A chain of rites de passage in which teaching formed a major connection, is what my professional relationship with Ad Borsboom characterises. The feature of chaos, often vital in the liminal phase of rites de passage, was luckily mostly absent. Instead, the chain predominantly glimmered with inspiration, expertise, harmony and cordiality.

The first bead of the chain was strung in the 1980s when I attended Ad's course on anthropology and religion. His impassioned way of teaching on and knowledge of this theme were striking and inspired me to choose religion as a main direction. Years later, the second bead was strung when I became a PhD student of Ad at the Centre for Pacific and Asian Studies. Then, in a very pleasant and professional way, he initiated me into that new stage and taught me during the process of realising my PhD thesis. By the third, we became coteachers when we jointly taught MA courses on religion and identity in the Pacific. After that, by the fourth bead, our cooperation went beyond the boundary of science when I required a position at the Bureau of the Faculty of Social Sciences. Ad had already been connected to the Faculty and the Bureau for years as a vice-dean, a position he fulfilled in a way that commanded great respect. By his personal expertise as a manager and through the fact that we both had double identities as a scientist and staff-member of the faculty, Ad moderated the transfer into my new status. The fifth bead was strung during the ceremony in which I defended my PhD thesis. So, during a period of 19 years marked by five transitional rites, we were related in a process of shifting existing identities and creating new ones. It was an honour and a privilege to work with Ad through and beyond the boundaries in this chain.

With pleasure, I remember the numerous excited conversations with Ad as a teacher, deriving from the manifold similarities we increasingly discovered between Aboriginal and Papuan religion, especially concerning initiation rites.