INIZIAZIONE. – From Lat. in-eo (whence initium, initiare), “to enter within,” here in the sacred sense of being admitted among the members of a given religious group. Initiation is a rite that effects and consecrates the passage of an individual (or a group) from one condition of life to another, and specifically from the profane world to the sacred.
In primitive human groups, rites that introduce the young person into the society of adults are of great importance. For this subject, V. sotto.
I. IN RELIGIONS OF CULTURE
Initiatory rites, which religiously introduce a person into a new condition of life, involve three moments: separation of the initiate from the world to which he has hitherto belonged, during which he is instructed in the principles and duties proper to the association; trial, in which the initiate is subjected to tests, often painful, which must demonstrate his capacity for endurance, in accordance with the obligations and conditions of the new life to which he aspires; and aggregation, which, through a ceremonial often complicated, confers upon the initiate the investiture as a member of the new society, and the right to wear its insignia.Among primitive groups, i. is the same for all the men of the clan, but when the latter expands into a tribe through the acquisition of territories and the incorporation of foreign elements, initiatory rites become the privilege of the elders, who use them to exercise a directive influence over the men of the group.
Secret societies thus arise, multiplying according to the specific objectives they pursue and the mystical-magical powers of which they consider themselves repositories. These secret societies have as their patron a divine or spiritual Power, to which the initiates assimilate themselves through a ceremony signifying the death of the old man and his resurrection, thanks to the acquisition of a new soul that makes him a brother to the other members of the society, enabling him to share in their mystical-magical powers of dominion over things and men.
For initiation into the mysteries, V. MISTERI. For Christian initiation, V. BATTERMO. Nicola Turchi
II.
I. OF YOUTH AMONG PRIMITIVE PEOPLES
In several populations that still belong to the original cultures, around the time of puberty, boys and girls, before becoming full members of society, must undergo an initiation, whose purpose is solely to inculcate observance of the moral precepts that constitute the educational ideal of these populations. Observance of these precepts is also a religious duty: some populations (e.g., the Yamana of the ‘Land of Fire, South America’) explicitly teach the initiands that “Watauineua (the Supreme Being), who sees everything exactly, desires the observance of these laws,” and strikes the transgressor or his loved ones with premature death. Other populations, about whom less is known, are not so explicit; nevertheless, the moral and religious character of their initiations emerges from the ceremonies as a whole. Another characteristic of these initiations is that the initiands are subjected to mortifications and penances, such as fasting, silence, and little rest, but not to painful practices.Andamanese boys and girls, between eleven and thirteen years of age, must abstain from especially favoured foods such as honey, turtle meat, and wild pork; this prohibition lasts until they have passed through the initiations, which are neither secret nor reserved for only one part of the tribe: women also participate in the initiations of the boys, and men in those of the girls. During these ceremonies, the candidate is presented with a food from which he must abstain. He merely looks at it; the chief pours a few drops of pig fat over him and anoints him with butter. The initiands must also remain silent for several days. Finally, relatives and friends adorn the boys and invite them to dance, which they do until exhausted. On these occasions the girls receive the name of a flower that is then blooming, and bear this name until they become mothers. The ceremony as a whole lasts several days, after which the first food prohibition ceases. The following year the festival is repeated, at the end of which another prohibition ceases.
Yamana boys and girls, upon reaching puberty, are subjected to initiations “which constitute a systematic course of education” (Koppers). Experienced and respected elders impart to the young their essential duties, which may be summarized as follows: “Respect and help the old, do not repeat the malicious gossip you hear, distribute the spoils of the hunt not only among friends but also among strangers, do not kill, do not steal, and do no harm, respect other men’s wives, help everyone, be industrious. If you find a lost child, return it to its family even if it is the child of one of your enemies, because the child is not guilty of your enmity.”
The precepts for girls are substantially the same. They are especially reminded that they must rise early and be helpful to the elders. The latter recommend that girls be modest when walking (v. l'elenco completo dei precetti in Koppers, Gusinde e Boccassino).
The initiations of the Australian populations, including those that still belong to the most archaic cultural stratum, are much more complex, and women may participate in only part of the ceremonies. In this exclusion, and in several rites, the influence of totemism is evident: this is a cultural cycle in which the social position of women is greatly weakened in comparison with that which they held in the original cultures.
At the conclusion of the ceremonies, the chief of the Kurnai (New South Wales, Australia) relates with great solemnity the ancient history of the tribe, in which mythology and religion are interwoven. He then explains to the young men the moral laws they must observe: “Obey your parents, share what you have with your friends and live in peace with them, do not have relations with girls or married women, abstain from certain foods until the elders give you permission to eat them.” All the circumstances that precede and accompany the enunciation of these precepts—ceremonies and exhausting dances lasting several days, the silence of the night, the solitude of the forest, the starry sky, and the call of the Supreme Being—are arranged so as to leave the deepest possible impression on the young men (W. Schmidt).
Even more complex are the initiations of the Yuin (New South Wales, Australia), who belong to the culture of the boomerang (v. ETNOLOGIA, VII, 4). In these ceremonies, the avulsion of a tooth is already present, performed with a wooden chisel, which the initiand must endure without complaint if he does not wish to be mocked for the rest of his life. The initiate is proud of this avulsion because he has thereby given proof of courage, but perhaps even more because he has received a mark that also externally distinguishes him from the uninitiated and makes him a man in the full sense of the word, with all the rights to govern the tribe. In the initiations of the Yuin, the division of the tribe into two categories is already evident: initiates (men) and non-initiates (children, youths, women). This division is a characteristic of totemism. Yet, notwithstanding these non-original elements, the authority of the Supreme Being remains strong in Yuin initiations: the initiands are expressly warned that he sees everything from heaven and punishes transgressors.
In the initiations of the Kamilaroi (New South Wales, Australia), the elders teach the young that, in the division of the spoils, preference must be given to the old, the sick, and families with many members.
The initiations demonstrate that: 1) primitive populations too possess a definite educational ideal that they seek to imprint upon the young; 2) for a complete social education, parental authority alone is insufficient, and that of the social group is also necessary; among the original cultures, the latter is only in its beginnings and is not in conflict with the family; 3) the original cultures attach equal importance to the education of boys and girls; 4) the mortifications (fasting, silence, and little rest) carried out during these ceremonies prove the importance these indigenous peoples attach to self-mastery; 5) by yielding their preferred foods to the elders, the young demonstrate that they are convinced of the necessity of altruism and of assistance extended to all members of the tribe (v. gli esempi di altruismo riferiti da W. Schmidt e W. Koppers in Völker und Kulturen, Ratisbona 1924, p. 185 sgg); 6) morality has a religious foundation, as shown by the references to the Supreme Being, who demands observance of his commandments and punishes transgressors. The sanction is sometimes limited to this life and consists in the death of the guilty person or of his loved ones, or in illnesses; at other times it extends also to the other life. The beneficial effect of the initiations is not erased throughout life, as attested by scholars who have observed these populations in the field.
In more recent cultures, initiations are no longer common to boys and girls and largely lose their original, essentially educational function; indeed, they are often associated with obscene sexual elements. In matriarchy, only girls receive from their mother a kind of initiation when they reach the time of their first menstruation.
In totemism, only young men are initiated, and they are subjected to painful practices such as the avulsion of a tooth, circumcision, performed with a sharp lithic splinter or one retouched along the edges, and subincision, with a pointed stone knife. — Vedi tav. CXXIV.
The study of primitive initiations has clarified several archaic aspects of the Greek mysteries.