Transgressions and Transformations: Initiation Rites among Urban Portuguese Boys

In the absence of institutionalized, adult‐guided initiation rites in the community of Ajuda in Lisbon, Portugal, nine‐and ten‐year old boys constructed their own rites in the peer group. These rites consisted of a combination of rampages throughout the community and narrative performances about those experiences in the peer group. Both the rampages and the narratives exhibit features traditionally associated with rites of passage. This article applies traditional concepts in novel ways that may prove promising in studying initiation rites in other contemporary, Western, urban societies.