Many times the person was given a new name in recognition ofhis or her new adult identity. Sometimes the everyday name remained the same, but a sacred or spiritual name was added to acknowledge the individual's expanded condition. Given the human fondness for signs, the final change of status was usually marked by some distinctive bodily alteration a circumcision performed, tattoos applied, certain paints or ornament applied. More often than not, this meant doing something with the hair cutting the hair or shaving the head for the first time at ppberty. When not cut outright, thebair was bleached, braided, oiled, decorated, or otherwise arranged in distinctive adult fashion.
School is probably the nearest modem equivalent to the ancient initiation rites.
Both are compulsory, both try to bend the unruly energies of youth to constructive social purpose. Both teach obedience, discipline, and the basics of proper social comportment. Both exppress and communicated the central value of the sponsoring culture. Both reveal previously hidden knowledge. Both are challenging and exhausting.