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The different wedding customs between different cultures
Wedding traditions from different cultures
The different wedding customs between different cultures
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The short story “Clothes” by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni is about a young Indian woman, Sumita, and her cultural transition to America that is symbolized by her clothes and the color of her clothes. The traditional Indian attire for a woman is a sari and each one has its own purpose. Her clothes also indicate her progression from daughter, to wife, to woman. The story starts off with the bride to be in a yellow sari preparing to meet her future husband by bathing in a lake. She describes the yellow sari as a sunflower after rain. Yellow here could possible signify new times to come or peace. The bath she was taking is relaxing her to the idea that she is about to marry a man she has not even met, as well as the thought of losing her family. Next, Sumita is dressed for her bride-viewing in a light pink sari which signifies marriage, luck and possibility. This sari not only shows her faith towards her heritage but it also denotes their family wealth. [talk about Indian family wealth and how it applies to arranged marrages] Light pink also signifies the color of transition. Her transition in this section is from daughter to wife. By wearing this pink sari she would surely be chosen as Somesh wife. Once chosen as the perfect wife Sumita has to take a plane ride to the United States. Sumita chose to wear a blue sari because to her it represented the color of possibility and it also matched the color of the sky to which she was traveling in. Her mother on the other hand wanted to wear red. Red in her belief is supposed to give luck to married women. [married women in India, their responsibilities] They compromised and found one that was blue with red trim to satisfy both arguments. Once in America you see that Sumita is... ... middle of paper ... ...With marriage comes change and Sumita has now change from a daughter to a wife. In summary colors can symbolize a lot of things. In many different cultures we use colors to describe a feeling or a way of life. For Sumita the colors of her outfits played a major role in the way she felt about herself. Her blue sari represented the color of possibilities and made her feel better about the trip and not knowing her husband. For instance, on the plane ride to the United States she started to feel physically sick about embarking on her new life. In order to make herself feel better she started thinking about all her beautiful saris that were in her suitcase such as her purple silk saris and cotton woven ones that reminded her of the Bengal countryside. She describes green saris that are like young bananna plants and grey ones that remind her of a lake from back home.
For Foua, a Hmong mother, the United States was a complete opposite to the life she was use to living and right now preparing this wedding shows the skills that she possess even if they are not very relevant in her new home, “‘I [Foua] am very stupid.’ When I [Anne] asked her why, she said, “Because I don’t know anything here. I don’t know your language. American is so hard, you can watch TV all day ad you still don’t know it” (Fadiman 103). This wedding bought Foua and Anne close in a different way, it created a new level of understanding and appreciation. Anne is starting to discover what it is like to be from another country where the language is different, the clothes are different, the entire way the people live is different. Basically, the world has been flipped upside down and the people need to find their new source of living. It is never easy to pick up a perfectly settled life and suddenly decide that moving and changing it all around is exactly what we need to do. But that was not the case of Foua, her family was forced to move to the United States. This would have made it even harder to adjust. Everything is suddenly thrown at Foua and there is no looking back only forward and the forward might be a lot more difficult. This is why this wedding is like a dream to Foua, it combines her old life with her new life. Although, the skill of creating a Hmong wedding might not be useful in the United States they still create a lot of joy and this joy can lead people to understand one another in a new found way. A new joy that was found in the new life of the bride and groom, but also there was the connection between two cultures. There was a greater understanding and
Through the use of complementary colors, she achieves great contrast. Contrasting hues develop a theme of light vs. dark, or in Liu’s case, expectations vs. reality. Dark colors are used to suggest the harsh, chaotic conditions experienced by the workers; while light, less saturated colors illustrate the calm passivity of traditional Chinese customs and ideas. The sky surrounding the stylized women contrasts greatly with the surroundings of the exhausted men. The dark hues establish heavy visual weight below the figures and the light tones of the sky create a sensation of weightlessness and help to further distinguish the fantasy like qualities. Liu also includes the application of analogous colors, primarily to make the traditional figures less dramatic and to help unify the surrounding
Cultural appropriation is a sociological concept which views the adoption or of elements of one culture by members of a different culture as a largely negative phenomenon. It has a negative connotation because cultural appropriation also refers to a particular power dynamic in which members of a dominant culture take elements from a culture of people who have been systematically oppressed by that dominant group. In Sunita Puri’s article “Cultural Identity vs. Ethnic Fashions”, she divulges in the topic of cultural appropriation, and uses ethnic and pathetic appeals to establish her credibility as an Indian American who can speak on behalf of her people to convince non-Indians to stop using the Bindi as a fashion statement. She brings forth personal experiences and examples from pop-culture and explains why appropriation is offensive.
Traditions control how one talks and interacts with others in one’s environment. In Bengali society, a strict code of conduct is upheld, with dishonor and isolation as a penalty for straying. Family honor is a central part to Bengali culture, and can determine both the financial and social standing of a family. Usha’s family poses no different, each member wearing the traditional dress of their home country, and Usha’s parents diligently imposing those values on their daughter. Those traditions, the very thing her [Usha] life revolved around, were holding her back from her new life as an American. Her mother in particular held those traditions above her. For example, when Aparna makes Usha wear the traditional attire called “shalwar kameez” to Pranab Kaku and Deborah’s Thanksgiving event. Usha feels isolated from Deborah’s family [Americans] due to this saying, “I was furious with my mother for making a scene before we left the house and forcing me to wear a shalwar kameez. I knew they [Deborah’s siblings] assumed, from my clothing, that I had more in common with the other Bengalis than with them” (Lahiri ...
The main character is Mrs. Das whom is flirtatious, careless, and needy. She and her husband take their family to see the country India for the first time. The tour guide Mr.Kapsi whom is curious, understanding, and quite aware. He sees something unusual at the beginning of the trip, but does not say anything. As the children continue their site seeing, the husband takes picture with his camera as if he lost in his own world. Meanwhile the wife gets to know the driver instead of site seeing. Mr.Kapsi is aware that the family is not like most Indians which lead him to be attracted to Mrs.Das. It states, “The family looked Indian but dressed as foreigners did, the children in stiff, brightly colored clothing and caps with translucent visors (29). This quote shows the difference in cultural clash as well the difficulty of communication. Mr.Kapsi tells Mrs. Das that he is an interpreter for a doctor which makes her believe she can discuss her personal business without him telling anyone. It states, “He decided to begin with the most obvious question, to get to the heart of the matter, and so he asked, “Is it really pain you feel, Mrs. Das, or is it guilt?”(39) Made the wife realized what she was truly feeling about her mistakes. After the conversation Mr.Kapsi did not look at the Mrs.Das the same way. The unusual
The Buddha in the Attic is written to represent the unheard experiences of many different women that married their husband through a picture. They were known during the early 1920s as the pictures brides ranging in different ages, but naive to the world outside of America. Though the picture bride system was basically the same as their fathers selling their sister to the geisha house, these women viewed being bought to be a wife by a Japanese male in America as an opportunity for freedom and hope for a better life (Otsuka, 2011, p.5) For some of these women, the choice to marry the man in the picture wasn’t an option and chose to die while on the boat instead of marry a stranger, while others accepted their fates with grace. The book continues
Tradition has always remained of vital importance in our lives. Whether it’s the tradition to go to the beach the first day of summer, or to bring someone a gift when they first move into a new home. Everyone has his or her own beliefs and traditions they hold on to sometime during their lives. Furthermore, there has always been the tradition of weddings. The white dress, the ring exchange, vows, and of course, the procession. In times of a wedding, family and friends are gathered from both sides of the bride and groom. Everyone knows this; it’s a tradition worldwide. Some brides, however, choose to go against the assumption that a bride is always dressed in white and wear a red dress, or maybe a black one on their wedding day. Other couples might say “to hell with it all” and choose to get married in a small wedding chapel in Las Vegas.
June did not get married, but her mother was not upset at the fact, but it did cross her mind that she was because most of the other daughters were married and she was not. After her mother died it took a toll on her, for example, one scene when all the mothers and daughters were taking a photo June didn’t want to be a part of it but was asked to. But on the other hand, Waverly got married twice, the first marriage was to a Chinese man with whom she had a daughter with. Waverly stated that she wasn’t happy and the only reason she did it was to please her mother and she felt like she still wasn’t pleased. Waverly second marriage was to a white man named Rich, Waverly felt her mother would be disappointed with her, so it took her some time to break the news about them getting married. One day in the hair salon Suyuan finally admits to Waverly that she didn’t have a problem with Rich. June and Waverly both just wanted to please their mothers the best way they
The purple color itself symbolizes love in the story. When Celie is shopping for the first time in her life for new clothes, she wants to get something purple. However, she cannot find any purple garment while seeing a lot of people wearing purple. This is a symbol of her search for love: she sees so many people who are loved and happy, yet no matter how long and hard she looks, it seems impossible to find love and happiness for herself .
Barbara Calderón-Douglass’ magazine article, “The Folk Feminist Struggle Behind the Chola Fashion Trend,” published April 13th, 2015 on Vice, a digital media and broadcasting company, writes to a generalized audience as a previous chola who resents the fashion trend appropriated by pop-culture. She explicitly argues its ineffective execution in culminating the true essence of cholas and neglect in considering the struggles and values that which formed the chola culture.
It is very important to us, as Assamese, because muga mekhela sador is, an attire that is worn by our culture’s females in auspicious
Fashion has changed a great deal over the past three centuries. As history changes it seems that fashion in some aspect changes with it to adapt to the era. Even today fashion continues to change as the years go on. Looking at fashion even 20 years ago we can see a difference from what we see in our everyday lives. For the purpose of this essay Fashion will be divided into three centuries, since not every era of clothing can be touched upon.
The Indian male is exposed to a set of beliefs and values in which male supremacy is unchallenged and female subjugation is taken for granted. Shyam ignores her and even her genuine complaints are brushed aside. He controls all her choices and activities including the type of dress she should wear. He does not like her wearing stiff khadi kurtas. They remind him of “those activist women burning with vitriol and a cause” (M 117). Man’s intolerance to questioning, especially by women, is clear from his attitude. He would like her to fit in within the traditional feminine role and this is brought out through his statement, “Women should wear silk, jewellery and flowers in their hair” (M 117). He gradually finds that his hold over Radha
Almost every culture around the world have the idea of bringing together households in marriage. In the United States, this a coupling of two people who will start a life on their own. In India, a marriage is more than two people falling and love and getting married. Family, religion and casts play a role for the future bride and groom. The Indian culture’s weddings have different traditions when it comes to proposals, ring traditions and ceremonies not only for the couple but for the families as well.
In this short story the protagonist is a newly married Indian woman who is attending a party with her husband’s western friends. Throughout the short story the reader senses her anxiety of being introduced to people who are not as conservative as her. “She longed for the sanctuary of the walled home from which marriage had promised an adventurous escape. Each restricting rule became a guiding stone marking a safe path through unknown dangers” ("The First Party"). In this quote, the narrator explains how the Indian woman did not feel comfortable or at ease with this new world she had been introduced too. She fiend to be back home but because of her tie that she made to this man through marriage she is in her mind, stuck with him. In addition to her anxiety of being with non-conservative woman, who drank, smoked, dressed provocatively, and had painted nails, the protagonist grew angry in her own head. “She had been so sure of herself in her contempt and her anger, confident of the righteousness of her beliefs, deep-based on generations-old foundations” ("The First Party"). Is this the way that the Indian people reacted to British colonialism? The things that western people found normal, was this disrespectful to the Indian people. The protagonist surely thought it was and was certain that her anger was not misplaced. She felt as her anger was a sign of her strong faith. She came to the realization that her husband was someone who would challenge her beliefs but above all she knew that her beliefs state that her life must be one with his (“The First Party”). This realization must be heartbreaking, to realize that one 's comfort is not found in their life partner. The protagonist was raised to believe that her life must be one with her husband, that she is