Crafting meaningful coming-of-age ceremonies for today's children can be challenging. We see our students mature and we want to authentically honor their growing maturity in a way that will feel deeply and culturally meaningful.
The Knighting Ceremony—recognized as part of the Middle Ages study—can be one option, but it’s important to acknowledge and respect the cultural nuances of our communities. One size does not fit all, and there are inspiring coming-of-age ceremonies from a variety of cultures that can provide inspiration.
And, if you ask me, it’s just fine to look to other communities for inspiration. Because the truth is that most of us don’t have a culture that includes a meaningful coming-of-age ceremony. If we want to give our students this experience, we need to craft it ourselves, and it makes sense to examine what others have done and ask questions about how it might align with our own views. We can look at quinceañeras, bar or bat mitzvahs, or traditional Indigenous rites and learn more about the purpose behind the traditions.
To that end, my school practiced honoring sixth graders with a knighting ceremony for a number of years. The ceremony was held at the conclusion of a project in which students took on challenges that aligned with the medieval code of chivalry. We studied this code of knightly behavior that centered around seven virtues. We learned about the virtues and then the students completed a project around them.
Interview an admired person.
Read a biography of an admired person.
Explore the virtues by finding examples in your own life.
Choose one of the virtues and seek to practice it more in your life.
In the end, we held an evening ceremony where the students presented about their experiences and the parents and adults acknowledged their efforts.
I’ve uploaded some of the documents related to this assignment to my Google Drive. Follow the links below to download them.
Have you done a coming-of-age ceremony with your students or children? What did you find to be authentic and resonant for students and families? Share your experiences in the comments.
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