Humanities: Textual Analysis

During this semester of humanities, my understanding of the term ‘culture’ has been somewhat changed. Originally going into this class I understood culture as a basic way of life, not looking at the deeper meaning of things. Culture is much more than what I thought, it is the way some choose to worship, or where they choose to worship, celebrate, allow others to pass, deal with the passing of others and the list goes on.

Growing up as a dancer, dance has always been a part of me, whether it be for celebration or for performance. Dance was somewhat of a traditional thing for myself considering both my mother and grandmother danced and this text has helped me get a better understanding as to where my personal dancing traditions originated from,

I have had my fair share of deaths upon friends and family but the one thing I can always remember is my mother referring to doves and a peaceful offering and the text has helped me truly understand what she has always meant by that, “Doves, a symbol of the Holy Spirit and a reference to Jesus’ baptism by John the Baptist, surround the monogram, which indicates the triumph of Christ over death, as two Roman soldiers, present at the crucifixion, sit below” (5). This text hit home for me, especially with the recent death of my great-grandfather, the seeing doves days before or days after a loved one’s passing gives me chills because of the strong symbolism it holds, giving me such peace. Something that also helps give me peace during the passing of others, is being able to say my final goodbye’s to my loved ones, as well as having a place to do so, thanks to the Egyptians. Without the Egyptians developing their way of preparing corpses for burial, we would not have what we know of today as embalming, the preservation of our loved ones that have passed, nor would we look at morgues as a place to do so, or funeral homes a place to say our final goodbye’s, “The art of embalming had reached a proficient level as early as 3000 B.C.E. Egyptians took great pains to ensure a long existence for the corpse, and mortuary buildings became the most important architectural features of the culture, reflecting their role as eternal homes” (1). I never knew how this practice became until this class, at the time others may have looked at the Egyptians as morbid people, but this tradition has now turned into something that no one hardly questions and that I personally am thankful