Cultural heritage is the indicators of the ways of living that a community developed, which are inherited from previous generations. It includes artwork, buildings, books, objects, songs, folklore, and oral history. Cultural heritage provides both tangible and intangible representations of the values, beliefs, traditions and lifestyles of prior generations. Though it comes from the past, cultural heritage is preserved in the present and valued by present generations.
What do these objects tell us about a specific tradition or heritage?
- How do we share tradition by the way we dress?
- Do you dress differently on a holiday?
- What are traditional foods that you make at your home on a holiday?
- What do you use to eat your meals with?
- What do other people around the world use?
- What traditional foods do we have around the world on holidays? ( birthday cake, mince pies in England for Christmas)
- What foods do you make on special holidays? (turkey, cookies at Christmas, challah bread, roast pig, etc.)
- What customs do people use to say hello? (Handshake, kiss on cheek, hug, wave with hand etc.)
One of the most important Chinese holidays, just after the Gregorian New Year, is the Lantern Festival which is celebrated there and in many Asian countries with people of Chinese heritage. The festival is celebrated on the fifteenth day of the first month of the Chinese calendar. One of the traditional dishes served is tangyuan. These are round dumplings of glutinous rice, sometimes solid but typically filled with sweetened black sesame paste or red bean paste, and boiled before serving. They can be served in the water they were boiled in which is sometimes sweetened or flavored with ginger. Tangyuan is also associated with the winter solstice.
Diwali, or Dipawali, is India’s biggest and most important holiday of the year. The festival gets its name from the row (avali) of clay lamps (deepa) that Indians light outside their homes to symbolize the inner light that protects from spiritual darkness. This festival is as important to Hindus as the Christmas holiday is to Christians.
What are our holidays that we celebrate? Each student shares the holiday and what they wear and eat on that day
- In what ways was this form of writing better than using paper or computer?
- Why do we not use it very often today?
- If you wanted to tell the world a message that last forever, what would it be?
