Tag: culturaldiversity

Inconic Festivals Around the World

Festivals happen all over the world and exploring them can be an extraordinary experience for anyone who enjoys culture and art. The following list includes some of the most colourful, amazing festivals which are celebrated in different places around the world.

THE YI PENG LANTERN FESTIVAL, THAILAND

The Yi Peng lantern festival is a very unique kind of festival celebrated in Northern Thailand during a full moon light. It was traditionally celebrated as a festival to mark the end of the monsoon season. It is a spectacular sight to see thousands of sky lanterns floating in the sky and beautiful flowers floating on the Ping river.

HOLI, INDIA

Holi, also known as the festival of colours, is mostly celebrated by Indians during Spring. During the festival people play with colours and engage in dance, music and festivities. It also represents the arrival of ‘Basanta’ or Spring. The traditional festival includes fun filled games and water gun fights.

WINTER LIGHTS FESTIVAL, JAPAN

This is one of the illumination festivals which one must attend. The incredible Winter Light festival takes place in a park in Kuwana City of Japan during November to March. Attracting thousands of tourists, the festival is one of Japan’s finest illuminations. The park also has a variety of restaurants.

GOLDEN RETRIEVER FESTIVAL, SCOTLAND

Known as one of the happiest places on Earth, the Golden Retriever Festival is organized by the Golden Retriever Club of Scotland. It is a mass gathering of Golden Retrievers along with dog lovers in the ancestral home of the breed in a Scottish Village. In 2018, the celebration of the 150th anniversary of the breed was done with the gathering of about 360 Retrievers.

ALBUQUERQUE BALLOON FIESTA, USA

The biggest hot air balloon festival in the world, Albuquerque balloon fiesta is  a nine day long event held in New Mexico during early October. Guests have the rare opportunity of seeing the inflation and take off of around 600 colourful hot air balloons. It is the most photographed event in the world.

LA TOMATINA FESTIVAL, SPAIN

The La Tomatina Festival is held on the last wednesday of August on the streets of Bunol town in Spain. It is a fun event where participants from all around the world throw squashed tomatoes at each other. The week long festival is also famous for its parades, fireworks, music and dance. The tomatoes are provided to the participants before the start of the event. In order to maintain safety participants are encouraged to wear goggles and water trucks are placed across streets.

FLORIDA KEYS UNDERWATER MUSIC FESTIVAL, USA

The festival is usually celebrated to draw attention to the conservation of the coral reef. It is a wonderful festival for divers and music lovers. The festival takes place in a sand area near the coral reef. Hundreds of divers and underwater musicians play songs on the theme of Ocean. It is being celebrated every year for the last 25 years.

ICE AND SNOW SCULPTURE FESTIVAL, CHINA

The Harbin ice and snow festival takes place during the month of January in Harbin of Heilongjiang province of China. Attracting thousands of tourists it features an international competition of ice sculptures and illuminated snow block buildings. Multicoloured lights illuminate the ice and snow formations creating a spectacular sight at night. Artists who construct the ice sculptures use ice from the frozen Songhua river.

OKTOBERFEST, GERMANY

The largest funfair in the world, Oktoberfest takes place from the end of September to beginning of October in Munich City of Germany. The festival attracting around 6 million people around the world includes amusement rides and traditional food. 6 breweries around Munich serve around 7 million litres of beer every year.

Cultural Diversity!

Cultural diversity can be explained as the presence of different cultures within a social system, which differ in values, norms and behavior and encompasses different ways of thinking, managing, and communicating. It is important because a country, workplaces, and schools increasingly consist of various cultural, racial, and ethnic groups and hence makes a country stronger and better able to compete in the new global economy . People from diverse cultures bring language skills, new ways of thinking, creative solutions to difficult problems and negotiating skills.

Cultures are created through communication which is considered to be the means of human interaction through which cultural characteristics are created and shared. In every culture there are basic standards for social interaction such as personal space distance, eye contact, amount of body language displayed in public, negotiating style etc. Culture is very important because it covers many different parts of human life. It is directly related to the human experiences regardless of gender, age and race. It forms people’s everyday life, their views, lifestyles, basic assumptions, their perceptions and above all, the culture shapes the individuals’ relationship.People express their culture through the values they possess about life and the world around them which in turn affects their reasoning in what behaviors suits to certain situations. Learning about another culture does not necessarily mean that one must internalize the norms of another culture and accept them. It provides a channel to learn how to manage the cross-cultural conflicts and helps people understand different perspectives within the world in which they live, and helps eliminate negative stereotypes and personal biases about different groups.

Diversity is a concept that counters discrimination and embraces the inclusion of people with various experiences and backgrounds such education, parental status, geographic location, language, and culture. It is also about learning from others, providing support and respect to those with similar and different experiences.

Culture is a way of regarding and living life that is shared by members of a social group and that is passed on to people from the previous generation. More specific, culture consists of ways to behave and value aspects in life and is derived from the social environment where people grew up. Due to globalization and labor migration the presence of diversity in society and in organizations has accelerated the process cultural diversity further. Therefore it is evident that cultural diversity is becoming an unavoidable factor in many areas.

To support cultural diversity in our workplace or at school, we can increase our level of understanding about other cultures by interacting with people outside our culture, be proactive in listening, accepting, and welcoming people and ideas that are different from your own, avoid imposing values on others that may conflict or be inconsistent with cultures other than your own , intervene in an appropriate manner when you observe others engaging in behavior that show cultural insensitivity or bias and advocate for the representation of various cultural groups within the local community and the society in general.

As diversity keeps growing globally, cultural diversity should be embraced as it acknowledges and values various cultural ideas, encourages contributions from all groups, recognizes and respects diversity, people are empowered to achieve their full potential and differences are celebrated.