Demera Celebration in Ethiopian Orthodox Church

Source 1 displays a Indigenous prayer ceremony to prepare for Christmas. The ceremony is influenced by Aboriginal culture such as their connection with the land and the spirits of the First Peoples. For Aborigines “all objects are living and share the same soul and spirit as them”. Spirituality is heavily incorporated into the everyday lives of Aboriginals. Spirituality can be defined as the sense of a connection to something bigger than yourself and involves a search for the meaning of life.

Uwem Akpan’s story, “An Ex-Mas Feast” is a story of the struggles that one family goes through to give gifts on their upcoming Christmas season. Akpan introduces the reader to the struggles of the main characters, which directly ties into the details of impoverished town that they live in. Jigana, one of the story’s main characters, starts off as a naïve 8 year old little boy who was anxious to start going to school. In a stark contrast, Maisha, the eldest sister at 12 years old, held her own and prostituted to bring in money for her family. The second oldest, Naema, was closer to Maisha than any of the others, and Maisha gave her tips and tricks of her trade. Akpan begins the story by saying that the

Halloween has already spread worldwide, and been given many cultural interpretations of what it represents, and how it should be celebrated. However, Día de los Muertos has just recently started spreading farther outside of hispanic culture. Día de los Muertos is a holiday celebrating death and the afterlife that death brings, as well as embracing the deceased as if they are, in a way, gods. Whereas, Halloween’s

Mardi Gras has spread throughout the ages, and will continue to expand. Festive traditions of Mardi Gras have spread overseas to New Orleans, Louisiana, Cadiz, Spain, Venice, Italy, and Rio de Janeiro. In the United States the celebration goes above and beyond. With the parades in New Orleans and the balls in St. Louis, the U.S is full of tradition. Krewes who work behind the scenes plan for months to prepare for the extravagant festival. Along with planning, they gather any thing green, gold, or purple to attach to their floats. All this work leads up to the insane party of a holiday which most people think is incredible and fun. Everyone is invited to celebrate , and to have a good time during Mardi

The story of the Lost Boys of Sudan is one that provides the world with many examples of social interaction, some being violent and others being inspirational. Their journey from Sudan to Ethiopia and Kenya, then on to the United States for a better life for themselves and their families gives an insight into how certain cultures deal with and overcome adversity. Culture is the complex system of meaning and behavior that defines the way of life for a given group or society, in the case of the Lost Boys, the culture of the people of Sudan and the American society are analyzed. How the boys were able to continue on without their families to show them the way is almost a miracle. Over outstanding odds, the boys were able to prevail and

Every Culture has a set of rituals that they partake in, that are often constructed over a long period of time. Simple Actions, and special moments contain so much meaning and make everlasting memories. All rituals despite the locations they originate from, or the location they are carried out in contain the same components, they are repetitive, symbolic, remind a certain group of people about their values and beliefs, and these rituals commemorate a significant moment. For example christians commemorate the birth of christ by attending mass, and many other cultures celebrate this moment in many different ways that have in depth symbolic meaning. In the book “Guests of the Sheik” by Elizabeth Warnock Fernea rituals play a major role. Fernea’s husband Bob is an anthropologist studying the occupants of a small village named El Nahra and their culture. Fernea has documented her experiences, and adventures, and her perspective of the many rituals that the townspeople participate in such as, Ramadan, Muharram, weddings, and pilgrimages. In Muslim culture pilgrimages are immensely important and can even lead to an elevated status. Such as the pilgrimage to Mecca. Fernea is able to participate in a pilgrimage to Karbala with a couple of the towns women she had befriended. The Pilgrimage to Karbala is a symbolic, and cultural ritual in the aspect that it is reenacted every year, and is full of symbolic meaning, commemorates an important occasion and reminds a culture about their

terms of demography and territory in the Ethiopian state, were targeted for destruction, and instead forced to glorify the identities and cultures of the oppressive group (xxx, xxx).

can come for refuge from tyranny. Here, people are not judged by their color, but by who they are. Too

Day of the Dead ( Dia de los Muertos) is a Mexican holiday that`s celebrated in many parts of Mexico and the U.S. and Day of the Dead is to remember and celebrate family and friends who have died. This holiday is celebrated on November 1st. Day of the Dead celebrates friends and family members who have died. In most parts of Mexico, Day of the Dead is meant to celebrate children that unfortunately died. Adults that have died are honored on November 2nd. The feeling of Day of the Dead is more of a celebration than mourning the passed on family and friends. Mexicans embrace death and celebrate the deceased. Halloween (or All Hallow`s eve) is celebrated on October 31 in many countries but mostly in the United States and Canada. The purpose of Day of the Dead is to remember and celebrate friends and family who have died. The purpose of Halloween is to respect the afterlife. The meaning of Halloween is ‘the night before All Hallows' Day’ ( Aka All Saints' Day). Day of the dead is associated with decorative skulls while Halloween is associated with spooky ghosts and carved pumpkins.

There are the cops like Bryant and Gaff who appear gloomy and unemotional just doing there jobs and having little regard for the replicants or "skin jobs" as Bryant called them. Asians are shown frequently the movie and make up the bulk of people on the street. This makes the city look like a big China town with the Asians selling anything from take away food to manufactured animals. These people must not be important enough to go to the off world colonies or don't want to go. The rest of people shown are street scums, cripples, midgets and sick people like J.R Sebastion who has a life shortening disease. Lastly there is Tyrell who is the powerful god like figure who seems to rule and dominate the city with the towering buildings.

Woodland avenue reminds me of the motherland. I have never been to africa because a round trip to Guinea and Sierra Leone is about five thousand dollars, which is costly. Therefore, I get somewhat of a feel of Africa from Woodland avenue. In “The way of a Cherokee”, Foxxy’s memorable place was the wild mountain country, because it reminded her of her Cherokee culture and her grandfather’s tales. Foxxy mentions the memories she would have of her and her sister running around looking for white tail deers. This reminded me of how my sister and I used to run around Woodland avenue during our thirty minute break looking for new goods to buy or different foods to try out. Sometimes I would stop at my aunt’s restaurant known an “La madinque” to order some homemade soup and rice known as peanut stew. My sister and I would invite the girls from the masjid and we would go out to eat as a group. One Saturday in April 2016, my friends and I were talking about the this major party coming up at this nightclub called “Sakira”. My friends and I skipped the first part of class to go to a nearby Rite Aid to buy Makeup and Falsies. On our way back to the masjid, we stopped at dunkin donuts and grabbed some food. We figured that if we came back during breaktime, Uncle Ali wouldn’t notice. Surprised, when we arrived back at the masjid, he was waiting for us at the door. My classmates were forced to clean the masjid at the end of class, which wasn’t too bad because that deed is a form of

The 18th century was an incredibly different time, full of corruption and brutality. New France

Perhaps two to three times a year at most, members of a neighboring long house appear to spend time with the members of the other longhouse before returning by night to perform what the Kaluli people hold as the cultural and emotional highpoint of the year. The Gisaro ceremony tells a story of lost loved ones; it brings to the forefront of the mind the pain and anguish of nostalgic recollections of the past and what is longed for once more. The dancers arrive by night dressed in the most ornate of dress, like that of the Kalo birds with feathers and body paints constructed from ingredients from around the rainforest to perform the ceremony aimed at eliciting emotional and angered response from members of their neighboring longhouse. They sing out as though they were loved ones lost, taking on the identity of these loved ones reincarnated in the Kalo bird after which they are dressed. As they perform, the members of the group who have experienced the loss grow largely emotional and angry, taking out their anger by plunging torches into the shoulders of the dancers to get back at them for causing such heartache. Though the fired torches pierce their skin, the dancers do not react and continue their performance long into the night – often for hours at a time. The following day, almost as a peace offering or an apology for causing so much pain in the heart of their neighbors, these performers return to deliver food to them and no animosity is held. Though an incredibly painful

The purpose of this research paper will be to examine how Judaism rituals have helped the religion remained amongst the most prominent in the world. The use of tradition and rituals has been at the very core of its existence. Birth, adolescent, marriage and death rituals will be used to highlight how the Judaism way of life is not dependent on the written word but rather the actions of those who follow this historic Hebrew religion. The paper will begin with a brief outline of Judaism and its relationship with God and then continue with how the written word of the Torah has laid the basis for the many traditions still practiced in Judaism.

Christians' Celebrations of Holy Communion There are many different ways in which Christians celebrate Holy Communion, depending on the denomination of Christianity, in which they belong. Holy Communion is one of the seven sacraments found in Christianity. A sacrament is an outward physical act with an inward, deeper meaning, which can be obtained through various, specific rituals. In the case of Holy Communion, which is also known as the Eucharist meal or Mass, Christian worshippers believe that they receive the body and the blood of Jesus Christ, through the act of eating the bread, which symbolises Christ’s body, and by drinking the wine, said to be his blood. This sacrament originates back to