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Sacred Correspondences
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Once, or at a turning point in a life

This page groups rituals by how often they are performed, from a once-in-a-lifetime rite to one repeated on a fixed cycle. Wikipedia notes that "calendrical rituals give social meaning to the passage of time, creating repetitive weekly, monthly or yearly cycles." Browsing by frequency lets a visitor tell an annual festival apart from a rite performed only once in a person's life.

Facts
Origins
Whose Classification This Is
The category is van Gennep's: Les rites de passage (1909) proposed that such rites everywhere follow a three-stage pattern of separation, liminality and incorporation, and Victor Turner's 1969 work on liminality made the middle stage the centre of the frame. It is a scholars' scheme, not a traditions' one. 2
Overview
What Defines This Grouping
Rites marking a passage in an individual life - birth and naming, coming of age, marriage, ordination, death. Nearly every tradition marks some of these, but not the same set, and which passages are marked by religious rite rather than by civil custom differs by tradition and by period. 2
Directory
Category
Rituals 1
Status
Standing as a Comparative Category
A standard analytic category in the study of religion 2
Learn More
The lifecycle rituals

This group gathers lifecycle rituals, the rites that mark the great transitions of a human life: birth and naming, coming of age, marriage, and other passages by which a person moves from one status to the next. Such rites of passage are found in every religious tradition and are among the most universal features of religious life.

The browser will find lifecycle rituals from across the world's traditions. The entries describe each rite's form, meaning and setting, noting the tradition to which it belongs and the transition it marks.

Once, or at a turning point in a life
Filter Results46 entries

Anand Karaj

Once, or at a turning point in a life

Annaprashana

Once, or at a turning point in a life

Apache Sunrise Ceremony

Once, or at a turning point in a life

Aqeeqah

Once, or at a turning point in a life

Aqiqah

Once, or at a turning point in a life

Bedeken

Once, or at a turning point in a life

Birth Blessing

Once, or at a turning point in a life

Bragoro

Once, or at a turning point in a life

Brit Milah (Bris)

Once, or at a turning point in a life

Chalitzah

Once, or at a turning point in a life

Chisungu

Once, or at a turning point in a life

Chudakarana

Once, or at a turning point in a life

Chuppah

Once, or at a turning point in a life

Churching of Women

Once, or at a turning point in a life

Coming-of-Age Rites

Once, or at a turning point in a life

Couvade

Once, or at a turning point in a life

Dipo

Once, or at a turning point in a life

Eland Bull Dance

Once, or at a turning point in a life

Guan Li and Ji Li (Capping and Hairpin Ceremonies)

Once, or at a turning point in a life

Handfasting

Once, or at a turning point in a life

Holy Matrimony

Once, or at a turning point in a life

Imbalu

Once, or at a turning point in a life

Infant Baptism and Christening

Once, or at a turning point in a life

Isnati Awicalowanpi (Lakota Buffalo Ceremony)

Once, or at a turning point in a life

Khitan

Once, or at a turning point in a life

Kiddushin and Nissuin

Once, or at a turning point in a life

Kinaalda

Once, or at a turning point in a life

Marriage Ceremony

Once, or at a turning point in a life

Misa de Accion de Gracias (Quinceanera)

Once, or at a turning point in a life

Monastic Vows

Once, or at a turning point in a life

Namakarana

Once, or at a turning point in a life

Naming and Blessing of Children

Once, or at a turning point in a life

Naming Ceremony

Once, or at a turning point in a life

Nikah

Once, or at a turning point in a life

Orthodox Crowning (Stefana)

Once, or at a turning point in a life

Pidyon Haben

Once, or at a turning point in a life

Ritushuddhi

Once, or at a turning point in a life

Sheva Brachot

Once, or at a turning point in a life

Shichi-Go-San

Once, or at a turning point in a life

Shinzen Kekkon

Once, or at a turning point in a life

Temple Sealing

Once, or at a turning point in a life

Upanayana

Once, or at a turning point in a life

Upsherin

Once, or at a turning point in a life

Vivaha

Once, or at a turning point in a life

Walima

Once, or at a turning point in a life

Yichud

Once, or at a turning point in a life
Sources
1. Divinity Atlas Directory Taxonomy, First Edition Category Tree
2. Ritual: Perspectives and Dimensions
Catherine Bell, Oxford University Press, 1997Basic Genres of Ritual ActionView the Source
Divinity Atlas Directory Prose, First Edition Category Descriptions
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