As you get older, you go through important life changes. These changes include growing from childhood into adulthood, marrying, having children, and dying. All around the world, people gather to mark these changes with friends and relatives. Often, they carry out rituals, such as saying prayers, performing activities, or celebrating with dancing or a party. These rituals or celebrations are called rites of passage.
There are many different ways of celebrating coming of age. Some are religious ceremonies, welcoming a young person as a new adult member of a faith. Others are based on day-to-day life–for instance, starting to teach young people things they will need to know as adults, such as work skills or how to provide food.
At a coming-of-age ceremony, a child starts to leave behind the world of childhood and takes a step toward a new stage of life as a young adult. He or she is getting reading to join a new group–the adult world.
*source: general reference materials
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