For every Amish teenager, there comes a time and event that can open their eyes to a whole new world. This event is called Rumspringa and the Amish get to experience this ceremony when they finally hit the age of 16. What is Rumspringa you ask? Well it is the time in a young Amish boy or girls life where they are permitted to go into the everyday world with no parental supervision and see what it has to offer for them. From being able to wear normal everyday clothes, to finally being allowed to go out and party, drink alcohol, or anything they desire. The Amish are a people who devote their life and are committed to the church. What Rumspringa does is allows the teenagers to make a choice between staying committed to the church or eventually ending back up in the real world to move on with their life however they so please to do. Those teenagers who are new to the Rumspringa world and referred to as "simmies". They are referred to as "simmies", because it is a term that means young, or new and foolish. This is basically the equivalent of being a freshman in high school, and of course they want to shed that name as quickly as possible. Although there are many Amish who live up Rumspringa as much as possible, there are still many that experience this event without rebellious or wild behaviors at all. The boys and girls of the amish community who partake in Rumspringa have a span from the age of 16 to 25 in which they can experience all that Rumspringa has to offer. Once they have chosen what they plan to do with their lives, they come back to the community and give them their answer. To be admitted back into the church and part of the Amish life again, they must be baptized in between the span of the years. Rumspringa is a time for young Amish people to truly realize and define themselves for who they truly are. American Coming of Age Ceremony: Sweet Sixteen
When it comes to America, we as well have a celebration for becoming 16, but with a few different stipulations than the Amish. One being that this is an event for only being 16 years old and that's it. Also most of the time, depending on the families, they do not engage in the drinking or drugs that most of the Amish take place in. A boy or girls sweet sixteen is usually just a celebration or birthday party. Depending on the families once again, these parties can either be over the top and extravagant, or treated as just another plain birthday. The main problem with today's sweet sixteens are they are over commercialized. These types of "parties were recently highlighted on a popular American television show titled "My Super Sweet Sixteen", where reality television crews profiled some of the country's most lavish and insane sweet sixteen parties" (Derek A., 2014). Unfortunately, this has led large commercialization of this idea and almost poses the question if it is more for the ceremony or idea. Unlike most coming of age ceremonies, a sweet sixteen does not have the religious tie that one might see with the commitment to the church like in the Amish culture. The sweet sixteen is seen as a closer to step of freedom for the young teenager more than anything else. One symbol that gives us this idea of freedom for the teen is the gift of a car. Once you turn 16 you can finally get your drivers license and you are allowed to drive on your own for the first time. So by receiving a car it is a symbol of the freedom you now have to go off on your own and closer to being able to experience life on your own.
With both of these coming of age ceremonies, we can see many similarities and differences in many other cultures. Both of these ceremonies start the young teen out at the age of 16, although the Amish culture goes up to 25. They both give the teens the ability to go out and experience more of the world for themselves, and give them the freedom. A major difference that we see of course is the lack of religious value asserted into the Sweet Sixteen compared to the Rumspringa. All in all, these ceremonies both allow these cultures the ability to grow up and come of age in their society.
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