Confucianism

Tradition·Founded c. 500 BCE·uncounted — a tradition more than a membership

Confucianism

Branch
Rite of Confucianism

The capping.

Three changes of cap and gown with a charge spoken over each, and then a courtesy name that replaces the childhood one — after which the person is addressed as an adult. Zhu Xi wrote the manual in the twelfth century. China and Korea have both revived it recently, frequently as a municipal ceremony for eighteen-year-olds.

⏱ once in a lifetime, at about twenty◌ the young man or woman, the family, a presiding elder
What happensThree changes of dress and cap, each with a charge spoken over it, then the granting of a courtesy name to be used instead of the childhood one
What it needsA ritual manual — Zhu Xi wrote the standard one in the twelfth century and it is still used
What it aims atTo mark that this person may now be addressed as an adult. Revived in China and Korea in recent decades, often as a civic ceremony
Understanding it — context, not catechism: how this rite is held

The guanli or gwallye is the coming-of-age rite, performed at about twenty for men and, in the corresponding jili, at about fifteen for women. The classical form has the initiate change headgear and dress three times, each accompanied by a spoken charge from the presiding elder, culminating in the conferral of a zi, a courtesy name, which thereafter replaces the childhood personal name in adult address — an important point, since using someone's personal name after this was a discourtesy. Zhu Xi codified the procedure in his Family Rituals in the twelfth century and that text remains the reference. The rite largely lapsed under modernisation in both China and Korea and has been revived from the late twentieth century, frequently in a civic rather than lineage form: Korea holds a national Coming-of-Age Day on the third Monday of May, and Chinese cities and schools have staged mass ceremonies for eighteen-year-olds in Han-style dress, which carries an obvious cultural-nationalist charge as well as a ritual one.

The same ground, other faiths

rites that share this one's ideas
The fire offering. Hinduism Go deeper →
Ritual sustains the order of the world. Vedic Religion · core tenet Go deeper →
Vesak. Buddhism Go deeper →
Paryushana. Jainism Go deeper →
The commandments are how the covenant is lived. Judaism · core tenet Go deeper →
The Eucharist. Christianity Go deeper →

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