Think about the stories youu have been told by your parents and grandparents, advice , stories andThe students' comments are posted below the poem. A student who gave his/her name in Chinese characters posted this:
rules you have been given to live by (especially if the rules were not
explained... see [stanza or paragraph] #5 in the poem). List as many stories, advice, rules as you can think of and write them down ...
When I was a child, elders ever told to me at the dinner table about that I should make away with rices in my bowl, or I will marry a cat-wife. I didn't ask them why they speaked so in that time, but now I realize that rice is what to them that the effort of hard working all years without rest, so we shouldn't squander it and we should treat it as precious.I'm not sure what a "cat-wife" is (and Google wasn't any help). But it sounds like a folk tale about kids who didn't clean up their plates and married cats. Click on some of the other comments, and see what Chinese children are told by their grandparents.
How does the Chinese lore compare to the traditions in the poems by Tapahonso and Duane BigEagle we have read. How do all three compare to what you were taught from your grandparents? (My grandfather, for example, taught me the only kind of poker men ever played was five-card draw, and only girls and wimps ever called a hand with wild cards. I'm not sure what he would have thought about watching Texas hold'em games on television, but I think it's probably a good thing he didn't live to see it.) How do traditions, values, etc., handed down in families differ from those of popular culture?
12 comments:
In popular culture there is little storytelling that is based on traditions. Movies and songs don’t relate time honored traditions. They tell a marketable story that was designed to appeal to a designated demographic. It is done for pure profit and personal gain. Our elders had nothing to gain by telling us their stories/superstitions/traditions/beliefs. It was their desire to share knowledge and experience that prompted the telling. They weren’t paid to say that it is rude to eat with your elbows on the table. Popular culture only shares what we will pay for. It is not done in our best interest to help us learn a lesson or a particular value.
My grandparents were never really part of my upbringing. However, I think that the values they instilled on my parents were passed down to me. Values such as putting family above all, being respectful to everyone, being kind to everyone. They may sound childish, but if everyone took into consideration these three small values, I think we would live in a much different place. Now, kids just learn what they see on TV. Parents get sick of their children so they stick them in front of the television which has to be working wonders on the brain. I think today's culture could afford to look back at the past and see what has worked before.
My grandparents came from a very different upbringing in Italy my grandfather had to get a job at 9 year old to provide for his younger siblings because of his dad passing away. One value that he has always taught me is to put family first and everyone deserves a chance to be a good person, and give them that chance untill they prove otherwise.
My grandparents were a big part of my upbringing. But i think my parents gave me all the value. They showed me how to be polite, and respectful.
I think that the Chinese have similar values and superstitions as some here in the US. However, there are some differences. Some things in the students’ comments were a bit strange. The whole cat-wife thing, never pointing at the moon, pregnant women can never use scissors or their male baby will turn into a female; these things actually seem kind of ridiculous to me. Some of them are totally out of the norm and make no sense. It is true that the Chinese lore is similar to Luci Tapahonso and Duane BigEagle’s writing because they are describing their traditions and what is normal for them. These things aren’t universal across all cultures, but every culture has the right to their own traditions. All three do not compare to what I have been told by my grandparents. One set of grandparents were dead by the time I was 2 and I am not close with the other set. However, other family members definitely shared little superstitions and traditions such as the mirror breaking, black cats crossing your path, and judging people which will only turn against you in the future.
My grandparents always taught me to respect my siblings, and take care of those who needed to be taken care of. Growing up, I had great grandparents who needed to be helped with everyday things. They taught me to be one that will volunteer and give my help to the needy. They not only taught me to help with just family, but in cases where people needed it most, especially in times of disasters where you can volunteer your time, food, or clothing. They also taught me to value family. We only have so much time together and we want to respect that time and make the most of it.
The Chinese poem has different views of what we think. But there are some similarities. When the Chinese was talking about the rice bowl, they were viewing it as what they have done to earn that. That rice bowl that they have is something that they should cherish and not abuse because it takes work to get things like that, and food is an essential thing to have. That is the same view of what i think too. I think of food as one of the main sources that i work for. I try to eat all my food and never waste anything. But everyone's traditions and values that are handed down are always going to be different from other cultures. Each and every family is unique and think different ways.
I personally think that popular culture does influence traditions passed down from generation to generation. It might add a new twist or new type of story to the past stories to make them more suitable for today's generation. Popular culture today cannot sit around a campfire and tell stories without having a tv or something to entertain them. So, to be more entertaining, popular culture updates the past by making it suitable or exciting for the youth today. Yes, there is profit made from it, but isn't that what the world is based around- getting ahead by making a profit? Someone has to earn the money from it...
Many traditions that are handed down in families mean something special to that family. Otherwise they most likely wouldn’t have lasted as long as they have. Traditions in families I think help hold families together. Especially when the family is in the time of need. I do see many differences in today society and values than those of even 30 some years ago. Families then seemed to be tighter, but now everyone is busy doing their own thing no time for sit down dinners or even dinner on Sunday with the whole family. That even goes to show that people in today’s society are ruder than ever. Back in the day no one was rude if you needed a hand you could ask your neighbor now if you asked or neighbor something you could run the risk of being shot or something. If you asked me I would have to say people are losing touch with their families and their own customs and values. People just don’t seem to take time a realize that they are letting a part of their families traditions and values slip down the drain. Parents today really don’t ask their children how school was today. That is if they see their child that day. Or what about dinner every night with the family. People are losing touch with what is really important in life.
The traditions, values, ect., handed down to us by are families don’t differ to much from other cultures. As I grew up I never had any grandparents around but I believe what they had brought my parents up to do and believe they had taught me. Such has family should always come first. I believe that what we believe might happen if you do something like those traditions. Now in the up bring of kids they listen more to what they see on the TV than what their parents are bring them up to be. So there are similarities and there are differences of the same traditions, but it needs to be more like the past than it is now.
My family really doesn't tell me of any family traditions. The traditions that are passed down to me are highly different, like baseball. I think this goes with much of our popular culture. Many values are taught to me, and I believe we don't respect nature nearly as much as they did. But some common values that are simliar are to respect other, respect your elders, use manners, and such.
My grandparents were a small part of my upbringing, since I was their first grandchild, they offered my parents tips from what they did with them when they were babies. Their upbringings and pastimes can often help us here in the present.
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