Cross cultural celebrations
One of my students heard an old joke and was so enamored with it he asked me, "Do they have a 4th of July in England?"There was nothing I could do but spoil his fun by answering, "Yes."
Then I asked him if they had Thanksgiving in England.
He didn't know. Neither did I.
That exchange went no further until today.
- From the New York Times
British Thanksgiving, February 27, 1872
"The Day of Thanksgiving for the recovery of the Prince of WALES opened with salutes and the ringing of bells at sunrise. From an early hour the streets through which the procession was to pass were cleared of vehicles and pedestrians. The line of march to and from the Cathedral is seven miles." - From Yahoo! Canada
"Do the British celebrate Thanksgiving?
"The British do not have a one day holiday. They have a Church Festival where people bring food to celebrate and thank God for the harvest." - Harvest Festival In Russian Village
"Real footage from the village on the bank of Volga river!!! How peasants selebrates the harvest. That was really nice experience for me!!!" - Chinese "Thanksgiving Day" proposed to boost interpersonal harmony
"2005-03-10 A member of China's top advisory body has proposed a Chinese Thanksgiving Day, a public day to boost harmony among the people." - Harvest Moon Festival in China
"The Chinese Harvest Moon Festival is celebrated on the15th day of the 8th month of the Chinese lunar calendar in honor of the harvesting of the rice and wheat crops. At this time the moon is at its brightest. This is thought to be the birthday of the moon and Chang-O, a woman who flew to the moon and can be seen when the moon is full, is honored." - Iranian Grape Festival
"Celebrating the festivals at harvest is prominent all over the world. Thus Iranians, besides the national and calendar celebrations have held many joyful festivals at the time of taking crops. One of these popular festivals is the harvest festival of grape which has been held from a long time ago in Qazvin." - Mexican Harvest Festival
"A tradition held in Mexico is The Tree of Life which features in the folk art of Mexico. The story behind this belief was that the spirit of the trees could be captured by making use of bark and branches. Bark paper was made and turned into magic dolls. Harvest scenes painted on the bark paper were a must. Today, colorful models of the Tree of Life are displayed. The displays tell the story of Adam and Eve. The trees decorate churches in Mexico. A ceremony is held when a new tree is placed in a church." - The Benin Festival
"This ceremony takes place at the end of the rainy season, after the harvest has been gathered. It is partly a kind of harvest festival but also serves another purpose - eligible young men and women of the village are displayed before each other to be ritually acquainted..." - Nigerian Harvest Festival
"In Nigeria one festival that is held is the Argungu fishing festival, held for several days during the months of February and March near Sokoto.
"The festival marks the end of the growing season and the time for harvest. A one mile stretch of the Argungu River is protected throughout the year, so that the fish will be plentiful for this 45-minute fishing frenzy that is done to mark this festival and men fight each other for the fish once the allotted time is over the fish that is biggest is offered to the organizers. Also there are canoe races and diving competitions that go on as well."
Labels: pedagogy
posted by Ken Wedding @ 5:37 AM
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