The human life cycle is made up of biologically determined developmental stages and is culturally understood and experienced. Rite of passage is any life cycle ritual that marks the transition of a person or group from one social status to another. Arnold Van Gennep was an ethnographer known for his studies on the rites of passage of various cultures. Van Gennep found that certain types of rituals around the world had similar structures. These were ritually associated with the movement of people from one position to another in the social structure; things like births, initiations, weddings and funerals. They all began with a period of separation from the old position and normal time, the rites of separation. The second phase involves a transition period, in which the participant is no longer in the old phase but not yet in the new one, known as transition rites. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay Victor Turner called this the liminal period, the dangerous limbo between phases. The final stage is the rites of incorporation when the individual is reintroduced into society in his new position (Gennep, 1960). This essay will compare and contrast the physiological labor and birth rituals and beliefs of the Samoan and Mbuti Pygmy societies. Samoans are the residents of a chain of islands in the central South Pacific Ocean, Western Samoa, and American Samoa. Margaret Mead is an American anthropologist who wrote Coming of Age in Samoa in American Samoa; the book is based on his early fieldwork in American Samoa studying youth. Coming of Age in Samoa shares a look at the physiological labor and rituals of birth in Mead's eyes. The birth of the Samoan baby is highly appreciated and cherished more than birthdays and this is because Samoans believe that the birth is more significant in one's life and is celebrated with a gigantic party. The mother must give birth in her village even if the mother does not currently live in her village. During pre-birth, which is the period usually preceding the six months before the birth of a baby, the paternal side of the family usually showers the mother-to-be with gifts of food and the maternal side prepares mats, bark cloth and clothes for the baby. Samoans have culturally mediated beliefs about childbirth, such as that the umbilical cord should not be cut until it has stopped pulsating and is cut with a bamboo knife. Depending on the gender of the baby, they would throw the cord somewhere and believe that it would benefit the baby in the future. If it is a girl, the rope is buried under a mulberry tree (the tree from which the bark of the fabric is made) to ensure that she grows up to be industrious in household chores; for a boy is thrown into the sea that he may be a skilled fisherman, or planted under a taro plant to give him industry in agriculture. (Mead,1930). They also believed that breastfeeding was important, 78% of Samoans exclusively breastfeed. Women breastfeed immediately after giving birth and newborns are fed on demand. Most babies are breastfed for 2 years as it is the easiest way to calm crying. (Ibid). Pregnant women go into labor and give birth with only older women present. She is not allowed to cry out in pain and endures pain as a sign of strength, which was another belief of theirs. If he cries by mistake, the elders will remind him with a slap in the face. There is no privacy regarding birth. Convection dictates that the mother neither writhes nor screams nor rages against the presence of twenty or thirty people in the house who,.