Cultural experience refers to the exposure and interaction with different beliefs, practices, customs, values, and behaviors of a particular group of people. It can take many forms, such as traveling to a new country, attending a cultural festival, or interacting with people from different backgrounds. Cultural experiences can broaden one’s perspective and help one understand and appreciate human cultures’ diversity.
My Cultural Experience Essay
Writing a ‘my cultural experience essay’ can be an excellent opportunity to reflect on a personal encounter with a new culture. When writing this essay, it’s essential to consider the following aspects:
Outline of cultural experience essay
- Introduction: Start with a hook to engage the reader and briefly introduce the cultural experience you will be discussing.
- Background: Provide context for your cultural experience. Where did you go, and why did you choose this location or event? What were your expectations beforehand?
- The Experience: Describe in detail what happened during your cultural experience. This can include sights, sounds, tastes, emotions, and interactions with people.
- Reflection: Analyze the impact of your cultural experience on your personal and cultural understanding. Did it challenge or reinforce your beliefs? Did it increase or decrease your appreciation for cultural diversity?
- Conclusion: Sum up the key takeaways from your cultural experience and explain how it has affected your life. Consider tying in a broader message about the importance of cultural exchange and understanding.
Cross-Cultural Experience Essay Example
On a tour to enrich my cross-cultural experiences, I visited China, a country inhabited by ethnic groups of not less than 50. Of all these ethnic groups, the three major ones are the Han making up about 92%(Asif and Ali, 2019), Hui, and Miao. However, despite the existence of several ethnic groups, China people have common festivals unifying the nation. In this paper, I would like to share my experiences and how they influenced my perspective on different cultures.
The most common and oldest celebrations in China are nine; Chinese New Year, Lantern Festival, and Double Seventh Festival, among others. Chinese New Year (Lunar New Year) is commemorated to welcome spring to relax after hard work. The celebration dates vary in years though they fall between late January (around the 20th) and mid-February (around the 20th), as confirmed to me by a Chinese friend. All the Lunar New Year is linked with animal signs aligned to the zodiac cycle. For instance, 2021 is marked as the year of the Ox, 2021, a year of the Tiger, which is set to begin on February 1. The matching of New Year with animals was a big surprise to me, and I failed to understand how an animal relates to a new year that is yet to begin.
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The celebration brings together activities like watching lion and dragon dances, house cleaning and decorations, family reunion dinner, and cracking fireworks. Of all the activities, I enjoyed setting off firecrackers and fireworks because it is also a common thing in my country, plus the beautiful fire sparks. Although the natives enjoyed the foods during the festival, it was an uphill task for me to take in the delicacies since they were strange to what I was used to doing.
There is also an exciting part as the celebration is linked to several superstitions. Since the Chinese mark this festival as important for welcoming fortunes, they believe that some chores or activities should be carried out on a different day than the day of welcoming the new moon. This is because these activities will wash away your fortunes. For instance, washing your clothes on New Year’s Day will wash away your fortune, while drinking porridge will render you poor in the coming year. There are several of these taboos and superstitions that are not covered in this paper. These beliefs left me wondering about their validity and whether they affect one’s life if they do them out of ignorance or lack of knowledge.
These festivals create a big gap between my culture and my chosen culture of experience. There are no such celebrations for taking time off to relax the hard work; also, my culture does not associate anything with animal signs. Everything is best for its people, but communal harmony, enhancement of good social relations, and welcoming luck are cultural values attributed to the Chinese New Year, as every family comes together to share dumplings (Xue, 2020). My CQ helped me immensely to adapt to the new culture and fit in like a native. This enabled them to socialize freely and associate with the members of Chinese people. The ability to fit it allowed me to quickly gather the information I needed and positively enrich my Chinese cultural perspective. I admire this culture as it upholds harmony and togetherness, which are important cultural values.
In conclusion, the diversity of cultures globally makes the universe an excellent place to be. Furthermore, intercultural experiences make us understand and respect other people’s way of life. From my tour, I enriched my knowledge of the different festivals celebrated in China and the importance of each. Additionally, I am more attracted to the Luna New Year festivals due to the beautiful decorations, the cracking of fireworks, the delicious meals prepared during such events, and the cultural values that such festivals uphold in the community. Generally, I have adopted a positive attitude toward embracing the world’s varied cultures.
References
Asif, M., & Ali, M. (2019, January 10). International Journal of research Chinese traditions folk art, festivals, and symbolism. ResearchGate. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/330289156_International_Journal_of_Research_Chinese_Traditions_Folk_Art_Festivals_and_Symbolism
Xue, C. (2020). Chinese New Year: The Importance of Tradition and Impact of Governmental Regulation. Institutional Repository (IR) at the University of San Francisco (USF), hosted by Gleeson Library. https://repository.usfca.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2201&context=capstone