issue 习作，传说中的207

dphenixyUID: 2657199

207 “Rituals and ceremonies help define a culture. Without them, societies or groups of people have a diminished sense of who they are.”典礼和仪式有助于确立一种文化，否则人们的社会或群体的角色归属感会削弱

抽象的题目确实不好写啊，好不容易才凑够400字。
The author asserts that rituals and ceremonies conduce to the definition of a culture, and that people’s sense of identity relies on them. I agree with this statement insofar as rituals and ceremonies are a primary means of embodiment of certain culture, such as customs and mores. In my point of view, however, it is culture itself, not its external forms-- rituals and ceremonies -- that determinates people’s sense of identity.

Admittedly, rituals and ceremonies serve useful purpose to define a culture. As is well-known, culture in itself--by which I chiefly mean customs and mores -- is usually so intangible and vague that their definition call for a much more concrete vivid external from in which culture is embed. In this view, rituals and ceremonies do have bearing on people’s cultural identity. If we look briefly around the world, we find that every country, every nation and even every tribe in some area has their distinct rituals and ceremonies, by which the groups of people distinguish themselves from others. Consider the Dragon Boat Races held in May 5th every year in China, which is to commemorate Qu Yuan, a great minister in ancient China. By participating or just watching these distinct races, Chinese people not only show their reverence to this great ancestor but also strengthen their cultural identity.

However, as external forms, rituals and ceremonies could lose their cultural connotation in some cases. If so, they have little to do with, let alone determinate people’s sense of identity. In fact, there are many rituals and ceremonies which has been superficialized and even considered to be mass entertainments. For example, with the ever increasing globalization in culture, more and more east people start to celebrate Christmas Day, even though they have no idea that it is to celebrate the birth of Christ. Worse still, in China, most young people regard Christmas Day as another valentine's day. Another more striking example involves the ritual of worship heaven held by ancient Chinese emperors. Although this tradition has disappeared for hundreds of years in China, we can see similar activities frequently now, especially in some tourist spots. Likewise, these rituals cannot enhance people’s cultural identity.

In sum, although rituals and ceremonies do help define a culture by being as its external forms, actually it is culture itself not its forms -rituals and ceremonies -that conduce to people’s sense of identity, as these forms are not always consistent with their cultural connotation.