Cultural Immersion Activity

The first cultural immersion activity that I participated in was going to St. Charles Catholic Church on Ash Wednesday (March 5, 2014). I had a friend who was catholic attend the church with me so I would have a better understanding of what to do and not stand out so much. In addition, I asked my friend to attend with me so I would not do anything in church that was disrespectful. Before going to the church, I thought that I would have to dress up in dress clothes but my friend told me that it is not necessary to dress up for a catholic church, which surprised me. When we first got there, my friend used the holy water and kneeled before entering the pew. I did not do these things because I felt like I would mess up and it would be disrespectful to the religion to mess up those things. Another thing I noticed was when everyone was entering after they have found their seats they would kneel and pray. Later I asked my friend what everyone was doing and she said it was praying to catch up and talk to God about things that has happened since the last time you talked to him.
Once the service started, my friend showed me where the schedule for the service was and what each number meant. There were different colors of numbers in the book and those indicated what section the reading or song was coming from. This was different from the church that I attend because we have a choir and a band that plays the songs and if you wish to join in you can but for the Catholic Church there is, no choir and the members of the church are the ones who sing. After some singing, the priest came up to talk and this is very different from what I expected. I was used to flipping through the channels and seeing the catholic churches with the priest who were a ...

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...e able to use this in a classroom and teach the students how to create these bracelets and how they are originally made. I could use this activity in the classroom by sharing the information that I received from the members of the First Nations Educational and Cultural Center. A lot of this information would be extremely helpful when talking to my students about Native Americans it gives information from the perspective of a Native American. My thoughts after this activity was how friendly and welcoming the members of this group are. I was also amazed on how much I actually learned there not only about beading but also about weaving and the Native American culture. From talking about different Native American tribes to the dances and outfits worn for these dances. I definitely would like to attend either another craft night or an event held by this cultural center.