Right now I’m listening to Tina Fey hosting “The Hidden World of Girls” on WNYC. (Both hours are podcasted here!) One of the coming of age rituals described by the callers is an old American Indian (Sioux) rite of passage that was recently revived in the 1990s. The ceremony requires thirteen-year old girls to set up their own individual teepees, be hand-fed by their mothers for four days, and listen to their elders’ advice on topics such as modesty, courtship, pregnancy, and suicide. It really resonates with a lot of what I discuss in my Rites of Passage workshop and the clips from National Geographic. Here is the podcast. And here is the web site of the Brave Heart Society.


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