Issue207=美丽G程小组=小组第二次作业 by Melody

claire530UID: 2363559

207"Rituals and ceremonies help define a culture. Without them, societies or groups of people have a diminished sense of who they are."
1.
承认作者观点，Rituals and ceremonies的确帮助define a culture,
但不能说是Rituals and ceremonie建立了一种文化，先有的文化，才有的rituals and ceremonies, 很多Rituals and ceremonies的目的一个是保护文化，但是不全是，还有其他方面的用途，而对文化的保护，仪式和礼仪也不是唯一的方式，还有其他的方法。
2.
演讲者认为，仪式和礼仪的一个目的是保护文化，这一点我认同。这一点在新西兰的毛利人身上体现的很充分，他们的Haka，哈卡舞表演的目的，包括消遣、对来宾的热情欢迎、对特殊成就或场合的承认、部落之间相聚的仪式；用以保护他们的祖先所流传下来的文化，而非被来自其他部落的文化所侵蚀。用以表示其种族的独立性，以及自己的思想价值观点。只有通过仪式和礼仪的方式，才能防止被外界文化所侵蚀，丧失部落的身份。
3.
但是，仪式和礼仪不仅仅是为了保护文化遗产部受侵略，也有可能是为了其他的目的，事实上，仪式和礼仪的最初目的并不是植根于文化，而在于精神信仰有关。比如在非洲的某些部落，一些仪式用来驱鬼，或者说是来测定天气，史料记录，在古代中国三国时期，就有诸葛亮启动仪式观天象来预测战斗胜利的方式。
4.
仪式和礼仪也不是保持文化身份的唯一手段。还有很多其他的方法来保持文化身份。比如服装上面，印度女人身穿纱丽，比如食物上面，比如回族人不吃猪肉。比如建筑，不同民族有各自不同的建筑风格。比如印度和中国的建筑就不一样，最明显的比较有泰姬陵Taj Mahal和紫禁城forbidden city还有很多人用不同的文字和语言来传承自己的文化。各个民族都有自己特定的文字和语言，这都是用来承接自己文化的部分,也正是如此，才构成了语言的多样性。
5.
总而言之，为了防止当今世界的多元文化被其他主流文化所同化和影响，每个人必须坚持自己文化的传统——通过仪式和礼仪。但是，仪式和礼仪也并不是唯一得方式，而且，他们更有可能是有其他精神方面的功用。

字数：556， 时间：N久， 这篇写得太痛苦了~
In this issue, the author made the assertion that ritual and ceremony helps define a culture and without them people and the society are unable to preserve the culture identity. From my point of view, I agree with the author that rituals and ceremonies indeed helps a lot, whereas, he failed to regard the two as the indispensable parts when defining a culture as rituals and ceremonies are derived varieties of culture, and one of their goal is to preserve the culture identity. The author misunderstands the relationship between the two, which I would discuss as follows.
For one thing, I concede the author’s statement that insofar the goal of most rituals and ceremonies is to protect the culture identity. A considerable amount of nationalities and minorities preserve their unique culture in this way. Possible example rests in the Haka dance of Maoris, one of the famous people in New Zealand. Through this kind of dance, which could be regarded as a kind of rituals, Maoris express their greetings to the guests, celebration of convergence between the tribes, even prayers before the war. In this way could they keep their cultures purity, prevent erosion from other cultures and show us the independent character of their people, accompany with their unique ideology and value system.
Nevertheless, is preserving the culture identity the only reason the rituals and ceremonies for? The answer is no. Rituals and ceremonies not only help define culture but also have a variety of other purposes, otherwise how could we explain the phenomenon that some isolated cultures do not need to be aside from others to preserving their own distinct rituals and ceremonies? For example, in some African tribes, people use rituals and ceremonies to eradicate the ghosts what they think would bring bad luck to them, to pray for the good fortune for the sick people, even to forecast the weather. It seems odd for the first glance, however, it is not as unusual and seldom seen as we believe because in ancient China, there are precedents that holding a ritual to forecast the weather before the war which were proved to help a lot on the strategic settings. Convincing evidence is given by the famous great militarist Chu-ko Liang who won the battle of the red cliff in this way.
On the other hand, to preserve the culture identity, keeping rituals and ceremonies are also not the only way. The methods people proposed to keep the purity of the culture reveals in numerous other ways such as the traditional costumes like the Indian women’s sari, the unique national styles of architecture, which is better expressed when comparing the Taj Mahal and the forbidden city, or the special eating habits like the taboo of pork in the Muslim Chinese’s diet. Another convincing example is the different languages, which is used to carry on the national culture and reveals the diversity of the nationalities in the world.
In sum, for the sake of preventing the present diversity of the culture in the world from being influenced or assimilation by some mainstream culture, everyone should participate in the protection of the culture identity------by means of rituals and ceremonies. But we should accounted for that nor are rituals and ceremonies the only means of preserving cultural identity, they might serve some spiritual functions as well.