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Adolescence is often considered as a transition. All cultures have ways of settling and regulating problems of transition from one status to another–among these the status of adolescent–without too much anxiety for novices and already initiated adults. There seems to be a greater risk of adolescents getting lost and remaining on the margins in our complex and culturally mixed so-called modern societies. We would like to clarify the notion of rites of passage and recall their definition and functions using the work of A. Van Gennep.