Category: British
Culture Notes - Sept 30 ‘07
Hollywood Fails to Anticipate Afghan Views on Dishonor in Filming of Kite Runner. The movie version of the excellent and hugely popular novel by Khaled Hosseini was filmed with an Afghan cast. Some of the actors, including the boy who plays the lead role, didn’t completely understand some of the plot elements before [...] Read More »
The Maypole and other May Day Traditions
The beginning of May was an important feast day in many ancient cultures, a time to celebrate the coming of summer. The Druids of the British Isles thought that May 1, the Feast of Beltane, divided the year in half, with the other half ending on Samhain on November 1. Both days were celebrated by [...] Read More »
The Easter Egg
Easter celebrations are filled with many traditions, but nothing has come to symbolize the Easter holiday as much as the colored or painted Easter egg. Many children spend their Easter Sunday hunting for Easter eggs, rolling them, or running races while carrying their eggs in spoons.
Across Eastern and Western cultures, eggs have long symbolized [...] Read More »
Culture News March 21 ‘07
Veils banned in English schools
English schools win the right to ban Muslim veils
Hispanic digital culture
US Hispanic youths embrace the web, increasing the digital generation gap within the Hispanic immigrant community
Chinese culture explained: sneezes and the color red
Jordan’s Chinese colleague explains the meaning of sneezes in Chinese culture to an Indian colleague and Renmenbi [...] Read More »
St. Patrick’s Day
Irish communities around the world celebrate their patron saint on Saint Patrick's Day, March 17. It is the Irish national holiday, and a public holiday in the Republic of Ireland, the territory of Montserrat, and the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador. The holiday is also widely celebrated in the United States, and [...] Read More »
Commonwealth Day
The second Monday in March is Commonwealth Day. About one quarter of the people in the world live in one of the countries in the 53-member Commonwealth of Nations, all of which, with the exception of Mozambique are former colonies of the United Kingdom. According to the Commonwealth Secretariat, “the aim of commemorating [...] Read More »
The Tooth Fairy is a Mouse in France and a Magpie in Korea
In American culture, the tooth fairy visits whenever a child looses a baby tooth. Children put the tooth under their pillow when they go to bed at night, and wake up in the morning to find that the tooth has been replaced by some money! Sometimes the tooth is put in a decorated [...] Read More »
Twelfth Night, Epiphany, or Three Kings Day
Don’t Forget to Leave Out Some Food for the Camels!
January 6th is the twelfth day after Christmas, celebrated as Epiphany or the Feast of the Three Kings in many countries with strong Christian traditions, such as Germany, Austria, Poland, France, Belgium, Italy, Spain, Argentina. It commemorates the visit of the Three Wise Men, or [...] Read More »
The Christmas Tree or Tannenbaum
During the Christmas season, families bring home small evergreen trees and decorate them with ornaments and lights. Presents are placed under the tree, and, on Christmas, the families gather around the tree to open presents. The origins of the Christmas tree tradition are another example of the intermingling of pagan traditions with religious holidays.
One of [...] Read More »
The Yule Log and La Bûche de Noël
At Christmas time, people all over France and Belgium serve the “Bûche de Noël” – a cake shaped and decorated to look like a tree trunk. In Anglo-Saxon cultures, many people still burn a “yule log” in their fireplace at Christmas. There is even a television station in New York that shows a [...] Read More »
