Jennifer Vance Image and Pilgrimage #1

In Image and Pilgrimage in Christian Culture Victor Turner presents the concept of communitas. He explains it as an unstructured community where people are equal. Communitas is similar to community but communitas contains strong feelings of togetherness and is characteried by sharing a liminal experience usually through rite of passage. Rite of passage is the sacred component of communitas it usually involves a ritual a person must go through to pass to the next stage of life such as marriage and baptism. Communitas brings everyone to a level of equality, even if you are higher in position, you have been lower and you know what it means to be in a lower a position. You can relate and sympathize with the individuals who are where you have once been. After reading this I felt like commumitas could also be defind as an attitude of humility.