interculturalo event :: essays research papers

1)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Describe the event, its purpose, the cultural group originating the event, and how you learned of the event. Believe it or not,(like everything else I’ve written about in this course) my cultural event was Italian/American in nature. The event in question was the marriage of an American groom and an Italian bride. The bride’s family consisted, in large part, of grandparents and older relatives that had been born and raised in Italy. Obviously the younger relatives were primarily second and third generation Italians as well. The groom and his family, on the other hand, were American mutts. Their cultural background was extremely diluted, consisting of a multitude of cultural circumstances. Seeing as the American groom (Richard) proposed, I suppose the origin of the event could be considered American, although without the consent of the Italian bride (Tessa), there would be no wedding, so let’s call it Italian/American in origin. My wife and I were invited to attend the wedding by her great-aunt, who comes from the Italian side of the union. 2) What element(s), if any, is/are similar in your culture? For the most part the wedding was just like any other American wedding. During the ceremony a couple of symbolic and superstitious traditions similar to American traditions were performed. First, whereas in American culture superstition dictates that the bride must have â€Å"something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue†, the Italian groom carried a piece of metal in his suit pocket to ward off evil eyes. I found the second action, one of symbolic nature, a bit odd. In American culture, couples frequently light unity candles to symbolize their lifetime union of happiness. The symbolic gesture in this wedding was a bit different though. The newly married couple smashed a vase, with the remaining pieces representing the number of years the couple is expected to be happily married. I found this act kind of strange. Suppose the vase only broke into two or three pieces (it didn’t, it shattered into hundreds). Such an occurrence would seem certain to dampe n the enthusiasm for a superstitious couple. Aside from a couple of exceptions, the rest of the wedding was similar to any other wedding, with a buffet of food, cash bar, and a D.J. spinning records (or cd’s, as the case may be). 3) What did you see and experience at this event that made you feel confident you understood accurately?