issue207

civilppUID: 2999177

207

I fundamentally agree with the speaker that we can define ourselves with the help of rituals and ceremonies. The contrary view reveals a ignorance of the significant roles played by rituals and ceremonies in our daily life. However, we must not overestimate the value and necessity of the rituals and ceremonies; otherwise, misuses of rituals and ceremonies may impede our life and attitude towards the world.
15:46
I concede sometimes through practicing rituals and ceremonies can we define ourselves well. The tradition passed from one generation to another can reflect some kinds of links between contemporaries and their predecessors. After all, it is the tradition practiced by ages that remains the main value and attitudes toward life. With the repeat of rituals and ceremonies which the predecessors practiced, the contemporaries may sense the ideas and value hidden in the rituals, and get a better understanding about their roots and origins. We can look no further than the Spring Festival-the Chinese New Year. The Spring Festival is a traditional festival dating back thousands years ago, when the ancient Chinese decide to have a ceremony to congratulate their harvest in a year and a reunion of family members. Chinese often have customs for Spring Festival to visit other family members on the intention of sharing each other’s happiness and watching the firecrackers which means prosperity of the foreseeable future. It is this unique tradition that unions the family and helps the people abroad identify themselves as Chinese.
16:02
However, we cannot ignore the fact that under some circumstances even without rituals and ceremonies, we do understand who we are. Never a person in the history will conclude that he suffers from self-confusion if he didn’t practice any rituals or ceremonies. After all, some human nature rooted in our bottom of hearts from the day we born. It is not safe to say without rituals we are nothing. Human beings can remain the true and kind side of human nature regardless of the rapid pace world and the changing condition. Our value don’t change based on the fact that our human nature has a moral standard that is the principle to be a real man differed from other animal species. Thus even without rituals and ceremonies, we do not lose ourselves into materials, while we also have a high spiritual pursue throughout our life.
Only through rituals and ceremonies cannot suffice to identify ourselves. Without knowing the essence and central meaning, not all the people varied from others in the world can identify themselves through rituals or ceremonies, Since it is various culture shape what the rituals and ceremonies are. We can compare Thanks giving Day in China with it in America. There’s interesting result of it that while people in America can remember the history of their newly-arrived ancestors’ appreciation to Indian, Chinese people cannot feel anything help them identify themselves through such day. Without any existing relationship with the festivals’ history and origin, people in China may regard Thanks Giving Day as a insignificant day among their daily life.
16:18
To sum up, through traditional festivals we can define ourselves and find our origins and links between predecessors and us, while without rituals and ceremonies, people don’t lose any identities of them or ever suffer from the confusion about future. Meanwhile, it is also significant to realize some rituals and ceremonies cannot help us make a better understanding about either our history or ourselves.