Initiation
Initiation is a formal process through which someone is admitted to a group, role, or status, often through prescribed rites or tests.
Rite of passage: A ritual marking a transition from one social status or stage of life to another. Initiation is one form of ritualized transition between social statuses.
Arnold van Gennep: A French ethnographer whose 1909 book The Rites of Passage analyzed rituals marking changes in social status. His framework identified separation, transition, and incorporation as phases relevant to initiation.
Bar mitzvah: A Jewish coming-of-age milestone at which a boy assumes responsibility for religious commandments, traditionally at age thirteen. It marks entry into a new religious and communal status through ceremony.
Induction: A formal introduction of a person into an organization, office, or role. Induction often names organizational entry without the broader ritual transition implied by initiation.
Liminality: A transitional state in which ordinary social roles and classifications are suspended or unsettled. Initiates may occupy an in-between status during the admission process.
Victor Turner: A British cultural anthropologist known for studying ritual, symbols, and social drama. His account of liminality developed a key idea for interpreting initiation.
Confirmation: A Christian rite in which a person affirms or receives a strengthening of baptismal commitment, with meanings varying by tradition. Many churches use it to formalize a person's fuller participation in the community.
Orientation: An introductory process that familiarizes someone with an organization, environment, or set of procedures. Orientation supplies information but does not necessarily confer membership or status.
Oath: A solemn declaration, often invoking a witness or authority, that a person will act truthfully or fulfill an obligation. Some initiations use sworn commitments to formalize new duties.
Eleusinian Mysteries: Ancient Greek religious rites held at Eleusis in honor of Demeter and Persephone, with restricted knowledge for initiates. They are a prominent ancient example of initiation into a cult.