Throughout the course of history, all developing societies had a “rite of passage” which marked the transition from childhood to adulthood. The rite of passage was full of trials, training and ritual. Each youth had to prove himself in an ordeal which tested his (or her) mettle and qualification to be accepted into the society as an adult.

Today in American society, the rite of passage has become a thing of the past except for certain traditional groups such as the Jewish people (bar mitzvah and bat mitzvah). One of the vestiges of the slavery experience is that African-American society does not have within itself an African point of cultural reference. In the African-American community, the quest for rites of passage became a fad as those with a sincere desire to preserve African tradition, but with fragmented knowledge of African culture, formulated rituals that lacked ties to the real substance of their ancestral legacy. Many attempts have been made to construct rites of passage because our young people need to be grounded in a tradition that will give direction and hope. However, rites and rituals should not be created in a vacuum. They must be tied to a culture and traditions that have, from generation to generation, demonstrated integrity and the capacity to rightly guide.

In their search for such culture and traditions, African-Americans and others, regardless of racial or cultural background, would do well to explore the Chrismation de Fille (rites of passage for girls) and Chrismation de Garçon (rites of passage for boys). These ceremonies, created by Gro Mambo Angélá Noványón Idizol, utilize her knowledge of Haitian and African culture to offer a traditional African cultural experience in an authentic African cultural context.