Creating Community

Kingfisher Project seeks to create a community of experienced facilitators and ‘men of trust’ who will work together to prepare and support boys aged 14-16 through initiatory rites of passage towards manhood.

Rites of Passage

In many traditional cultures, early in his teenage years, a boy is taken out of his familiar community to participate in some form of initiation. This allows for an important separation from the mother and father at a crucial point in the teenager’s development. Modern societies tend not to follow this pattern and suffer the consequences. Our intention is to once again offer teenage boys proven paths to male maturity.

Men of Trust

Each participating teenager will take part, accompanied by a ‘man of trust’. This is based on old wisdom – that parents should not be present at coming-of-age rites of passage. The rites are about separation, an appropriate challenge, and then a return to parents as a ‘changed’ young man. A man of trust will be chosen by the boy and his family. He can be an uncle, family friend, or mentor. He needs to be willing to participate in four online community-building sessions. Then he will take responsibility for a teenager, and accompany him through the ‘Call to Adventure’ rites of passage weekend at the end of the project. If any boy wants to join the project but has no suitable man of trust in his life, a member of the Kingfisher Project team can step into the ‘man of trust’ role. We find that men who have experience around men’s work of some kind, best serve the boys they come with.

Call to Adventure

The four online sessions will build up to a 4-day ‘Call to Adventure’ weekend each spring at Cae Mabon (an environmental education centre in Snowdonia, and home to rites of passage work for thirty years www.caemabon.co.uk.) At this gathering, following traditional format - using elements including storytelling, poetry, time in nature and ritual - the Kingfisher Project community will oversee safe but challenging transitions for the teenagers.

- Kingfisher Project Team