placed in a state of isolation, either because she is considered impure and
dangerous or because her very pregnancy places her physiologically and
socially in an abnormal condition.
Among the Todas of South India, the order of pregnancy and childbirth
rites are as follows:
i) When a woman becomes pregnant, she is forbidden to enter the
villages or the sacred places
ii) In the fifth month, there is a ceremony called “village we leave.” At
this time the woman must live in a special hut, and she is ritually
separated from the dairy, the sacred industry which is the heart of
Toda social life.
iii) She invokes two deities, Pirn and Piri.
iv) She burns each hand in two places.
v) A ceremony marks the leaving of the hut; the woman drinks sacred
milk.
vi) She goes back to live in her home till the seventh month.
vii) During the seventh month “the ceremony of the bow and arrow”
establishes a social father for the unborn child as the Todas practice
polyandry.
viii) The woman returns to her home, performing the appropriate rites.
(The last two ceremonies occur only during the first pregnancy, or if
the woman has a new husband, or if she wants her future children to
have a different father from the ones she has previously chosen).
ix) The woman delivered in her house, in someone’s presence and without
special ceremonies.
x) Two or three days later, mother and child go to live in a special hut;
the rites performed for the departure from the house, then the
departure from the hut, and the return to the house are the same as
38 those marking the woman’s previous trip.
xi) While in the hut, the woman, her husband, and the child are tainted Rites of Passage
with impurity called ichchil.
xii) Ceremonies are performed to protect them against the evil spirit
keirt. They return to ordinary life by drinking sacred milk.
Among the Oraon tribe, before a child is born as well as after birth, all
the precautions are taken to protect the mother and child. As soon as the
child is born, the Pahan is asked to make sacrifices to the principal
deity. The period of impurity following the child birth is the most dangerous
period, as it is during this period; the mother and child are more liable
to its attacks than at any other time. The relatives always keep a watch
on the room where they are secluded. Until the purificatiom ceremony is
performed, the whole house is considered unclean.
Commenting on birthing rites, Van Gennep cites at length W. H. R. Rivers’s
1906 ethnography of the Tonga tribe of India. Among these people, a
series of pregnancy rites are performed, first to separate the pregnant
woman from her village. After an extended period, a ceremony is held in
which the woman drinks sacred milk to purify herself, her husband, and
their child. Subsequently, the family is reintegrated into their social group.
No longer a polluting woman, she is re-established in her village as a
mother.
Among the Gonds tribe many restrictions are placed on pregnant woman.
A pregnant woman should not go for fishing and all kinds of ardous tasks
are also tabooed. During the first pregnancy, she is sent to her parents’
house either in the seventh or the nineth month. A special medicine with
boiled and dried ginger, pippali (long pepper) and garlic is prepared and
given to the woman after delivery. It is believed that this medicine generates
heat and keeps mother and child in good health. The child and mother
are given ceremonial bath on 9th or 11th day. After this purificatory bath,
it is believed that pollution period is over and she can attend to her
routine domestic duties.
Among the Kolam tribe of Andhra Pradesh, the women generally work
and attend to normal domestic duties till delivery time. No food taboos
or other restrictions are imposed on a pregnant woman. The only restriction
imposed on such woman is that she should not see either solar or lunar
eclipse else she may give birth to a blind child. In case of partial
observation, the child will lose one eye. In case she observes the eclipse
through the holes of roof of the house, the child will be born with cleaved
lips. They believed that delivery within the house is very inauspicious.
When an expectant mother reaches the advanced stage of pregnancy, a
temporary hut is constructed at the corner of the village. This hut is
known as Mala gudisa or Maila gudisa in their dialect. When a pregnant
woman develops labour, she retires to the mala gudisa. When the
pregnant woman is in labour in a separate house, some of the elderly
women also stay inside the house but they do not touch her nor render
any kind of assistance. The pregnant woman takes care of everything.
The experienced women guide her what to do. The mother herself has to
bury the placenta. As the woman who delivered a child is considered
unclean and impure, she has to take bath and wash her clothes daily in
the stream. She should not go to the stream through main path but from 39
Introduction to Tribal outskirts of the village. The food is cooked in the actual house and is
Society and Culture
daily sent to the delivered woman. She has to remain in solitary
confinement till the umbilical cord has dried up and fallen off. The mother
and child are given purificatory bath at home and community dinner is
arranged. After this ceremony, a woman, can attend to her routine domestic
duties.
During pregnancy, rites of separation is most heighten as the pregnant
woman is usually separated from her family, social circle, members of her
society by going and living in a separate hut isolated from the rest of the
society. From her delivery to till she is purified, the woman is in a
transitional state, and when she is purified by taking bath, drinking milk
and other rites of incorporation, she is accepted back in the society.
In this section, you read about the meaning of rites of passage and rites
of pregnancy, child birth.

Check Your Progress I

Note: Use the space provided for your answer.
1) What do you understand by rites of passage?
................................................................................................................
................................................................................................................
................................................................................................................
................................................................................................................
2) Illustrate with an example pregnancy and child birth rites.
................................................................................................................
................................................................................................................
................................................................................................................
................................................................................................................

3.3 PUBERTY AND INITIATION RITES

The physical puberty of girls is marked by a swelling of the breasts, an
enlargement of the pelvis, the appearance of pubic hair, and above all the
first menstrual flow. The physical puberty for boys are marked by change
in the voice, enlargement of the testes and the lengthening of the penis,
the skin over the scrotum begins to thin and redden and there is the
beginning of a sparse amount of pubic hair at the base of the penis. There
is an increased amount of pubic hair that is noticeably coarser and darker
than before, boys also gain in muscle mass, the voice deepens, acne
frequently becomes bothersome.

Initiation rites are usually performed when girls and boys attain physical
puberty; these initiation rites are performed to initiate the boys and girls
40 into the world of adulthood.
Among the Kolam tribe of Andhra Pradesh, at the time of first Rites of Passage

menstruation, no specific rites and rituals are observed, but the girl is
considered as unclean and impure. Soon after menstruation, the girl takes
bath in a nearby stream. In case she menstruates outside the village, a
temporary hut is constructed for her. If she menstruates inside her own
house, she has to sit in a corner of the house. She should not touch
others. She sleeps on the floor and eats in leaf plates. She should not
even touch the house. If she touches the walls of the house, the parents
think that some misfortune would happen to them and they rebuild the
house. Even utensils and other household articles are sold and new articles
bought. The menstruating woman is strictly prohibited from moving in the
house and entering from the front door. The Kolams believe that if
menstruating women do not follow strictly all these taboos, the members
of the family may be eaten by the tiger when they go to the forest. She
takes bath and washes her clothes in the nearby stream, when the
menstruation stops, she is permitted to enter the house. After being
cleaned, she performs her household duties.

Initiation ceremony is a unique and distinct social institution among the

Kolams tribe. The initiation ceremony is solemnised in order to recognise
socially a boy as an adult and to lift certain taboos imposed on them
earlier. This ritual is usually observed in the month of Pola (July) prior to
full moon day. Every male member who attains the age between 15 to 18
years has to undergo this ceremony before marriage; otherwise one is not
eligible for marriage and he is also not eligible to accept sacred food
offered at shrines of their deities during festivals or rituals. Before this
ceremony, a boy is given the status of that of a girl and restrictions
generally imposed on a girl with regard to eating of ceremonial food is
imposed. All the Kolams of the settlement meet and decide the day for
celebration of the ritual in consultation with the village priest. On this day,
the boy, who has to be initiated, is dressed like a woman with sari and
other ornaments. He is accompanied by his own brother-in-law and village
priest and visits the village deity. They carry along with them bread made
of jowar or wheat flour, roasted cakes made of black gram and a cock.
The number of pairs of cakes should be equal to the number of divine
spirits of his phratry. All these offerings are placed before the village
deity and immediately the boy and brother-in-law turn back. The village
priest worships the village deity and sacrifices the cock. After completion
of the rituals and prayers, the boy and his brother-in-law turn towards
the shrine and offer their prayers. Then the priest offers food to the boy
and then they return to the village. After this ritual only, the boy is
recognised as an adult member and he is eligible to accept sacred food
offered to gods and goddesses. Eating of sacred food also makes him
eligible to marry. Unless this initiation ceremony is observed, eating of
sacred food or marriage celebrations are tabooed. It is significant to note
that women folk are not at all eligible to eat the sacred food offered
ritually to gods and goddesses till the stoppage of menopause. After this
period, the women folk are entitled to eat sacred food offered to gods
and goddesses.

41
Introduction to Tribal Among the Korwa tribe of Chotanagpur region in Bihar, girls who are
Society and Culture
menstruating must sit apart from the other persons at the time of eating.
They should not jump, should not eat cold things or pickles. Menstruating
women remain in isolation. They enter into the house or leave the house
only by an outer room of every house which has one small door which
opens to the backside of the house and never by the main entrance. If
there is no other female member in the family, the husband cooks the
food. They are also not to visit sacred places. After four days they go to
the nearby stream to take bath for purification. They also wash their hair
and clothes.
Among the Cholanaickans tribe who can be found in the Nilamdar Valley
in Malappuram of Nilgiri District in Tamil Nadu¸ rites of separation is
performed for girls who are menstruating. The menstruating girls are
secluded for 4 days in one corner of the cave. During this period, the
woman is considered to be unclean.

3.4 MARRIAGE RITES

Marriage constitute an important transition from one social category to
another, because for at least one of the spouses it involves a change of
family, clan, village, or tribe and sometimes the newly married couple
even establish residence in a new house. The change of residence is
marked in the ceremonies by rites of separation, always primarily focussing
on territorial passage, as the newly married woman almost all the time
permanently shift from her own parental house to her husband’s house.
Furthermore, because of the number and importance of groups affected
by the social union of two of their members, it is natural that the period
of transition should take on considerable importance. This is the period
commonly called the “bethrothal”. Among a great number of people it
consists of a special and autonomous part of the marriage ceremonies,
including rites of separation and transition and terminating with rites which
insure either a preliminary incorporation into the new environment or a
separation from an autonomous transition period. Then come the rites of
marriage, which consist chiefly of rites of permanent incorporation into
the new environment.
Among the Kabuis tribe of North-East India, wedding ceremony is
solemnised at the residence of the bridegroom. In the early morning of
the day, an omen taking ritual called Guak-Pai-Jaomei is performed in
which a healthy pig on behalf of the bride is offered to the supreme God.
This ritual is performed at the residence of the bride. The spleen of the
victim is examined by the present elders in search of good indicators.Guak-
pai-jaomei literally means observation of the pig’s spleen; (Guak = pig,
Pai = spleen, Jaomei = to observe). The pig is roasted and cut into small
pieces and then it is boiled. This boiled meat will be taken to the groom’s
house. After morning food is over, the bride will take bath and put on
traditional marriage dress and costume and she will be helped by her
sister-in-laws of the family in dressing. Then, she along with her
companions will start the journey for her final destination which symbolises
that she is separated from her family and her village.
42
When the bride along with her companions arrives at the residence of the Rites of Passage
groom, the bride is warmly received by her mother-in-law and a leaf cup
of drink is offered which she drinks it (Jouduimei). Before she enters the
house, she is purified by contacting the smoke of kham that brings her in
as free as possible of the evil adhering to her. Then, she will enter the
house by crossing the door with her right foot which symbolises that the
bride is incorporated into the new environment.
Finally, the marriage ceremony called Lang-daimhailak is performed in
which a fowl, a ginger and a hoe are offered to the supreme God with
singing of religious hymns. In this ceremony, the bride and bridegroom
are made to sit on a big bed called Langdai. The groom is authorised to
sit on the right side of the bride hanging their legs in that side. The right
and left legs of the groom and bride are made to press on the iron hoe
until the sacrificing cock breaths last. It is performed by one of the
Nouthanpous who officiates as priest. In these rites, the initiate (i.e the
person undergoing the rites) will be symbolically and in many cultures
physically removed from the world to which they have belonged.
Separation rites often involve symbolic actions as removing clothing or
removing parts of the body.
Among the Khond tribe of Southern India, when agreement between the
families has been reached, the girl is dressed in a red blanket and carried
to the groom’s village by her maternal uncle in the company of the young
women of her village; the retinue carries gifts for the groom, who stands
in the road, accompanied by young boys from his village armed with
bamboo sticks. The women attack the young men, hitting them with sticks,
stones, and clods of earth, and the boys defend themselves with their
sticks. Bit by bit, they all approach the village, and when they reach it,
the fighting stops. The groom’s uncle takes the bride and carries her into
the groom’s house. “This fighting is by no means child’s play, and the
men are sometimes seriously injured.” After the bride has reached the
village, there is a communal meal at the groom’s expense.
Among the Bhotiya, who inhabits Sikkim, the following ceremonies take
place during marriage:
i) Astrologers determine whether the projected marriage will be
favourable
ii) Uncles of the girl and the boy act as go –betweens and receive
presents of money. They meet in the boy’s house and then go with
gifts to the girl’s, to ask for her in marriage.
iii) If the gifts they bought are accepted, the matter is concluded, and
the amount of the dowry is decided upon.
iv) The intermediaries are given a feast , and there are prayers to invoke
blessings upon the bride and the groom. After the last two ceremonies,
which are obviously rites of incorporation of the two families, the
boy and the girl may see each other in complete freedom.
v) A year later comes the nyen ceremony, it is a meal ( at the expense
of the boy’s parents) attended by all relatives on both sides; the
bride price is paid at this time. 43
Introduction to Tribal vi) A year after the nyen, the changthoong ceremony is held: a) An
Society and Culture
astrologer is called upon to determine a favourable date for the bride’s
departure from her parents home and to decide in detail those
arrangements which would be auspicious. b) A great celebration to
which lamas are invited is organized .c) Two men, at that moment
called “thieves”, force their way into the house, supposedly to steal
the girl, and a fight is simulated; the “thieves” are beaten, and half-
cooked meat is thrown into their mouths, although they may escape
this treatment by giving money to the bride’s guardians. Two days
later, the “thieves” are honoured and named “ the happy strategists”.
d) Guests give presents to the bride and to her parents . e) A retinue
departs with rejoicing. f) The boy’s mother and father go to meet the
retinue and take them to their home; there are celebrations for two
or three days. g) The girl and her relatives return home. h) A year
later, the palokh ceremony is held; at this time the parents give the
bride her dowry (which is double the amount that has been paid for
her)’ and she is escorted to the boy’s home; this time she remains
permanently.
Thus the bethrothal and marriage ceremonies among the Bhotiya last at
least three years.
Rites of incorporation are the most prominent during marriage as the
married girl enters a new household where she establishes new relations
with her groom, her groom families and relatives.

3.5 FUNERAL RITES

Death separates the deceased from their statuses of living parent, spouse,
or co-worker. The period of preparing the dead for burial or cremation
moves them into a transitional phase when they are neither what they
have been nor yet what they will become. Such moments of transition
often involve uncertainty and potential danger. The ritual impurity of the
corpse derives from its inability to respond to others, yet is still “present”
in their everyday routines. Accordingly, people pay their respects to the
dead, marking their former identity with them, express sorrow for the
bereaved and, by so doing, reaffirm their continuing relationship with
them.
Robert Hertz argues that funeral rites involve a kind of parallel process
in which the decay of the dead reflects the path of grief in the bereaved.
Bereavement involves both the social change of status of people—from,
say, being a wife to being a widow, from being a child to being an
orphan, or from being a subordinate adult to becoming the head of the
family. It also involves psychological changes of identity associated with
such shifts. Human beings become dependent upon each other and, in a
sense, each identity is made up of elements of other people’s influence.
People become “part of” each other, and thus when one dies a portion
of one’s self perishes as well. Some theories of grief discuss this in terms
of attachment and interpret bereavement as the loss that follows when
attachments are removed.
The fear of ghosts or spirits, for example, can be related to both the
44 dimensions of status and identity. In terms of status, ghosts and spirits
can be seen as the dead who have not been successfully moved from Rites of Passage
their place in this world to that of the next. They are those who are
caught in between the realm of an unintended state, potentially dangerous
entities, or phenomena as they symbolize radical change that challenges
the social life set up against such change. Sometimes funeral rites exist to
try to get such spiritual forces finally to leave the world of the living and
get on with their future destiny. At its most extreme, rites of exorcism
serve to banish the dead or other supernatural entities and prevent them
from influencing the living. In terms of identity, this time the identity of the
living, ghosts and spirits, perhaps also include vivid dreams of the dead,
all reflect the individual experience of a bereaved person who is still,
psychologically speaking, caught up with the identity of the deceased
person. Physical death has also been widely employed as an idiom to
describe the leaving of an old status and the entry into a new one. In the
case of death befalling on an Oraon family, the lineage members have
some obligations.
Gonds cremate or bury their dead. Children, unmarried persons, and
individuals dying an inauspicious death (for instance, in an epidemic) are
buried without much ceremony. Gonds believe humans have a life force
and a spirit. On death, the life force is reincarnated into another earthly
existence, but the spirit remains in the other world. Gonds perform death
rituals to help the spirit move into the other world and to ease its
acceptance by other clan spirits. This rite, known as karun , must be
done to fulfill an obligation to the deceased. Memorial pillars honor the
dead. Gonds believe ancestral spirits watch over the living, punish
offenders, and guard Gond communities.
Among the Majhwâr, Mânjhi, Mâjhia—a small mixed tribe who have
apparently originated from the Gonds, Mundas and Kawars. When a man
is at the point of death they place a little cooked rice and curds in his
mouth so that he may not go hungry to the other world, in view of the
fact that he has probably eaten very little during his illness. Some cotton
and rice are also placed near the head of the corpse in the grave so that
he may have food and clothing in the next world. Mourning is observed
for five days, and at the end of this period the mourners should have their
hair cut, but if they cannot get it done on this day, the rite may be
performed on the same day in the following year.
Among the Kol tribe of India,the funeral rites takes place in the following
way:
i) Immediately after death, the corpse is placed on the ground “so that
the soul should more easily find its way to the home of the dead,”
which is under the earth.
ii) The corpse is washed and painted yellow to chase away evil spirits
who would stop the soul on its journey.
iii) For the same purpose the assembled relatives and neighbours utter
pitiable cries.
iv) The corpse is placed on a scaffold with the feet facing forward so
that the soul should not find the way back to the hut and for the
same reason the procession travels by detours.
45
Introduction to Tribal v) The cortege must not include either children or girls; the women cry;
Society and Culture
the men are silent.
vi) Each man carries a piece of dry wood to throw on the pyre.
vii) Rice and the tools of the deceased’s sex are placed there , and in
the mouth of the corpse there are rice cakes and silver coins for the
journey, since the soul retains a shadow of the body.
viii) The women leave, and the pyre is lighted; the litter is also burned to
prevent the deceased’s return.
ix) The men gather the calcified bones, place them in a pot, and bring
the pot back to the deceased’s house where it is hung from a post.
x) Grains of rice are strewn along the route, and food is placed in front
of the door so that the deceased, should he return in spite of all
precautions, will have something to eat without harming anyone.

xi) All the deceased’s utensils are carried far away, because they have
become impure and because the deceased may be hidden in them.

xii) The house is purified by a consecrated meal.

xiii) After a certain time, the ceremony of “betrothal,” or “union of the
deceased with the population of the lower world,” is the woman who
carries the pot, leaps with joy.
xiv) A marriage retinue with music, etc., goes to the village from which
the deceased and his ancestors have originated.
xv) The pot containing the bones of the deceased is deposited in a small
ditch, above which a stone is erected.
xvi) On their return, the participants must bathe.
Among the Lushai tribe of North-East India, funeral rites takes place as
follows:
The deceased is dressed in his best clothes and tied in a sitting position
on a scaffold of bamboo, while next to him are placed the tools and
weapons of his sex. A pig, a goat, and a dog are killed, and all the
relatives, friends and neighbours divide the meat; the deceased is also
given food and drink. At nightfall, he is placed in a grave dug right next
to the house. His nearest relative says goodbye and asks him to prepare
everything for those who will come and join him. The soul, accompanied
by those of the pig, the goat, and the dog, without whom it would not
find its way to the land of mi-thi-khua, where life is hard and painful. But
if the deceased has killed men or animals on the hunt, or if he has given
feasts to the whole village, he goes to a pleasant country on the other
side of the river, where he feasts continuously. Since women can neither
fight nor hunt nor give feasts, they cannot go to this beautiful country
unless their husbands take them there. After a certain time, the soul
leaves one or the other of these regions and returns to earth in the form
of a hornet. After another lapse of time, it is transformed into water and
46
evaporates in the form of dew, and, if dewdrops fall on a man, that man Rites of Passage
will beget a child who will be a reincarnation of the deceased.
Rites of separation are the most prominent in funeral rites as the deceased
is separated physically from the other members of the society.
In this section you read about of rites of marriage and funeral.

Check Your Progress II

Note: Use the space provided for your answer.
1) What do you mean by betrothal?
................................................................................................................
................................................................................................................
................................................................................................................
................................................................................................................

2) Why is funeral rites call rites of separation?

................................................................................................................
................................................................................................................
................................................................................................................
................................................................................................................

3.6 LET US SUM UP

Rites of passage have three phases - separation, transition, and re-
incorporation. In the first phase, people withdraw from their current status
and prepare to move from one place or status to another. ‘The first
phase (of separation) comprises symbolic behaviour signifying the
detachment of the individual or group...from an earlier fixed point in the
social structure’. There is often a detachment or ‘cutting away’ from the
former self in this phase, which is signified in symbolic actions and rituals.
For example, the cutting of the hair for a person who has just joined the
army. He or she is ‘cutting away’ the former self - the civilian.
The transition (liminal) phase, the second is the period between states,
during which one has left one place or state but hasn’t yet entered or
joined the next. ‘The attributes of liminality or of liminal personae
(“threshhold people”) are necessarily anbiguous’.
‘In the third phase (reaggregation or reincorporation) the passage is
consummated [by] the ritual subject’. Having completed the rite and
assumed their ‘new’ identity, one re-enters society with one’s new status.
Re-incorporation is characterized by elaborate rituals and ceremonies,
like debutant balls and college graduation, and by new ties, thus ‘in rites
of incorporation there is widespread use of the “sacred bond”, the “sacred
cord”, the knot, and of analogous forms such as the belt, the ring, the
bracelet and the crown’. 47
Introduction to Tribal
Society and Culture 3.7 FURTHER READINGS AND REFERENCES
Das, S.T., (1986), “Tribal life OF North-Eastern India”, Gian Publishing
House, Delhi.
Gennep, Arnold Van, (1960), “Rites of Passage”, The University of
Chicago Press, Chicago.
Rao, K.Mohan, (1990),“The Kolams, a primitive tribe in transition”,
Booklinks Corporation, Hyderabad.
Sandhwar, Abanindra Narayan,(1990), “The Korwa Tribe”, Amar
Prakashan, Delhi.

48