A family ritual to strengthen family bonds Essay Example for Free

A family ritual to strengthen family bonds Essay As I was answering the Family rituals questionnaire, I felt good as i was somewhat compelled to reminisce the activities which I shared with my family when I was a child. It feels good to see that our family got a high score in the questionnaire. In only proves that we have been quite close as a family. I was only mesmerized as I recalled those moments when we simultaneously scan our old pictures and laugh at the way all of us looked in the past. I also enjoyed recalling the fond memories of our excursions when I was still a child. Personally, I do not want to change that kind of relationship which I had with my family in the past. I would like us to maintain this close relationship we have right now. For me, this is how families are supposed to be. Families are supposed to spend most of the time together so they can be updated with the events happening to one another. In this sense, they will always be available to succor when one among the family members is having some dilemma. In addition to that, the intimacy between them will not be lost; and instead, will only be kindled. That feeling of intimacy will make them more comfortable and more expressive with one another. The ritual that I would like to apply to my family is a unique Islamic tradition called Eid al-Fitr. Eid al-Fitr is being done some time after Ramadan. It is basically a tradition celebrating the success of the recently done Ramadan which is a whole month of blessings and joy. Moreover, Eid al-Fitr is also the extension of these blessings and joy to those who happen to be less fortunate. Every Muslim family must offer some donation of any kind to those who are in need. They do this so the needy can participate in the celebration as well. This is done before the end of the Eid so all the people can be prepared for the jubilation. When the day of the Eid comes, all of the participants will gather outdoors – in mosques – to perform a prayer that is especially for the Eid. Afterwards, the participants will begin to disperse and mingle with one another. They will meet up with their families, friends and other acquaintances to give presents and express their cordial greetings. If they have relatives who are not present and cannot go to the event, they can call them on the hoping and likewise extend their wishes. This event usually lasts for three days to allow the Muslims make the most out of the celebration. The meaning of this ritual is that it can manifest the unity and comradeship among its participants. By extending their warm wishes to other people and giving donations to those who are in need, the participants learn to take care aside from their selves and value other people as well. The act of giving donations can be symbolically interpreted as an act of offering something that sincerely comes from the self. The act is like transcending the self and its own interests in order to extend one’s hands to other people. By applying this ritual with my family, I aim that my family will have a sense of responsibility and learn how to work as a group. Moreover, I can also reinforce family planning. My family will learn that they also have responsibility over other people –their fellowmen – and that all of us must unite for a singular cause. By promoting the behavior of giving donations to the poor and mingling with the family members, the unity of a singular cause is reinforced. As we harbor in mind the need to achieve a singular purpose, we will learn how to work as a group. In the latter process, we will develop a more cohesive bond among ourselves. The part of mingling with other people can only encourage us to commune more deeply with one another and be aware of one another’s experiences. As the ritual will be repetitious, all of its objectives will be recurrently addressed. In addition to that, by mingling with the family members in the course of the ritual, we will realize the importance of family planning. In our family, there are more than ten of us who are siblings and it will surely be harder for us to greet one another while doing the ritual. Lastly, I think that the ritual need not to change as the members of the family grow older. We must only adapt with one another and our family embers – and our oscillating temperaments, tastes and yearnings. The touchstone of the ritual is that we feel the warm company of our family members as we do and enjoy doing things together. In that sense, my two goals can be achieved. We learn that we are responsible for the welfare of our family members and we learn to work collectively in making all of us grow individually as persons and the family as a whole.

Desire of the Fourteenth Century Women Essay -- Feminist Feminism Angl

Desire of the Fourteenth Century Women Is not what we desire, the most hard to get? It has always been this way. Unfortunately, women’s rights and abilities have been underestimated over the centuries. In the fourteenth century, the status and condition of a European woman depended on her husband’s position. Women had to endure arranged marriages, abuse and male dominance. During that time, Geoffrey Chaucer wrote The Canterbury Tales and taught us about one extraordinary woman whose name is Dame Alisoun. Alisoun is called The Wife of Bath, and she defines what women desired most in fourteenth-century England. She believes that women wish for power over their husbands, and I personally agree with her opinion. The Wife of Bath, a cloth maker, gets rich after her husbands die and leave her their fortunes. Even though medieval women were still far from being powerful, and had to obey their husbands, Alisoun states that she has power over her men’s bodies and property all her life: â€Å" I have the power during al my life, Upon his proper body, and nat he†(line 164). Alisoun is an exception to the rule because she marries five times and is widowed five times. It is important to mention that there was no divorce for women in the fourteenth century: â€Å"She was a worthy woman al hr live. Husbondes at chirche dore she hadde five, Withouten other compaignye in youthe† (line 461). The three first husbands are old, rich and loyal to her. The fourth husband has a mistress: â€Å"My ferthe housbonde was a revelour. This is to sayn, he hadde a paramour† (line 459). The Wife of Bath learns that it is very important for a woman to satisfy her man, and she knows how to act to make him obedient and less powerful... ...nder difference will still have an impact on women’s lives six hundred years from now. What do you think? Credits: Abrams M. H, et al. The Norton Anthology of English Literature. 7th ed. New York: W. Norton & Company, 2000. Fell, Christine. Women in Anglo-Saxon England and the Impact of 1066. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1984. Catholic Encyclopedia. Online. October 24, 2000. http://www.newadvent.org Harvard University. Online. October 24, 2000. http://www.icg.fas.Harvard Luminarium Organization. Online. October 22, 2000. http://www.britannia.com/history/biographies/guinever.html http://www.icg.fas.harvard.edu http://www.legends.dm.net/kingarthur http://www.georgetown.edu/labyrinth/subjects/women/women.html http://www.r3.org/life/articles/women.html http://www.luminarium.org/medlit/chaucer.htm http://www.infoplease.com

Horse Whisperer

â€Å"Compare the ways personal experience is presented in â€Å"Horse whisperer† and another poem of your choice† The poems â€Å"Horse whisperer† and â€Å"The ruined maid† portray a sense of personal experience in their poems. Andrew Foster’s poem, â€Å"Horse whisperer† tells us about how a horse whisperer was used in his society when he was needed but was then kicked out as technology advanced whilst Thomas Hardy’s poem â€Å"The ruined maid† shows us how a young and innocent farm girl has turned into a posh and classy women due to a change in her lifestyle.In Fosters poem, the use of emotional language implies that he has a lot of love and passion for the horses he trains. The last stanza is only about the horses he used to train. The language he uses shows us that his feelings towards the horses will never change and that he still adores and admires them. The phrase ‘still I miss them’ suggests that he didnâ €™t want to go as he loved what he did in the past although he had no choice but to leave. On the other hand, Hardy’s poem uses modern language to make Melia sound more sophisticated.The first three lines of stanza three and now from the way she speaks. Line eleven highlights that as someone who was brought up in a low- class society before but is now acting classy and posh suggests that her occupation and lifestyle has become better when in fact it hasn’t as Melia is used by other men in her new society. Melia may feel she wants to go back to her old lifestyle due to her personal experience. Both poems coney a person being used for who they are. In addition, both poems use enjambment to portray their strong feelings towards society.The poem â€Å"Horse whisperer† uses personal pronouns and the third person to convey a sense of seperation in his society. The first stanza consists of the words ‘my’ and ‘their’. This highlights that t he horses in their society were seperated from the narrator and the horses owners, as maybe he was seen as someone different. In contrast, â€Å"The ruined maid† uses rhyming couplets every first and second line in each stanza. This strict principle the poet follows could symbolise the strict rules Melia has to follow in order for her to make a living in her society as she has to obey the rules she has been given.Her personal experience from before may suggest that the society she lives in now is so much different to old society. Moreover, both poems portray the feeling of pride. Forster’s poem conveys a feeling of revenge when the horse whisperer gets neglected by his society. The quote â€Å"My gifts were the tools of revenge† highlights that he is no longer going to be of help to anyone. The word ‘gift’ implies how he is going to now use his precious power of controlling horses against their owners as they treated him cruelly.However, â€Å"The ruined maid† portrays a sense of jealousy. Lines twenty- one and twenty- two highlight that Melia comes across as a person that is quite a classy person when in fact she isn’t as she ‘wishes’ that she had all those things that people would have in a high- class society. In conclusion, the â€Å"Horse whisperer† portrays love and jealousy at the same time whilst â€Å"The ruined maid† conveys a sense of insecurity and hate meaning that these poems are not very alike.

Nisa the Life and Words of a !Kung Women Essay - 2258 Words

Introduction Foraging for wild plants and hunting wild animals is the most ancient of human subsistence patterns. Prior to 10,000 years ago, all people lived in this way. Hunting and gathering continues to be the subsistence pattern of some societies around the world including the !Kung. The !Kung population is located in the Kalahari Desert, in isolated parts of Botswana, Angola, and Namibia. The !Kung live in a harsh environment with temperatures during the winter frequently below freezing, but during the summer well above 100F. The !Kung, like most hunter-gatherer societies, have a division of labor based mainly on gender and age. (Body) Gender in the Division of Labor For the most part in the !Kung society the men do the†¦show more content†¦Nevertheless, men spend only a small fraction of the time that women do in the company of children, especially infants. The women are responsible for the less pleasant tasks of child care, such as toileting, cleaning and bathing, and nose wiping. However most parents prefer to leave all but the youngest children in the village while they gather: food collection is more efficient that way, and distances traveled can be greater. Also, most children want to stay at home with the other children: playing with friends is highly preferable to the stressful travel and long hours often involved in gathering. Age There is a large difference in age between boys and girls in terms of their development into adults and their roles in subsistence. !Kung children have no schools, nor are they expected to contribute to subsistence, to care for younger children, or to help out much around the village, except for occasionally collecting water. Because little formal teaching is done, observation and practice are the basis of all learning. It is this way that many of the skills are learned that will make them productive adults. A mans hunting skills and inclinations are fostered early in childhood, often beginning when he is only a toddler. Toy bows and arrows are given to small children at a young age. StationaryShow MoreRelatedMarjorie Shostak: the Life and Words of Nisa a Kung Women1257 Words   |  6 Pages| !Kung Women | | | | â€Å"Nisa: The Life and Words of a !Kung Woman,† written by Marjorie Shostak; is a culturally shocking and extremely touching book about a woman who had gone through many struggles and horrific tragedies in her life. This book also emphasizes the perspective of most of the women in the society. There are many striking issues in this book that the people of the !Kung  tribe go through.  Marjorie Shostak, an anthropologist, has written this book and studiedRead MoreEssay on Nisa Life and Words of a Kung Woman633 Words   |  3 PagesNisa: The life and words of a !kung woman:response â€Å"Nisa: the life and words of a !kung woman† written by Marjorie Shostak is a book about a woman named nisa of the !kung people. It entails the stories of her struggles and the many horrific tragedies in her life and how it shapes who and how she is. The book Is basically an interview of a fifty year old nisa, it is written in her perspective of what it is like to live in such a society. She suffered quite a few devastating tragedies as aforementionedRead MoreMarriage Play : The Life And Words Of A ! Kung Woman1151 Words   |  5 Pagesplays an essential part in lives of !Kung women. Marjorie Shostack in depth describes each step of Nisa’s life in her book â€Å"The Life and Words of a ! Kung Woman†. 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Epic, stunishing and dramatic are adjectives easily given to describe this mythical script. By carefully analyzing Gilgamesh s story, we find hints of how he came to the glorious ending to his quest. Nevertheless, the women in this epic poem play a small but very powerful roleRead MoreAnalysis Of Nisa The Life And Words Of A ! Kung1518 Words   |  7 PagesLife and death are experienced throughout the country, which occurs every day around the world. We all experience dealing with death or life rather it s pertaining to a family member, friend, associate or even a co-worker. Life and death effect the population rates amongst the globe. People views, practices, and feelings differ from different religions and cultures. Each culture is unique and obtains different beliefs and rituals. According to the book Nisa The Life and Words of a !Kung WomanRead MoreKung Women Essays1768 Words   |  8 Pages1. Ernestine Friedl says that the position of women is higher the more they are involved in (1) Primary subsistence (as owners or controllers, NOT merely as laborers) and (2) the PUBLIC distribution of the product of subsistence. Use this argument to account for the position of women in !Kung society. Make sure you use both part (1) and part (2) of Friedl’s argument. The !Kung are hunter-gatherers of Southern Africa and the women play an essential role in the production of subsistenceRead MoreCultural Diversity : The And Words Of A ! Kung Woman And Saheri From Saheri s Choice1197 Words   |  5 Pagesdiscussed Nisa from our reading Nisa: The Life and words of a !Kung Woman and Saheri from Saheri’s Choice: Arranged Marriages in India a video. We examined the difference between Nisa’s arranged marriage and Saheri’s positives that both women see the marriage. First, a positive thing for Nisa is she gets gifts like the beads, she gets a place to live. For Saheri being married was her becoming a mature adult, having the freedom that an adult has and having a household of her own. In contrast, Nisa hadRead MoreDifferent Sources of Variation in Marriage and Mating Systems in the !Kung San Hunter-Gatherer and the Yanomamo Horticulturalist Societies1932 Words   |  8 Pagesbetween groups that create variation in human social orga nization (Walker et al. 2011). This paper explores the sources of variation in marriage and mating systems in two very different societies, the !Kung San and the Yanomamo, in terms of the vastly different environments each of them inhabit. The !Kung San, a traditional nomadic hunter-gatherer society, reside in the Dobe area on the edge of the Kalahari desert of Botswana (Shostak 1981, p.7). Due to the demanding environment of the desert, the San