When I was in first grade, our teacher told us to choose a hero and explain our choice to the class. Like many other little girls, I chose my mother, so I drew a picture of the two of us and presented the class with stories about this wonderful woman, I called her "the best mother of all." the times,” I really meant it, and I still do. Back then, I described what it meant to be the woman of our house as silly as my little seven-year-old self could make it. But now, as a student, I choose to revisit that proud speech I gave, wondering what it means to become a woman, but more importantly, through what anthropological ritual known as the Rite of passage she followed to obtain this title. I will prove or dispute this rite of passage by referring primarily to the anthropological writings and beliefs of Victor Turner. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay A rite of passage is defined as moving between two structures of society. The two structures in my example are my mother being a child and her becoming a woman. Unlike other girls, my mother's journey to womanhood was not marked by a white day, a Quinceanera, or a special birthday, etc. Instead, she found herself on the other side of the spectrum, dressed in black, mourning the loss of her mother and mentor. It's never a good time to lose a loved one, but for a sixteen-year-old girl, it's an especially difficult time to experience a loss like this. Not only does she lose her mother, but also the person who was supposed to guide her through the changes a teenager faces at sixteen. This rite of passage that she experienced is marked by three stages as explained by Arnold van Gennep (1909): Separation is the first stage of the rite of passage, and marks the loss of identity, as well as the end of your status in society, so that the path to a new one can begin. Her mother's death in a car accident, waking up in the hospital without her, and attending the funeral marks the separation from being just a child at home and begins his journey to a new role in life. Funerals are there to accompany family members and friends through a time of change and to say goodbye (to the person and stage of life). This is also where I found the greatest number of symbols coming into play (symbols as seen in reading "Original Venda Hustler" are a large part of the rite of passage, as they mark the milestone of the life that a person goes through (McNeill, 2016: 197)). During the ceremony at the church, a candle was lit to symbolize her life and left to burn as her family and friends recalled stories about her and the life she led. Toward the end, as the coffin was being carried, the candle was extinguished to show that his life was over. Another important symbol was the shovelful of earth on the lowered coffin. Here the family is literally part of the burial process and says goodbye physically and emotionally (the symbolic meaning). The liminality stage is where you do not belong to any group in the social structure (Turner, 1996: 94). But it can be seen as a time when you learn what the rules and obligations of your new role are and how to fulfill them (if you don't learn the rules of your new status, you can cause conflict in a society). For her, it was after saying goodbye to the funeral and having to assume her..