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Lots of cultures have a special ceremony that marks the transition from teen to adult. It's both a celebration of a major life landmark and an acknowledgment that the celebrant is a part of the mystical society of grownups. In cultures without such a ceremony, other major life landmarks are celebrated instead.
Sex As Rite Of Passage is a subtrope. For other kinds of rites and rituals that earns you membership into a group of people, see Initiation Ceremony.
Fictional Rites
Anime and Manga
- The decision of gender in Simoun.
Film
- Flash Gordon (1980). A young Arborean man is initiated into adulthood through the "test of manhood", which involves sticking your arm into a stump and hoping you don't get stung by the monster inside.
- Star Wars gives us a glimpse of what an Apprentice needs to go through in order to become a Jedi: in the Empire Strikes Back, Luke makes a journey into a cave and strikes down Darth Vader, but is surprised to find that the face beneath the Dark Lord's mask is his own. The Expanded Universe explores this in detail.
- Warriors has a gang whose members must first get punched out without flinching or screaming.
Literature
- Alexei Panshin's SF novel Rite of Passage
 . 14-year-old children on a starship must go through a Trial before being considered adults: surviving on a hostile colony planet for 30 days with minimal equipment.
- In The Giver, getting assigned a job is an important rite that determines the rest of a person's life; being assigned the unusual job of Giver is what marks Jonas as special in the community.
- In the Farseers trilogy, mention is made of a ceremony.
- The agony box trial in Dune.
- In the Liveship Traders books, girls aged thirteen or fourteen "come out" (no, still not like that) at the summer ball, which is pretty much a debutante ball. After this, they are expected to act (and allowed to dress) like adult women.
- In the Earthsea Trilogy novel A Wizard of Earthsea, the mage Ogion the Silent gives Duny his True Name of "Ged" in a coming of age ceremony.
- In the Women Of The Otherworld series, witches much undergo a special ceremony after their first period, but before their second to unlock their full power. Failure to do so leaves the witch with the same power levels she had as a child. Unfortunately for Paige, in Dime Store Magic, she learns that the rites she was taught was actually a nerfed version of the real thing. The clear implication was that , somewhere along the way, the witch elders intentionally altered the ceremony to ensure none of their number could grow too powerful, hence bringing unwanted attention on the rest. She uses the real thing on her ward, Savannah.
- In the novel Nation by Terry Pratchett when a boy comes of age he is left on an island and must construct a canoe and get back to his village as a rite of passage, to receive his adult soul so the tribe believes. Mau is on his way home when the tsunami hits, which is why he's the only survivor.
Live Action TV
- Klingons who reach the Age of Ascension must walk through a gauntlet of warriors who jab him with pain sticks.
Tabletop Gaming
- Forgotten Realms being highly developed setting, there are such cultural details:
- Drow has The Blooding. Exactly What It Says On The Tin.
- Rashemen has dajemma or darjemma — the quest or wandering a year or more long that young Rashemaar people take in early adulthood. It's not an absolute requirement: e.g. it's cancelled in the times of war. Obviously some are dead or lost, but those who return has a valuable out-land experience.
Webcomics
Western Animation
- The Star Trek The Animated Series episode "Yesteryear" introduced the kahs-wan, an ordeal in which Vulcan children must survive in the desert for 10 days by themselves with no supplies to prove their courage and strength.
Anime and Manga
- The "red beans and rice" meal is referenced in Kodomo No Omocha when Sana reassures an adult that she's old enough to know shame.
Fan Fiction
Film
- Sixteen Candles.
- In Gone With The Wind, Scarlett scandalizes everyone at the debutante ball by showing up in a red dress instead of virginal white.
- Ditto Jezebel from the movie of the same name.
- The new Starsky And Hutch movie has the heroes pretending to be a performer at a Bar Mitzvah in order to infiltrate a suspect's home.
- In Keeping The Faith, the preparation leading up to a Bar Mitzvah is shown as well as the Mitvah itself.
Live Action TV
- A debutante ball happened on Gilmore Girls.
- Spike TV's Manswers once did a "what rite of adulthood is most likely to kill you?" segment focusing on these kinds of ceremonies. (Answer: strapping a bamboo tube filled with fireworks to your crotch and hoping you don't lose a limb or worse.)
Real Life
- Japan has the Coming of Age Day for reaching twenty and the eating of Red Beans And Rice for a girl's first menarche.
- America (and other parts of the western world) has the Sweet Sixteen; less formally, getting your first car (representing freedom and responsibility), turning the age of consent, losing your virginity, turning 21 (or being old enough to legally drink), and graduating from high school and/or college are also seen as major steps towards adulthood.
- Women of high society mark their first formal debut in high society with debutante balls. The Pimped Out Dress is an important part of this. Also called a coming-out party.
- Latin American girls get the Fifteen Years ("Quinceañera" in the USA, "XV Años" elsewhere) and the Catholic rituals (see below).
- Cultural and Ethnic Jews have the Bar (or Bat) Mitzvah at the age of 13, to symbolize that the celebrant is old enough to understand the Torah (the Books of the Law). Being roped in as a performer at a Bar (or Bat) Mitzvah is seen as one of those jobs you have to do to make ends meet, but not a dignified gig, just barely above being a birthday party clown.
- Catholics have Confirmation, to, well, confirm that the baptism they were given as infants has led to becoming a full member of the church. Unlike some of the others, it isn't tied to a specific birthday; it usually happens around eighth grade. Other Christian denominations have similar rites.
- Muslims have the circumcision of both boys and girls (though this is rare outside Africa and very controversial) at age 12.
- Stone Age societies (real or fictional) are presented as having ridiculously frightening rites of passage involving stinging insects, piercing of nether regions, psychosomatic drugs, and so on and so forth.
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