In many cultures, there are specific moments or rituals in one’s life in which one becomes an adult or “comes of age.” For example, there is the well-known Jewish tradition of a Bar or Bat Mitzvah and the South American Quinceanera. I looked up an article describing different coming of age traditions around the world, and there were some very unique ones such as wearing gloves made of stinging ants for ten minutes or jumping over a cow four times naked to prove your strength to become an adult. I found it interesting that the majority of these traditions that I read about were for boys becoming men, and the source I used did not even mention if there was a similar tradition for girls in many cases. This honestly does not surprise me considering the historical sexism that most of these cultures face, but it was still interesting to see in the different traditions.
Unlike some countries, the United States doesn’t have a specific coming-of-age ceremony. For some people, it may be a sweet 16 party, or it may be just going through puberty. In the US, there are specific ages associated with the law in which you are expected to be mature enough to handle different things that adults can do. For example, you are deemed mature enough to drive a car at 16, make your own decisions at 18, and drink alcohol at 21.
For me personally, there hasn’t been a specific moment in my life where I consider myself coming of age, and it probably hasn’t even happened yet. I do think that when I got my driver’s license, I felt a lot more mature because I started making my own schedule and not relying on my parents to take me places. I don’t necessarily consider this my coming of age, but I definitely grew a lot. I think that for me and for a lot of people, it takes many experiences in life to “come of age,” not one big ritual. And even so, you may never be able to describe the exact experiences that shaped you, as you are constantly growing up and maturing throughout your entire life.
