Free Essays on Tradition to Get Inspired & Learn by Example

The Lion’s Dance is a tradition that portrays Chinese beliefs. It is performed in order to chase away ghosts and evil spirits. According to Chinese folk stories, ghosts and monsters are often scared by loud noises. The lion is an animal that represents courage, stability and superiority in the Chinese tradition, and so it is only logical that the lion is used in order to scare the evil spirits, his strength as his powerful roar are supposed to fulfill this duty along with the fire crackers. The two dancers are dressed in a huge lion costume that has Continue reading...

The delicious sights of bright oranges, yellow, and red colors of foods can be very sexy. The aroma of good foods deeply affects our senses, especially when we taste their fantastic flavors. However, cultural traditions in foods can sometimes have symbolic meanings. If you were raised as an American, then the traditional Thanksgiving meal and holiday season are quite familiar. But not everyone observes the holiday meal tradition, which identifies special historical origins and a representative symbolism. Learning about the historical background, and cultural context of the practices and ceremonies associated with the traditional American holiday meal, is what Continue reading...

Introduction

Orality refers to the art of communicating using verbal expressions. It is the most popular way of communication throughout the world because it is convenient to both the literate and the illiterate. This is so because one can express himself using a language that he understands better. The main shortcoming of this mode of communication is that it lacks evidence and in some cases it can be used in a negative way. On the other hand, literacy refers to the ability to read and write and even to print a document. This mode of communication is popular to those Continue reading...

Death and afterlife are important concepts in many of the world’s religion and have an important bearing on the psychological and behavioral profile of individuals. Philosophers and scientists have linked beliefs in afterlife as being associated with psychological wellbeing, morality and world view. The differences in beliefs can be generalized in to two categories. One could either believe that body is the actual existing entity. When we die our existence ends and there is nothing beyond the grave. On the other hand there is the belief that there is a soul or some greater consciousness that outlives the Continue reading...

Music, art, food, and family converge in special ways to create fond memories of celebrations like birthdays and mothers preparing uniquely tasty treats – reflective of different cultures. In Korea, the attentively prepared kimchi as portrayed in Kyung-sook Shin’s novel ‘Please Look After Mom’ is characterized by the author writing “A few days before everyone came down, she would make fresh kimchi, go to the market to buy beef, and stock up on extra toothpaste and toothbrushes” (“Please Look After Mom,” 1, Nobody Knows). This present era of globalization and human migration tilts from traditional ideas of filial piety, Continue reading...

Background

Ivory Tower is a movie that tries to look into the faults of the American higher education system especially when it comes to student finances and the control of organizational finances. The movie highlights of the conditions that current colleges are in; being unable to sustain their expenditure and the demands of the students. From the movie, the role and purpose of college is first of all highlighted. A large section of the society still harbors the belief that attending college predisposes young people to a better life and the chance to have a good future. The circumstances surrounding Continue reading...

(During 3 Periods: Early Judaism, the Hellenistic Period and the Muslim Domination)
In this book the author describes the development of Jewish thought from a spiritual and philosophical point of view. His main point of reference is the “Hebrew Scriptures” (15). This source is crucial for the topic of “rabbinic Judaism” – it contain the written documents that define the rabbinic tradition as it is today, which is a product of those Scriptures. More importantly, they contain answers to universal questions that have been studied by other streams and schools of philosophy – questions about the origin of the universe and Continue reading...

The Lottery

Introduction
The short story by Shirley Jackson, depicting an unexpected plot line in a very extraordinary manner, is considered to be a horror story. The writer addresses various fiction techniques in order to distract and lull the reader’s attention, and shock and terrify the audience in the end of the story. They gather together to participate in a lottery, but the readers get to know what is the “prize” only in the end of the story. A very interesting and horrifying plot is supported by various fiction elements, for instance, reflection of characters, setting, symbolism, bright imagery, etc. Continue reading...

Postcolonial criticism explores works from the perspective of racial and ethnic relations based on a world that is still dealing with the effects of Western/white colonialism and imperialism, which historically subjugated many indigenous peoples and forced them to live as the Other. Postcolonial critics, in practicing this lens, “examine the representation of other cultures in literature as a way” of rejecting universalist claims across cultural and ethnic boundaries, tying members of a population to their unique ethnic experience (Barry 134). To that aim, exploring Leslie Marmon Silko’s novel Ceremony from a postcolonial perspective allows for discussion of how Continue reading...

Introduction

The Lottery is authored by Shirley Jackson, who is a master at manipulating her reader. The title itself is a great example as to how Jackson is an expert with toppling reader expectations. The word “lottery” fills one with hope, and the reader is taken to another level of the grim reality of the lottery. The story is about a small village or town, where the people gather together for the town lottery. Mr. Summers runs the lottery and arrives at the village square with the black box used for lottery and Mr. Graves, the postmaster. Men, women and Continue reading...