ABSTRACT
Initiations are indescribably common. They are not the result of diffusion or of random spontaneous growth, but an essential part of human nature, however exotic or alien the ritual in which they are clothed. They reflect our perception of the world and of ourselves as existing in certain states or conditions which last for a while and then change regularly into others. In our urban societies the transition concerns itself with registrations, electoral rolls, licences, entitlements, employment, and taxation. For the ceremonies and their mythology concerned the identity not only of the initiand but also of the tribe itself. So we discover that when the tribe moves or splits, the mythology is taken with it. Mythology is the real preservative. Rites are mere behavioural patterns, not necessarily leaving us any archaeological clues to their existence.
