Multiple Liminalities in Early Anglo-Saxon England: age, gender and cosmology

Abstract

Liminality is existence on the threshold of another reality. It is an ambiguous space, where two or more worlds may merge, a place of multiple inclusion and/or exclusion, and where opposites may co-exist. Liminal spaces can be formed by nature (as in the sea shore, alternatively wet and dry), forcing those who exist there to deal with both realities. They can also be the result of human activity and thought; humans define their societies through their differing cultures, philosophies and truths, thus creating liminal spaces within and without their communities.