Category: Reading Responses (Page 10 of 10)

In the section, “Tangible and intangible cultural heritage”, it is mentioned that immaterial elements are also prevalent in defining cultural heritage like dance, chanting, singing, diets, and music. As a Lithuanian-American, my family has made it important to make sure I learned and participated in Lithuanian culture. My mom had me sign up for Lithuanian folk dance festivals, like Šokių Šventė in Philadelphia, which displays the Lithuanian community’s traditional dancing and authentic clothing, called Dzukija, from the 19th century. Dzukija is one part of the four regions in Lithuania where my family resides and it is the costume my family wears when dancing. This province is in the south, poor part of Lithuania, and their specific style was to wear aprons with smaller checker and stripe patterns, and skirts with bright reds, greens, violets, and blues. This festival specializes in creating a growing, progressive, community that protects European national heritage by making sure individuals of this culture, such as me, wear the fabric that honors Lithuania and spread the art of folk dance, called Polka, and music, called Dainos. My mom, grandparents, and their family all participated when they were in Lithuania during Soviet Union control because it is what separated Lithuanian culture from Communist party rule. Many organizations and schools were created in villages to teach kids Lithuanian music, art, writing, and language because it was something being taken away from them and banned by Russian troops. Since my family and others fought to restore Lithuanian independence from Russian control in 1990 and won, it was extremely important for future generations to remember what their families went through and preserve it so that they can have their own identity. This is an example of intangible heritage because it is not something that can be touched or an object displayed for thousands to see, but rather it is a performing art that needs individuals to learn it in order for others to see it and do the same. If people in the country lose their art then how would their culture be expressed? Intangible heritage deeply impacts people by making them experience participatory action rather than just reading history. This is how it would be passed down and preserved since you’re continuing the traditions that your own family has participated in as well. Lithuanian arts and music is something distinct from each country that should be protected and shouldn’t be lost since it helped my community and others to remember how diverse it is.

Cultural heritage is the idea/essence of a person’s core values and traditions that have been passed on for generations. It is the idea of being able to express one’s self to the world. “Cultural heritage implies a shared bond, our belonging to a community. It represents our history and our identity; our bond to the past, to our present, and the future.” Cultural heritage is not only about our present but also the past and the upbringing of the future. It defines and reshapes the ideas that people have of themselves, others, and the community. An example of cultural heritage within my family and within many Muslim families would be the five prayers of the day and the two Eids that are celebrated every year. This is a heritage that runs in every Muslim family/community. The five prayers are a tradition that helps us seek peace with ourselves and our god, Allah. The celebration of Eid allows us to become closer to friends, family, and many others who are a part of our community. This represents both culture and heritage alike, as it has been occurring in the past, in our present, and will continue to occur in the future. The article also included the idea of tangible and intangible objects, “cultural heritage is not only limited to material objects that we can see and touch. It also consists of immaterial elements…”. I completely agree with this statement because cultural heritage doesn’t always have to be physical things that are touched. Ideas, traditions, rituals and much more can be considered as cultural heritage since they are also passed down from generation to generation, helping to shape or reshape the lives of many people. An example of a tangible object, that was also mentioned in the article, would be the Mona Lisa. This was a painting by Leonardo Da Vinci that was made in Florence but was being displayed in France. Even though it has culture from Florence, it also has a role to play in the culture of France as well. This famous painting holds meaning to many people across the world as a part of their culture, specifically their art cultural heritage. An example of intangible culture would be music. People have passed on the ideas of music from centuries ago. Music these days is inspired by artists from centuries ago, which many people listen to and dance to, almost every day of their lives. The main takeaway from this is that intangible things can have just as much impact on cultural heritage as tangible things can. In the end, cultural heritage is a significant part of a person’s identity. It can help create a person’s identity or make them rethink their identity. It is not only a part of themselves but also a part of something bigger and greater.

“But the concept of cultural heritage is even wider than that, and has gradually grown to include all evidence of human creativity and expression: photographs, documents, books and manuscripts, and instruments, etc. either as individual objects or as collections.” Is very actuate in describing what is heritage and more specially in this case tangible heritage. My family has photographs of me wear traditional garments, religious books, cloths, etc that we have kept shows our heritage and culture and it is passed down and saved physically making it tangible . Another aspect of of culture is the intangibles things within our minds like food recipes its tangible when you eat it but once you eat it is only a memory and these memories and ways of life and mannerism is stored in the mind and the feelings that is created are experienced and cannot be passed down like an object. It is passed down my showing others the experience. Growing I experience holidays like lunar new years, qingming festival, dragon boat festival, etc that is special to my heritage and is a visual memory stored in my mind making it intangible. I can pass it down my showing it to others or orally trying to explain it. At the end of the article it states ” In an era of globalization, cultural heritage helps us to remember our cultural diversity, and its understanding develops mutual respect and renewed dialogue amongst different cultures.” In terms of persevering our heritage and passing it down I think it would be respectful to keep to the traditional so that it is not diluted. But again we can build new heritage on top of it that combines cultures in our age of globalization and this is normal as cultures always developed and got richer as time goes on. My parents were immigrants to this country and that is an unique experience and an example of an globalization that effects my families cultural heritage and my experience of the tangible and intangible. I won’t have the same experience here compared to if I lived in China of the culture and my perceptions of it would be different too, my taste of what is good food for example could be different. I went to temple a lot and that is sort of the cultural enclave that my families is part of but the surroundings culture and American culture (mix of everything) permeates to my experience so its very hard to fully pass down the heritage intangible or tangible. But going back to the quote I do think that the era of globalization does help us remembers our culture diversity. Since the era of globalization fosters a heightened appreciation for our cultural diversity as it exposes us to a rich tapestry of traditions and customs from around the world, prompting us to reflect and recognizing the unique aspects of our own heritage and value it more dearly.

Cultural heritage is the idea of forms of expression and different ideas from a specific group of people being passed down from generation to generation. For example, I have both German and Middle Eastern heritage. My family on my Mom’s side is from Poland and Germany, and my family on my Dad’s side is from Jerusalem.

One specific example of how my cultural heritage has influenced my life is how it impacted my life growing up and our family traditions. My family has celebrated both Christmas and Hanukkah for my whole life. One of my favorite traditions is when my Mom makes our family matzo ball soup on the first night of Hanukkah. My grandma also used to make this traditional Jewish meal for us when I was younger. I would consider foods to be an important part of cultural heritage. Where you’re from can be defined by the types of food found in that area.

According to the article, there are two types of cultural heritage: tangible and intangible. The celebration of the Jewish holiday Passover is a great example of both forms of heritage coming together into one. On Passover you eat traditional foods, which could be a form of tangible heritage. However, you also read the story of Passover from the Haggadah, which is intangible heritage through oral history.

I agree with the article’s argument that protecting cultural heritage is important. I feel that learning about my family’s heritage and traditions, both verbally and visually, helped me become more open to learning about different cultures and has made me a more well-rounded person and student overall.