〓DIES IN FLAMES〓 issue 207

刚刚好UID: 2599482

I disagree with speaker’s statement that rituals and ceremonies help define a culture. Factually, as one sort of the expression styles of a culture, they are handed down through generations at every quarter of the global to describe their own nations’ characters. At the same time, some ridiculous rituals, however, had been disappeared without any people’s confusion.

Ritual and ceremony is not the only way for us to understand other nations and cultures. Fortunately, we live in a diversified world whose cultures are blooming in many aspects. It is tempting to think that the achievements we obtained in literature, music, and architecture have reached a high level in modern time. From reading the fantastic stories of the Thousand and One Nights to listening the great piano sonata of the Ninth Symphony created by Beethoven; from investigating the mystic astronomical system of the Maya to wandering through the street surrounded with gothic architecture, it seems to me that these treasures of life just be like the luminous stars shining in the night sky. Indeed, we absorb the dew of culture at every pore.

With expressing its own national characters, rituals would be widely held around the world for many reasons. A good case in point can be best provided by the weddings of different countries or areas, even if it is of the same fact that new couples get married, what they need to do in wedding may be absolutely dissimilar. In Korea, ducks are included in wedding procession because ducks mate for life. In addition, to be sure of a "sweet life", a Greek bride may carry a lump of sugar in her glove on wedding day. Furthermore, in Malaysia, each wedding guest is given a beautifully decorated hard-boiled egg, a symbol of fertility. Therefore, with a huge curiosity, a foreigner would like be invited to participate a local wedding.

On the other hand, rituals and ceremonies are always the religious actions, which may last one day or even longer, and during that time all the pious people congregate in a place to pray for their friends, relatives or themselves. Lupercalia was a very ancient, possibly pre-Roman pastoral festival, observed on February 15 to avert evil spirits and purify the city. In antiquity, Lupercus was believed as the god of shepherds, so people killed two goats and offered as a sacrifice for the purpose of gaining health and fertility. Because all such unprompted rituals and ceremonies are organized for the best of people, they can come down from the old.

In contrast, there is no doubt that some rituals and ceremonies were the productions of paganisms, which were related with the political dominion . In antiquity, the apotheosis of an Emperor was a religious act which reinforced the authority and majesty of the imperial office. At that time, the science is too undeveloped for human species to understand a myriad of uncanny natural phenomenon such as rain and snow. However, the dominator
attributed all these phenomenon to his “omnipotent capability” and asked the demos to take part in the rituals for eulogizing his merit. Gradually, with the development of the scientific knowledge, people learn to interpret the essence of nature more reasonable. Consequently, all the feudal and superstitious activities were disappearing in our lives.

To sum up, in the modern life, we are acquainted enough and have the ability to distinguish positive rituals from the draffs. Also, people will constantly protect and develop those rituals and ceremonies with virtuous purposes or ethical characters.