Writing Homework Help

University of Alabama at Birmingham Sri Lankan Traditional Wedding Paper

 

Here are a list of events and documentaries. These are all online/virtual offerings. Some are not in English language. This is a great opportunity for you to use your imagination. Pretend that you had the opportunity to go to a wedding in Sri Lanka. This is a Western/Eastern wedding. How do the two cultures come together in this function bringing two cultures together? West meets the East.

Happiness: the music, gestures, food, clothing, all have hidden cultural/social meanings

Once we get used to things, certain things become customs to us . However, when you enter a new culture, when you are not familiar to certain things, that becomes culture shock. Watch a few documents or attend a few UAB virtual events and write your event paper. It is not safe to attend events in person, so please pick one from this list.

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Event paper guidelines: Make sure that the assignment is typed, 1-2 pages, double-spaced, 12pt font, with a 1” margin all around.
The cultural event reports must include, but are not limited to the following elements:

  • Title of the event
  • Name of event organizer(s)
  • Reflect on how this event changed your perceptions or added to your knowledge

Recorded past events:

1. Japanese Obentohttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_GGsPCZUXrw

2. Wedding in Sri Lanka (two cultures coming together)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UD_WYDsAY8k

3. Chicken Ala Karte
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8zWAE2n_s0E

4. Happiness
https://www.pbs.org/independentlens/videos/happiness/

Face-to-face event

1. Social Justice Mixer – University of Alabama at Birmingham (uab.edu) (Links to an external site.)

Monday, August 30 at 5:30pm to 7:00pm

Hill Student Center, Outdoor Amphitheater (Links to an external site.)1400 University Blvd, Birmingham, AL 35233

2. Foreign Service Careers Info Session – University of Alabama at Birmingham (uab.edu) (Links to an external site.)

Wednesday, September 1 at 12:00pm to 1:00pm

Virtual Event

3. What’s New with COVID-19 Series: Women’s Panel

Wednesday, September 1 at 12:00pm to 12:30pm

Virtual Event

4. What’s Happening in Afghanistan? (this is an ideal event)

Wednesday, September 1 at 4:00pm to 5:00pm

Virtual Event

5. UAB Nathan Shock Center Seminar with Dario Valenzano

UAB Nathan Shock Center Seminar with Dario Valenzano – University of Alabama at Birmingham (Links to an external site.)

Wednesday, September 15 at 12:00pm to 1:00pm

Sample Cultural Event Paper:

German-American Oktoberfest

Every year the German Day Association in Chicago, IL hosts an Oktoberfest that is celebrated over an entire weekend in Lincoln Square. The event highlights traditional German food, drinks and music as well as showcases traditional German fashion. While there are three days of events, this year I attended the Saturday event on September 8th for the Steuben Parade and participated in the street festival. I attended the festival for just over 2 hours, and I was able to speak with one event coordinator as well as one participant, and I believe these interactions as well as my overall experience allowed me to gain insight into this German tradition. The Chicago German Day Association was founded in 1920 by local German citizens who wanted to promote the use of the German language and customs, despite being in America. The association created German-American Day as an annual celebration of German heritage and has been held in Lincoln Square for the last 25 years. The festival helps to educate both local German and Non-German youth in addition to keeping the German culture alive in the city. One of the main attractions to the festival is the Steuben Parade, which is the event I was able to attend. After speaking with an event coordinator, Anna, I learned that the parade is named after Baron Friedrich Von Steuben who was a soldier that had volunteered his service under George Washington. The Parade honors his service as well as his heritage and stars a lineup of traditionally dressed Chicagoans that are members of local German social, sport, fraternal and folk groups. I saw dancers in traditional garments dance the Schuhplattler, a style of folk-dance originating from the southern region of Germany. Additionally, there were floats with singers that sang German folk music in the native language. Prior to attending this event I had expected it to just be a festival of beer as I had a very American perspective of Oktoberfest. While there were tents serving German beer and strudels, the parade really highlighted old cultural traditions I never expected to see, nor did I expect to see so many people attend who were at least part German. One of my favorite experiences during my time there was hearing the people around me speak in German to their friends and family. I felt at times like I was in another country because I heard more German than I heard English, and I even learned how to say “hello” and “goodbye” (Hallo/Auf Wiedersehen). I had a brief conversation with an event goer named Chelsea who said she had been to this event before, and loved hearing the traditional music because it reminded her of visiting her grandmother overseas as a kid. While I have a German last name, I have never really felt connected to that part of my ancestry. Being at this event made me feel more in tune with the German part of me I have never really explored. Even though there were parts of the festival I had anticipated to experience, such as eating bratwursts and drinking Paulaner, I was surprised hear so many people speak the language and I did not expect to see traditional dances. I was introduced to so many more traditional food options than I have ever known existed, and hearing live folk music was really fun. I believe this experience highlighted parts of the German culture I was unaware existed, like that Lederhosen is considered to be the national costume and that there is traditionally a gun salute to close out the real Oktoberfest in Germany. While I believe there is much more to learn about this particular culture, I feel that I have a greater understanding of Germans and their traditions after spending time at this event.

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