History Main / InitiationCeremony

* Series/BlueBloods: The episode "Unbearable Loss" features a street gang of {{Troubled Teen}}s whose initiation involves committing murder. Their leader turns out to have been a former attendee of a youth-at-risk camp sponsored by Reverend Potter, with the past coming back to haunt both of them when the latest initiation murder victim ends up being [[OutlivingOnesOffspring Potter's own son]].

* In Creator/TamoraPierce's ''Literature/{{Tortall}}'' books, aspiring knights (usually teenagers) and kings have to spend a night in the [[PsychologicalTormentZone Chamber of the Ordeal]], which is a room inhabited by some kind of godlike spirit that gives you very realistic hallucinations of your worst fears. As one character describes it, it's "like a cutter of gemstones. It finds your flaws and hammers them." With people who aren't ready for hardcore introspection, it can permanently damage or kill them. In one special case, a guy who likes to beat and rape women is [[MindRape forced to feel the physical effects of every assault he ever committed.]] Our main characters see more typical things, like their loved ones being slaughtered because they're too incompetent to protect them. Oh, and ''they're also not allowed to scream or make any sound at all.''

[[folder:Films -- Animated]]
* ''WesternAnimation/FindingNemo'': When Gill invites Nemo to join the Tank Gang, Nemo must first swim through the "Ring of Fire" (a stream of bubbles over a fake volcano). Initially scary, but ultimately pleasant.

* In ''Film/FlashGordon1980'' the Treemen of Arboria are initiated by placing a hand in a tree stump. Within the stump lives a beast whose sting brings madness and lingering death.

[[folder:Film -- Animation]]

-->'''Homer:''' I think I have to do it again... my blindfold came off.

--> '''Princess Aura:''' "Mmm, I just love initiations."

[[folder: Fan Works]]

[[folder: Films -- Live-Action]]

[[folder:Film -- Animated]]

[[folder:Film -- Live-Action]]

See also RiteOfPassage, a catalog of initiation ceremonies into adulthood. {{Knighting}} covers an initiation into an order of knighthood (and is usually of the solemn and dignified type). IfYoureSoEvilEatThisKitten is a trope used exclusively by evil groups for initiates to prove their evilness (or that they aren't heroes in disguise). Gangs may use the GangInitiationFight as their ceremony.

* Done in ''WesternAnimation/JimmyNeutron'' where the title character was attending college and tried getting into a secret club. He was disappointed at first when the initiation ceremony turned out to be just swearing allegiance. Until the president of said club explained that he would then have to streak through the science lab, which he does. [[spoiler: It was actually a ploy for the principal to see Jimmy and get him expelled.]]

* Most of the story in ''[[VideoGame/TheSpellcastingSeries Spellcasting 201]]'' is trying to get through pledge week with the [[IncrediblyLamePun Hu Delta Phart]] fraternity. In addition to the daily flogging of the pledges with a rubber chicken, each pledge has to do a task every day to prove their worthiness. The tasks given to most of the pledges are fairly simple (and amusing to watch), but the ones assigned to the player get increasingly dangerous as the week goes on (Mainly because the Pledgemaster doesn't like you).

* [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Line-crossing_ceremony Line-crossing ceremonies]] are conducted in a fair number of navies when one crosses the Equator, Arctic Circle, UsefulNotes/InternationalDateLine, or whatever for the first time. Historically a bit brutal, but they've been reined in recently after several reports of things going, to use the naval term, [[IncrediblyLamePun overboard]].

* * Peter is forced to commit HumanSacrifice at the end of the bizarre initiation ceremony that opens ''Film/CurseOfTheCrimsonAltar''.

* * Peter is forced to commit HumanSacrifice at the end of the bizarre initiation ceremony that opens ''Film/TheCurseOfTheCrimsonAltar''.

%% Image selected per Image Pickin' thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1463412102070842900
%% Please do not change or remove without starting a new thread.

[[quoteright:350:[[WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/initiation_ceremony.png]]]]
[[caption-width-right:350:"Do you swear to keep Atlantis off the map, the Martians under wraps, and all that other stuff?"]]

%% Caption selected per above IP thread. Please do not replace or remove without discussion here:
%% https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1404492079030138900

[[folder:Films -- Animation]]

* ''Literature/TheRedTent'': The [[RiteOfPassage "Ritual of Opening"]]. At a girl's first period, the girl is bathed, dressed up, and ritually body-painted, and there is a party involving consumption of ''large'' volumes of alcohol and sweets, plus music and dancing. After sunset, the girl is [[spoiler: taken outside [[SexAsRiteOfPassage and stripped naked, so she can masturbate with a fertility doll]] until she orgasms while all her female relatives cheer her on.]] The scene is described as nothing but enjoyable and deeply spiritual, and marks her as a fully-fledged member of the society of women.
* ''Literature/TheLostFleet'' series features a line-crossing ceremony similar to the RealLife one for crossing the International Date Line, which takes place as the protagonist's ship enters the gravitational influence of Sol. It ''could'' have become the humiliating version, but [[DefiedTrope Captain Desjani lays down the law about that early on]] and the whole event remains in good fun throughout.

* Peter is forced to commit HumanSacrifice at the end of the bizarre initiation ceremony that opens ''Film/TheCurseOfTheCrimsonAltar''.

* ''Literature/TheBrotherhoodOfTheConch'': In ''The Conch Bearer'', Anand is initiated into the Brotherhood in a ceremony that involves having water poured over his head and donning the uniform of an apprentice Healer.

[[folder:Films -- Animated]]

[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
%%* ''Film/AnimalHouse''
%%-->''"Thank you, sir! May I have another?"''

* A crewmember in one of the Literature/HonorHarrington muses on the fact that crossing the Hyper wall for the first time tends to bring about the same kind of ceremonies as crossing the international date line on old earth. Since she is from another star system and has thus already done this, she gets to be on the bridge rather than with her friends being shoved into a zero-g module blindfolded and in their skivvies and told to complete various disgusting but ultimately harmless tasks.
* In the twelveth Literature/TanteiTeamKZJikenNote novel ''The Valentine Knows'', the test for entering Phantom X's "elite team" includes asking the person in question to perform embarrassing acts to prove their loyalty. This mainly involves running around the train station naked. [[spoiler:In Sunahara's case, this involves asking him to post Aya's Valentine note to him in the train station ''by his own hand''.[[note]]Which caused Aya to suffer a nervous breakdown on the next day as commuters start reading [[LoveConfession the said note]][[/note]]]]
* Subverted in ''[[Literature/AnneOfGreenGables Anne of the Island]]'' when Gilbert is invited to join a fraternity. For his hazing he was told to spend a day walking around the business district in an apron and sunbonnet. However, this backfires as he takes it in good grace and humor instead of fear and embarrassment.

* Kind of something similar happened in {{Series/The Fresh Prince Of Bel Air}}, where Will and Carlton are trying to join an all-black fraternity and were made to perform a number of pledges... [[spoiler: only Carlton was never even going to be a pledge, despite being given the worst hazing, because he was considered [[TheWhitestBlackGuy not black enough]].]] Will, who got in, angrily quits and Carlton gives the pledge master a massive TheReasonYouSuckSpeech about how [[spoiler: the pledge master is a BoomerangBigot who assumes Carlton got it easy for being rich and calling him out on tripping Carlton up at any opportunity.]] It's so effective that the pledge master was kicked from the fraternity!

* On ''Series/ADifferentWorld'' there were two different episodes about the main characters rushing fraternities/sororities. The first one featured Dwayne and Ron trying to rush [[BlandNameProduct Kappa Lambda Nu]] and in the process testing their friendship. Dwayne ends up quitting although Ron sticks with it. A few seasons later, Ron is the pledge master and enjoys messing with the pledges. Meanwhile, Whitley gets criticized for being too hard on her pledges.
* ''{{Series/Euphoria}}'': "The Next Episode" has [=McKay=] at the receiving end of a hazing ritual that has frat members hold him face-down to the floor and call him "[=McGay=]" several times, just as he is about to have sex with Cassie. It falls into the "humiliating" aspect of the trope.
* In ''Series/DasBoot'', the captain of ''U-949'' decides to do a Crossing the Line Ceremony as ostensibly the sub has crossed the Equator, with himself in drag as Lady Neptune. It involves the initiates (including himself) stripping naked and being rubbed over with wet brooms, as well as a version of three-card-monte involving schnapps, an unspecified "elixir" and urine.
** The "ostensibly" is that they haven't actually crossed the Equator. The Chief Engineer (who is basically running the boat) points this out, but lets the event continue with a warning to his boss that he'd better be done soon as they're due to meet up with a Japanese sub.

* The show ''WesternAnimation/PhantomInvestigators'' had an episode with an abandoned fraternity, where the two remaining members did all sorts of humiliating things in order to be accepted, such as drinking tea brewed with their own sweat socks... yuck.
* Done in ''WesternAnimation/JimmyNeutron'' where the title character was attending college and tried getting into a secret club. He was disappointed at first when the initiation ceremony turned out to be just swearing allegiance. Until the president of said club explained that he would then have to streak through the science lab, which he does. [[spoiler: It was actually a ploy for the principal to see Jimmy and get him expelled.]]

* The ritual to join the evil cult dedicated to Slan in the Conviction Arc in ''Manga/{{Berserk}}'' involves having sex with various members of the cult, kissing a snake that is supposed to be the penis of the Great Goat Head, and eating of a brew that turns out to contain [[spoiler:the remains of human sacrifices]].

[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
* ''Film/OnceWereWarriors'' has a young Maori gangster getting his ass kicked in the ''worst'' way possible. Afterwards? "Congratulations man, you're now one of us!". In criminal gangs, this is known as being "beat in" or "jumped in", and it is not uncommon for prospective initiates to die after such beatings.
* The Creator/AnneHathaway movie ''Film/{{Havoc}}'' involves two wealthy Los Angeles teenagers who get involved with a drug gang and undergo a "sex-in" initiation ritual that [[RapeAsDrama ends horrifically]] for the main character's friend.
%%* The horror film ''Film/StarryEyes'' combines this trope with CastingCouch.
* In ''Film/FlashGordon1980'' the Treemen of Arboria are initiated by placing a hand in a tree stump. Within the stump lives a beast whose sting brings madness and lingering death.
--> '''Princess Aura:''' "Mmm, I just love initiations."
* In ''Film/AManCalledHorse'', John is initiated into a tribe of Sioux Indians by standing still for an entire day, then being dangled from the ceiling by hooks dug into his chest.

* In Creator/TamoraPierce's ''Literature/{{Tortall}}'' books, aspiring knights (usually teenagers) and kings have to spend a night in the [[PsychologicalTormentZone Chamber of the Ordeal]], which is a room inhabited by some kind of godlike spirit that gives you very realistic hallucinations of your worst fears. As one character describes it, it's "like a cutter of gemstones. It finds your flaws and hammers them." With people who aren't ready for hardcore introspection, it can permanently damage or kill them. In one special case, a guy who likes to beat and rape women is [[MindRape forced to feel the physical effects of every assault he ever committed.]] Our main characters see more typical things, like their loved ones being slaughtered because they're too incompetent to protect them. Oh, and ''they're also not allowed to scream or make any sound at all.''

* In ''Literature/AkataWitch'', the ceremony for becoming a Leopard (a person with magical powers) is extremely painful. It also crosses over with the "Humiliating" category.

* ''Literature/TheValleyOfFear'': Though [=McMurdo=] is already a member of the Freemen, the Scowrers have their own ritual for new members, which involves potential EyeScream and climaxes with them being branded with the lodge symbol.

* In ''Series/HouseOfAnubis'' Patricia's fake initiation ceremony for Nina included both having to steal from their house father, to sneaking into the forbidden (and rumored to be haunted) attic at midnight, with the goals of getting Nina scared, humiliated, and into trouble. In the end she even locked Nina up there.
** Of course, Nina passed with flying colors (but was indeed terrified.)
* The Klingon in ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'' "bachelor party" is a horrific introduction into marriage where the groom is accompanied by three groomsmen for four days of MachoMasochism. There is plenty of compensation though. On the wedding night the bride and groom get to gleefully beat each other to a pulp (after ritually fighting off the groomsmen, of course)! (Though it must be said that this is virtually indistinguishable from regular Klingon foreplay.)
* In ''Series/DoctorWho'' it is explained, after many decades apparently, that 8-year-olds on Gallifrey must go to look into the heart of the Singularity that gives their people their power. Some turn and run and keep running (like The Doctor) while others go mad (like The Master).
* No matter what the intent is, if the pledgee ends up as the BodyOfTheWeek on a {{Series/CSI}} episode, then things went horribly wrong.
** Ditto for ''Series/LawAndOrderSpecialVictimsUnit''.
** ''SVU'' and ''Series/ChicagoPD'' also occasionally have gangs where the initiation requirement is murder or rape. (Or both).

* The various Vampire covenants in White Wolf's ''TabletopGame/VampireTheRequiem'' have initiation ceremonies that are both solemn and horrific. Since the ritual involves the applicant, well, ''dying'' and then feeding off of his first human, y'know...

* The [[GangBangers 3rd Street Saints]] gang from ''VideoGame/SaintsRow'' has new recruits go through a "Canonization" ceremony, which is a variant of getting "jumped in" (see Real Life section) and involves several members jumping the newbie with GoodOldFisticuffs and usually beating them to a pulp, after which they are considered "canonized", i.e. a fully-fledged Saint. The [[PlayerCharacter Playa]] is canonized in the very first mission of the original ''VideoGame/SaintsRow1'', which also doubles as a [[JustifiedTutorial melee combat tutorial]] and which has [[PromptlessBranchingPoint two endings]]: a regular one where Playa is knocked out as intended and one where he holds off a dozen enemies on his own, earning the respect of the gang this way[[note]]though it turns out [[BloodKnight Johnny Gat]] had already achieved this feat before you, during his own canonization[[/note]]. In subsequent games, the importance of canonization drops off sharply, and it seems to be reserved exclusively for generic RedShirts, as Johnny is seen canonizing some early in ''VideoGame/SaintsRow2'', while in ''VideoGame/SaintsRowTheThird'', it is only mentioned briefly in random dialogue snippets[[note]]e.g. when a recruited follower quips upon being wounded that getting canonized hurt more than that[[/note]]; in fact, no named lieutenant is ever shown or mentioned getting canonized after Playa.
* In the ''VideoGame/SwordOfTheStars'' backstory, Liir who become Black Swimmers go through a twofold initiation of horrid. First, a funeral arranged by their friends and family, as becoming a Black Swimmer means [[ThatManIsDead abandoning whoever you were before]]. The actual initiation involves the recruit being held down and 'drowned' in liquid oxygen by their peers until they stop struggling and abandon all hope, which prepares them for an existence of being able to kill other beings -- this being basically the [[AxCrazy worst sort of insanity]] to the pacifistic Liir, who nonetheless recognize that some of them must be able to kill for the species to survive.

* The story of the original ''VideoGame/AoOni'' has Takuro and his GangOfBullies forcing new students Hiroshi and Kazuya to visit the [[HauntedHouse manor]] with them as part of a 'welcoming ceremony' to their new school. While they just intended to scare them, things start going wrong when they all find themselves locked inside...
* Becoming a member of the Templar Order in ''VideoGame/DiabloIII'' involves being chained to a wall and beaten and starved for three days, then whipped. The inquisitors who carry out this ColdBloodedTorture tell the initiate that he is reliving his transgressions and everything that brought him tainted joy (since according to Kormac, your Templar follower, every Templar was once a convicted criminal) and that the whip removes the joy and his sin, leaving him "pure", then he is thoroughly indoctrinated into forgetting his former life so he can have a single-minded focus on his mission. The player characters all express disgust at the idea upon hearing the tale from Kormac, the Wizard in particular telling Kormac that the inquisitors treated him worse than an animal. [[spoiler:As it turns out, the Templars don't really give a blessed damn about the guilt or innocence of an initiate, and will readily pile false sins upon an innocent if it means recruiting a good warrior into the Order, as happened to both Kormac and Jondar]].

* Being recruited into The Scarlet Chorus in ''VideoGame/{{Tyranny}}'' is intentionally made as dehumanizing as possible to make sure those who come out on top are [[SlaveMooks suitable material for the Chorus]]: First, you have to be captured by the Chorus (whether as a prisoner of war or as anyone taken during a Chorus slave raid). The Chorus strips you of your weapons, armour and everything you own, throw you in a ring together with whoever you got captured with (commonly your friends, family or your comrades-in-arms). Then, a selection of old weapons are thrown in the ring, and the rules are that you're not allowed out of the ring alive until you've killed ''someone else'' in there with you. Logically, only half of the recruits survive to graduate into Chorus members, and those who do killed ''someone'' they knew in order to survive.

* The Society of the Purple Rose, in the WebOriginal/ArknLegacy setting, has a wide variety of initiation rituals, all horrifying in their own ways. At best, the initiate is blindfolded and taken through a ceremony that ends with them imprinting on the cult's siren-like "God-Emperor" like a baby duckling, and at worst, they're hunted for sport, Literature/TheMostDangerousGame style, and "miraculously" saved when they've lost all resistance. The one that is used for a particular initiate is based entirely on how willing, or unwilling, they are to submit.

[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]

* When Mallory and Jessi join ''Literature/TheBabySittersClub,'' Kristy makes them swear on the club notebook with an oath that Dawn suspects she's made up on the spot. Mary Anne cries. Dawn and Claudia both think it's ridiculous, but that doesn't stop Dawn from wondering why ''she'' didn't get an initiation ceremony. (Answer: Kristy is massively jealous of her friendship with Mary Anne.)

* Getting initiated into ''Series/TheUnit'' involves a TrainingAccident scenario. One case involved a ManOnFire.

* ''Series/{{Wiseguy}}''. When Vinnie Terranova becomes a "made man" in TheMafia, the older Mafiosi insist that he undergo the correct ritual, only to get into an argument during the ceremony over what the correct ritual is. "I've done this a hundred times!" "Then you're done it wrong a hundred times!"

* Russian military conscripts, both in the Soviet era and in the Federation, often have to endure an informal tradition of military hazing known as ''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dedovshchina Dedovshchina]]'', meaning "Reign of the Grandfathers." ''Dedovshchina'' encompasses a variety of subordinating and humiliating activities undertaken by the junior ranks, from doing the chores of the senior ranks, to violent and sometimes deadly physical and psychological abuse, not unlike an extremely vicious form of bullying or torture, up to and including sexual torture and outright rape. Some recruits have been seriously injured or even killed as a result of ''dedovschina'', and many more have been left with trauma.

* Many initiatory religions and occult groups involve a staged murder and rebirth of the initiate. Often, the initiate is even part of a mock burial. (Often, initiation ceremonies reenact the murder and resurrection of the mythical founder of the group, for example Hiram Abiff of [[UsefulNotes/{{Freemasonry}} Masonic legend]].)

* Many initiatory religions and occult groups involve a staged murder and rebirth of the initiate. Often, the initiate is even part of a mock burial. (Often, initiation ceremonies reenact the murder and resurrection of the mythical founder of the group, for example Hiram Abiff.)

[[folder: Film]]

Rituals, as social scientists will tell you, are tools for dealing with the "[[LiminalTime liminal state]]:" the area between one standardized role and another. You were one person before you joined the group; you'll be a different one once you're inside the group. The initiation will mark the place where your status officially changes.

** The Royal Navy version involves batter, a tank of water and a mixture involving chilli sauce. In 1953, Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip watched one of these. Her Majesty did not take part. Prince Philip, though, having been a sailor in the UsefulNotes/SecondWorldWar, did. There's one shown on the second series of the documentary series ''Warship''.