issue207 [0710G 戴三个表冲刺小组] 第9次作业

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207
"Ritualsand ceremonies help define a culture.Without them, societies or groups of people have a diminished sense of who theyare."   45


有保留的同意。仪式和礼仪有助于cultural identity，但是仪式和礼仪不是保持文化认同的唯一手段，保持文化认同也不是仪式和礼仪的唯一目的。
1.       仪式和礼仪有助于保持文化认同因为他们把societies orgroups of people与其他人区分开来独自形成一个小团体，给人以归属感并且知道我是谁。Maslow'stheory of needs tells us that human has social needs, including acceptance,affection, and affiliation with a social group.例子：印第安人的原始部落
Sacrifice
2.      但是文化认同不是仪式和礼仪的唯一目的。事实上，仪式和礼仪起源于自然界不可理解的现象和不可抗拒力量的敬畏，最初的目的是向神明祈祷为了丰收，一场胜利的战争，以及与死去的人的交流。在中国，伊斯兰教的教徒并不受到任何被同化的威胁，但是他们仍然严格执行看起来很苛刻的朝奉仪式，因为这是他们与他们的神安拉交流并表达敬意的方式，也是他们的根本目的。
Moslem pilgrimage allah show one’s respect
3.      仪式和礼仪也不是文化认同的唯一方式。比如在中国很多少数民族通过语言，服饰和特殊的生活习惯如吃某种食物来与汉族区别。
Minoritycostume life style the Han nationality
Since rituals and ceremonies helpdistinguish people of a society or a group from others in the cultural field, Iconcede that they help people define culture identity. However, rituals andceremonies are not the unique way of defining culture identity, and have otherpurposes than culture defining.
Admittedly, the holdings of the specialrituals and ceremonies that exists only in a specific society or a group distinguishesthe members of that society or group from others culturally, thus the membersidentify themselves through the feeling of "belonging to the society orgroup" that the ceremonies and rituals bring them andthat make them into the same category. According to Maslow's theory,human being has social needs, including acceptance, affection and affiliation witha society or group, which can be obtained from the uniqueness and seriousnessof the ceremonies and rituals. American Indian, for example, has acted againstthe European assimilating activities for more than 500 years by constantlyholding ceremonies and rituals of Indian culture and their culture is thuspreserved as a result. Without holding ceremonies andrituals, Indian culture might has disappeared today and we might not see theirtribes. In fact, people desire to find out "who am I" sincethey have the sense of self and the distinguished identity satisfies this desire.Moreover, the affection with other members also stemfrom the ceremonies and rituals.
However, rituals and ceremonies may haveother purpose rather than culture identity of members of a society or a group.In the ancient time, the main purpose of rituals and ceremonies was not cultureidentity but to pray for a good harvest or a battle victory and to contact withand show their respect to the deity. Take Moslem for example, the only purposeof the pilgrimage of Moslems is to show their respect to Allah, the God ofMoslems.
In addition, rituals and ceremonies are notthe only method of culture identity. For instance, many Chinese minorities, especiallyin the southern part of China, identify their social culture from that of theHan nationality through their daily dieting, daily costume and other lifestyle. These minorities of course have ceremonies and rituals or their culture,but they show that they are different from other people by other ways.
In sum, I admit with the speaker thatculture is one of the purposes of rituals and ceremonies. Nonetheless, cultureidentity is not the unique purpose of them. There are other methods of identifyingtheir culture as well.