This week, many young people in Japan celebrated the Coming of Age Festival. This annual festival marks the occasion when 20-year-olds reach the age of maturity. The celebrations involve dressing in traditional attire, receiving gifts, and going to parties.

So, what are some of the other similar traditions that take place in other cultures?

The most well-known in the Jewish tradition is the Bar and Bat Mitzvah. Here young Jewish boys and girls celebrate reaching the ages of 13 and 12 respectively in order to show their commitment to their faith. They attend a religious ceremony followed by a reception event. The

In America, the Amish community have a tradition where the youth mark the time they turn 16. They are allowed to wear modern clothing, drink alcohol and experience life outside of their culture. Those who choose to return are then baptised and become committed members of the Amish church.

In the Canadian Baffin Island, Inuit boys aged 11 and 12 accompany their fathers to test their hunting skills in the wilderness and acclimatise to the harsh arctic weather. In recent times, this tradition has been extended to young girls as well, so that all youths can learn and practise traditional skills at outcamps.

In the Philippines, a popular coming of age celebration for an 18-year-old woman is a formal event called the debut. It has a strict dress code and a theme related to that code. Filipino men, celebrate their debut on their 21st birthday but there is no set traditional event that marks the occasion.

For Maasai people of Kenya and Tanzania, boys aged between 10-20 undergo different initiation rituals as part of their rite of passage into manhood. After the rituals and festivities, the boys spend 10 years at a warrior’s camp to learn new skills. 

In Malaysia, some Muslim girls mark their 11th birthday as a special event to celebrate Khatam Al Koran, a prestigious ritual that demonstrates their growing maturity at their local mosque.