Note 28 — D. THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE RITUAL

Van Gennep, in a very interesting chapter on “Initiatory Rites” (Chapter VI of his Les Rites de Passage), has divided puberty into two divisions,—puberté physique and puberté sociale,—and has shown that the age variations of both are considerable. He insists that many writers have considerably obscured the points at issue by confusing the two. Van Gennep believes that the puberté physique and puberté sociale rarely fall together. It seems to me that this is not entirely borne out by the facts of the case; for it must be remembered that, accompanying the physiological changes at puberty, there are mental changes which in many cases permit an individual to become of active social importance; and while I think that it is this social activity that is emphasized by the initiatory rites, nevertheless the fact must not be overlooked that this social activity often coincides with the physiological puberty. We must, of course, not identify physiological puberty with any too definite a time, but allow for considerable fluctuations.