Lecture: Coming-of-age Ceremonies
At what age does a child become an adult?
The answer depends on your culture. Here are a few examples.
First, in some North American Indian cultures, a boy becomes a man around the age of 13. At that time, goes into the woods alone, without food or water, for several days. When he returns safely, he becomes an adult man. Girls become adult women as soon as they are old enough to have babies, also around the age of 12 or 13.
In Japan today, young people become legal adults at age 20. Each year on the second Monday in January, they celebrate "Coming-of-Age Day" when all the twenty-year-olds in a town are invited to attend a special ceremony. They wear traditional clothes, listen to speeches, and visit with old friend.
Finally, in the United States, the passage into adulthood takes several years. American teenagers look forward to their 16th birthday, because in most states that is the age when they can get a driver's license. The legal age of adulthood is 18, when Americans can vote, get married and work full-time