The Ontological Change in Human Existence through Passage Rites

Subject Areas : Christianity

فاطمه Bayat Fard ¹ , فاطمه Lajevardi ²

1 - دانش‌آموختۀ دکتری ادیان و عرفان، واحد علوم و تحقیقات، دانشگاه آزاد اسلامی، تهران، ایران
2 - استادیار گروه ادیان و عرفان، واحد علوم و تحقیقات، دانشگاه آزاد اسلامی، تهران، ایران

Received: 2017-01-12 Accepted : 2017-01-12 Published : 2016-11-21

Keywords: Rites, Passage rites, symbolic death and birth, transformation, mysteriousness,

Abstract :

Common rites in every society reflect the cultural and religious ideas of their people. The structure of a rite is built by the mythical, metaphysical and sometimes mundane believes of people who have been faithful to them for centuries. Passage rites are of the most important and most common practices in human societies. These rites are in fact the reminders of the most important stages of life to people and at the same time introduce some new sets of responsibilities and roles to people who are experiencing the passage. This paper considers the ontological change that is realized by man in these stages of life, including birth, puberty, marriage and death. This change is so radical that they describe it as a symbolic death to one's previous being and birth to a new one. When brought to birth, man is not yet complete unless he undergoes successive symbolic and spiritual deaths before the final one.