Monday, August 2, 2010
Our Holidays
One of the ways we use communication to"build worlds" is by celebrating the holidays listed on every calendar. Without being told, people gather every fourth Thursday in November to celebrate Thanksgiving. Everyone knows that on this day they have to cook and eat turkey. The same can be said about a holiday like Memorial Day. Both these holidays have a set structure on how we celebrate them. Other countries also have holidays that help distinguish them. For example, instead of Halloween people in Mexico celebrate something called "the day of the dead". It's similar to Halloween but celebrated a little differently. If you looked over every country I'm certain you will find at least one holiday that's not celebrated in the United States. This is one way we "build worlds" through communication.
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I like that you focused on holidays. I think that people get so caught up in their own lives that sometimes they don't realize that there are so many other cultures out there. There are cultural norms that people follow on holidays such as Thanksgiving. Sometimes we become so engrossed in our own traditions that anything that is different we see as wrong. My boyfriend doesn't like turkey so on Thanksgiving his family eats ham. At first I found this so strange because in my opinion ham is Easter food. Then I thought about it for a little while. Did someone ever declare that Thanksgiving was a turkey holiday? If they did, that person was probably selling turkeys.
ReplyDeleteSince the U.S. is so diverse I think that we are exposed to more cultures than most other countries. People just need to keep an open mind and try new things.
I like how you compared holiday celebrations to "building worlds." Holiday celebrations are influenced strongly by culture and what is important to some may not be the case for others. Holidays can be unique to certain cultures or common such as the New Year celebrations. We can build worlds with celebrations by wishing others even when we don't celebrate it.
ReplyDeleteSweet Dee brought up the idea of eating turkey for Thanksgiving, I celebrate Thanksgiving even though I was not born here and do not like turkey. I serve baked rack of lamb instead. Dee is right, we need to keep an open mind and decide how far culture will influence what we celebrate and how we go about celebrating it.
I found your choice for our "building worlds" through our celebration of holidays is a great example. Thanksgiving is especially unique in the American culture. Every American family knows that the fourth Thursday of November is time to gather and eat turkey. My family is extremely small. When I was younger, my father didn't really like turkey, so we celebrated very differently than most. We ate BBQ prime rib or London broil or some other red meat! Our family gatherings were small, just the four of us at home, cooking, eating, and watching movies. When I got older and moved out, I started to celebrate Thanksgiving with friend's families. One year was with a Hispanic family; that was different in the introduction of Tamales as a traditional food for Thanksgiving day. The large gathering with my roommate one year opened my eyes to a whole different way to celebrate. The garage had been converted into a dining room, with three rows of long tables set up. Aunts, uncles, cousins, parents, grandparents, children, and grandchildren. I had never seen so many family members together in one place at a time. They laughed since it was only a small gathering of them, plus this was totally normal for them. As a matter of fact their family tradition was to gather together again the following day, after Black Friday shopping in the morning, for leftovers and more visiting.
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