Initiation Rite As Riddle
The liminal stage of an initiation rite is not only a threshold for an initiate's change in status, but it also provides a spiritual threshold for transcendence. Lame Deer's recounting of his experiences in a Lakota vision pit both emphasizes his initiation from boyhood to manhood and his...
| Published in: | Journal of ritual studies |
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| Main Author: | |
| Format: | Print Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Dep.
[1987]
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| In: |
Journal of ritual studies
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| Further subjects: | B
Religious symbolism
B Baptism B Shamans B Symbolism B Grandmothers B Spiritual visions B Christianity B rites of passage B Riddles |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (Verlag) |
| Summary: | The liminal stage of an initiation rite is not only a threshold for an initiate's change in status, but it also provides a spiritual threshold for transcendence. Lame Deer's recounting of his experiences in a Lakota vision pit both emphasizes his initiation from boyhood to manhood and his intense relationship with a religious symbolthe sacred pipethat became the medium for his transcendence. The pipe could provide this transcendence because it operated as a riddle (an interrogative metaphor) that actively engaged Lame Deer in the process of unifying his experiences within a religious framework of meaning. The initiation rite, however, only begins the process of transcendence that will remain a life-long activity. Initiation rites therefore become occasions when the community also renews its metaphorical quest for meaning. During the Christian baptismal ceremony for infants, for example, the child focuses the community's attention on the central Christian riddle of how to live in a sinful world without being wholly of it. Infant baptism most obviously emphasizes the threshold of transcendence for the whole community, since no visible change in the initiate's status occurs. |
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| ISSN: | 0890-1112 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Journal of ritual studies
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