This article presents an ethnographic study of Rwsabom, a pre-menarcheal initiation rite for girls among the Hrangkhawl community of Tripura in Northeast India. Although performed before biological menarche, the rite functions as a structured transition from ‘childhood’ to ‘socially recognised youth’, publicly affirming new expectations of modesty, respect, and communal responsibility and authorising participation in Rolom, the cooperative youth labour system. Drawing on observed contemporary performance(s), semi-structured interviews, elders’ retrospective narratives, and relevant secondary sources, the paper documents the ritual sequence, the roles of key actors such as the paternal aunt (Ninu) and ritual specialist (Ochai), and the symbolic significance of key objects and acts, including Rwsa cloth, purification practices, traditional beer earthen pitchers referred to as Zu Kola, and the offering of cock (Ar Khong). Analytically, the study applies Van Gennep’s rites of passage model and Turner’s concepts of liminality and communitas to show how it produces gendered moral personhood through embodied discipline and social incorporation. The study also traces contemporary transformations under the influence of Christianity and changing socioeconomic conditions such as the replacement of older ritual authorities and the discontinuation of beer-related and sacrificial elements, highlighting how a rite may be reinterpreted as cultural heritage while continuing to perform the social work of status recognition. By focusing on an initiation rite that hasn’t been well-documented, the article contributes to discussions of rites of passage, girlhood, and ritual change in Northeast India.