Cultural Festivals (Project Proposal)
British journalist, Alistair Cooke, once said, “New York is the biggest collection of villages in the world.” Renowned as a vast, melting pot, New York City has become a breeding ground for cultural diversity. As immigrants from all across the globe migrate to New York City, they bring unique tidbits of their culture that they can then share with other people of different backgrounds. These tidbits include diverse ethnic foods, religion, music etc. One thing that I find very interesting is the different holidays that are celebrated around the world. Furthermore, the manner in which certain cultural communities go about celebrating their holidays grabs my attention. Therefore, I propose that we should focus our class project on the different cultural festivals that are celebrated throughout the five boroughs of New York City.
Personally, I’ve been to a number of different cultural festivals around New York. One element of the festival that I find pretty insightful is the reason for the festival. When going to a festival, I want to know what is being celebrated and why it’s being celebrated. This is where the historical context of the festivity becomes important. Out of the festivals that we pick, some of us could work together and research the historical background of the festivals and discover the purpose for celebrating these festivals. I think a historical context of the festivals will provide an essential framework for our class project.
With approximately 70 different cultural festivals that take place annually in New York City, each festival is celebrated a different way. For example, during the Holi Festival (festival of colors), people celebrate by throwing colored powder on one another. In the Great Irish Fair, an Irish festival that takes place in September, children dress up in costumes and perform folkloric dances. The way different ethnic communities go about celebrating their festivals is profoundly dissimilar, which is why it would be really fascinating to learn how these communities display their traditions. Some group members could research what actually occurs at these festivals and how they are celebrated. Whether it’s the foods they eat, the songs they sing, or the dances they dance, every aspect of the festival should be examined and analyzed. Different photos and videos can be used to exhibit what goes down at these festivals.
The way these festivals are celebrated in New York City may be slightly different from the way they are celebrated in the Motherland. Foner mentions the term, “Americanization,” in her book, so it would be interesting to see if Americans have potentially put a different spin on the cultural festivals. Different countries could potentially celebrate their holidays in a more traditional manner back at home, so some of us could research if there are any slight contrasts in the way the festivals are celebrated.
Considering that a different cultural festival takes place every month in New York City, I think it would be pretty entertaining for all of us to go to a festival together. I think the best way to learn about a culture is to experience it firsthand, so not only will this be a fun experience, but it will all give us a chance to first-handedly partake in festival that means a lot to another cultural community. Foner highlights the fine diversity and traditions that have substantially synthesized overtime in New York City, so I think focusing on festivals would be a very interesting topic that relates well to what we’ve been learning about.
