Chapter Four reflection question

This chapter reflection was a little difficult for me. I could not think of a ritual for my family that we have practiced several times. After reading the chapter I got some more insight and ideas of some rituals that I have been through and my family has performed. The ritual that I have performed is a common ritual practiced in the United States. My ritual was a rite of passage. When someone turns eighteen in my family that is a right of passage and many ceremonial things are performed. For instance our family usually throws a big party for the member of the family who is turning eighteen. Like mentioned in the book, there are foods that are introduced for such a ceremony. The parent of the one’s birthday makes a huge birthday cake for the birthday child. Along with a cake the birthday child gets a birthday breakfast and a dinner of their choice. The parent makes the new adult a meal of their likings. As for myself I ate a big breakfast and had ribs, potatoes, corn, and a chocolate cake. The funny thing with me is I have a twin so we got two cakes and two dinners. Also the best about becoming an adult in my family is being able to sit at the table with the adults. I have such a huge family and when I am able to sit at the adult table, is when I truly felt like an adult. Also mentioned in the chapter was with this rite of passage comes three stages, “separation, transition, and reincorporation”. For my separation was college. Since I turned eighteen in the summer, I went of to college shortly after my birthday. While at college I made the transition into an adult, and I felt like my reincorporation was when I would go home from college. I would have adult conversation and felt like I was truly one of the adults. After thinking about rituals that I have performed in my life, I could only come up with a lot of what the books states as “rites of passage”. Other wise this was the largest ritual that I could think of. This entry is a response to my chapter four question.