Initiation in traditional cultures as a social practice

The article deals with initiation as a universal in traditional cultures social practice, the passage of which was a prerequisite for acquisition of a full-fledged social status, and thus a social gender and a family. Those who were to pass initiation in some traditional cultures organized special communities based on values and norms significantly different from the values and norms of the society of individuals with fully-fledged status. Sharp contrast of such "transitional" communities allows the author to consider them as "countercultures. " Initiation practices in some traditional cultures were considerably simplified and mitigated, which indicates their degradation, at least in some societies.