History I / Religion, Myth, and Ritual
Practice question · Put in order

Order the moments of an initiation as a rite of passage.

Hints
  1. The sequence has three beats, with a threshold in the middle.
  2. The person must leave the old status before entering the new one.
Show the answer
  1. Ordinary life in the old status
  2. Separation: taken out of the village
  3. Liminality: seclusion, ordeal, secret knowledge
  4. Incorporation: return, feast, new name
  5. Ordinary life in the new status
Why

Van Gennep’s three-beat engine — separation, liminality, incorporation — carries a person between two ordinary lives. Every wedding, graduation, and boot camp still runs on it.

Read the lesson: Religion, Myth, and Ritual →

Practise Religion, Myth, and Ritual

The app has 5 more questions on this lesson, and keeps your place in the course. History I is free to start.

More questions on Religion, Myth, and Ritual