Petrina

3. Name some rituals, activities, traditions and material artifacts that define your own culture.

Well with Euro 2012 starting this past week (Friday)I have a chance to catch up with some of my English roots. Being born in London, I have this need to to watch football. I will wear my England jersey and purchase the 2012 cap. I will watch the England matches with friends and family. I will drink a few pints. Having married a women with Dutch heritage, I will also cheer for the "Oranje" (who lost yesterday :( ). I will also eat bangers and mash.

For myself the World Cup or Euro Championship is a way that I can touch base with the English culture which I was born into and lived in until I was seven. The current Euro will be exciting, as I can use technology (Skype, Facebook, etc) to connect real-time with my family and friends in the UK while the match is being played. This ability to share, communicate, and revisit the culture I was born into is something I look forward to over the next month.

Hello Dominic,

I love your comments,thanks for sharing your English heritage rituals with us:) I've never heard of Bangers and Mash. Sound like you might have to chase them down with a pint!

Cheers

Donna

Hi Donna,

I wish I could say Bangers and Mash was a special dish, but alas it does not. It translates into sausages and mashed potatoes.

I will have to look up why sausages are called bangers, I have just always known them as such. Goes to show you how we really are not truly aware or our own cultures. Hmmmmmmmmmm, food for thought :).

Hi Dominic,

I completely understand where you are coming from interms of the "need" to get into football when the EuroCup is on. I felt this same football fever when I was working in Berlin during the last FIFA cup and Germany was in the running to make it to the finals. Even though I had always felt like an outsider to the German culture, because I had very limited language use and I also wasn't very "German" in terms of my attitude - when FIFA came to town, as long as you were dressed in the team colours and tooting a vuvuzela you were part of the game, part of the team and part of the football culture! It was great and I was so glad to have been a part of it while I was there. It was a culturally-defining moment for Germans as well, because one of my colleagues said that it was after a long time that Germans had stood up with pride and sang along to their national anthem.