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Initiation is a rite of passage marking entrance or acceptance into a group or society. It could also be a formal admission to adulthood in a community or one of its formal components. In an extended sense, it can also signify a transformation in which the initiate is 'reborn' into a new role. Examples of initiation ceremonies might include Christian baptism or confirmation, Jewish bar or bat mitzvah, acceptance into a fraternal organization, secret society or religious order, or graduation from school or recruit training. A person taking the initiation ceremony in traditional rites, such as those depicted in these pictures, is called an initiate.
Mircea Eliade discussed initiation as a principal religious act by classical or traditional societies. He defined initiation as "a basic change in existential condition", which liberates man from profane time and history. "Initiation recapitulates the sacred history of the world. And through this recapitulation, the whole world is sanctified anew... the can perceive the world as a sacred work, a creation of the Gods."
Eliade differentiates between types of initiations in two ways: types and functions.
Reward system during initiations have important consequences in that initiates who feel more rewarded express stronger group identity.Kamau, C. (2012). What does being initiated severely into a group do? The role of rewards. International Journal of Psychology, As well as group attraction, initiations can also produce conformity among new members. Psychology experiments have also shown that initiations increase feelings of affiliation.
In the context of ritual magic and esotericism, an initiation is considered to cause a fundamental process of change to begin within the person being initiated and its "evolution operates within both the material world and the spiritual world". The person conducting the initiation (the initiator), being in possession of a certain power or state of being, transfers this power or state to the person being initiated. Thus the concept of initiation is similar to that of apostolic succession. The initiation process is often likened to a simultaneous death and rebirth, because as well as being a beginning it also implies an ending as existence on one level drops away in an ascension to the next. Initiation is a key component of Judaism, Sufism and Shiism, Vaishnavism, Sant Mat, Surat Shabd Yoga, Vajrayana Buddhism, Wicca, and similar religious gnosis traditions. It denotes acceptance by the Guru and also implies that the (student or disciple) agrees to the requirements (such as living an ethical lifestyle, meditating, etc.)
One of the most recognized religious initiation rites is Baptism within Christianity. Christian Baptism is seen as both part of the individual's faith and conversion as well as their initiation into the Church.
In the modern version of the Roman religion, some of the communities use a form of the rite of Aries described in the book Introduction to Magic, by Julius Evola. This rite is also used by the Brotherhood of Myriam albeit with some minor differences. The rite symbolises the rebirth of the soul in spring in accordance with the cosmic and natural rhythms and corresponds to the Christian easter, which is claimed to be a derivate of the rite of Aries.
In the book Pietas: An Introduction to Roman Traditionalism, the author makes the claim that the Rite of Aries, corresponds to the ancient Minvervalia where the young Romans would go through their initiation and be introduced to the public cult.
In addition, there can be similar rites of passages associated with parts of naval and military life, which do not constitute true initiations as the participants are already and remain members of the same community. One such rite is associated with crossing the equator on board a naval ship, but it can even be taken by passengers on board a cruise liner, who are not and do not become members of anything but the so-called "equator crossing club". Another form, "Kissing the Royal Belly" or "Royal Baby", calls for initiates to kneel before a senior member of the crew, who wears a mock diaper. This "Baby" usually has a huge stomach covered with greasy materials ranging from cooking oil to mustard, shaving cream, eggs, and oysters. Junior sailors must lick the Baby's navel area, while the "baby" grabs and shakes their head to better smear the goo onto their faces.
Initiation may be thought of as an event which may help teens prepare themselves to be good husbands and wives. Where modernization is occurring, initiation is not taken so seriously as before, although there are still certain areas which still perform initiations.
In some African tribes, boys take about 3–4 months participating in initiation rites and girls take about 1–2 months.
Australian Aboriginal tribes usually had long periods of time to help prepare adolescent boys, teaching them traditional lore before they were ready to attend large elaborate ceremonies at the time of initiation when they were finally recognized as full-fledged men in their society. Most tribes had circumcision and scarification as part of the male initiation rituals, while many Central Australian tribes also practiced subincision.
A salient shared cultural feature of the Min peoples of the New Guinea Highlands is initiation into a secret male religious cult. For example, the Urapmin people used to practice a type of male initiation known in Urapmin language as ban. These elaborate rituals were a central part of Urapmin social life. The ban was a multistage process which involved beatings and manipulation of various objects. At each stage, the initiate was offered revelations of secret knowledge (Urap: weng awem), but at the next stage these would be shown to be false (Urap: famoul). These initiations were abandoned with the adoption of Christianity, and the Urap have expressed relief at no longer having to administer the beatings which were involved. The Sateré-Mawé people of Brazil use intentional bullet ant stings as part of their initiation rites to become warriors.
Among the various Austronesian peoples, head-hunting raids were strongly tied to the practice of . In head-hunting societies, tattoos were records of how many heads the warriors had taken in battle, and was part of the initiation rites into adulthood.
The Sande society in West Africa initiates girls into adulthood by rituals including female genital mutilation.
Nearing the late parts of the ceremony, the initiate gains an alias, or a "Courtesy name"; thereafter use of their personal name is strictly prohibited except before parents and rulers.
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