International Culture Exchange!! Come here to share!!

[Jsy3k]

Well, I noticed that we have quite a lot of people in a lot of cities around the world. It is very incredible and sometimes, I learnt a lot of different cultures from different countries and sometimes, even they are in the same country, the culture may be completely different.

I'm creating this topic so that people can share their own countries' cultures and customs and share it to us in this thread. Hope that we can have fun sharing it and also some may enjoy reading and in the end, knew more of the culture of other countries.

Please state your country and then tell us the stories about any unique or maybe common cultures that maybe some of us did not even know. Well, happy sharing, people.

Well, maybe I will start first.

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I'm actually an Indonesian, but living in Singapore currently. I will talk more about my country of birth: Indonesia.

Indonesia has a lot of different cultures. We have quite a lot of cultures in Indonesia since there are more than 13,000 islands in Indonesia herself. Only around 600-700+ islands (if I'm not wrong) are discovered and reached by Indonesians and other nationalities. I will talk about one ceremony in Bali called "Ngaben".

Ngaben or the Cremation Ceremony is the ritual performed to send the dead through the transition to his next life. The village Kul Kul, hanging in the tower of the village temple, will sound a certain beat to announce the departure of the deceased. The body of the deceased will be placed at Bale Delod, as if he were sleeping, and the family will continue to treat him as if he were still alive yet sleeping. No tears are shed, for he is only gone temporarily and he will reincarnate into the family.

The Priest consults the Dewasa to determine the proper day for the ceremony. On the day of the ceremony, the body of the deceased is placed inside a coffin which is then placed inside a sarcophagus in the form of a buffalo (called Lembu) or a temple structure called Wadah made of paper and light wood. The Wadah will be carried to the village cremation site in a procession.

The climax of Ngaben is the burning of the Wadah, using fire originating from a holy source. The deceased is sent to his afterlife, to be reincarnated in the future.

(from www.indo.com)

If you want to see the picture about the ceremony, Click here. They have a vast collection of the ceremony photograph.
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Innocent Tranquility

The Smile that defies all thoughts of rationality[/

[rag_gurl]

Well most people never heard of my culture which is hmong, and no we are not from Mongolia. Honestly I don know where we first originated but there was a theory that we we once traveled though europe and then went to asia. That's why sometimes a child in Laos or Thailand would be born with european traits like the blond hair or blue eyes, which I think is really cool, a blue eyed asian, wow. But I think our ancestors might of been chinese.

We were also spies for America in the Vietnam War, and my gosh the stories that my parents tell me about back then are so gross, my gosh. It was pretty sad how my people lived cuz after the war we were left to live in the jungles for about I dont know 10 years or so and then finally we got our break. My parents came to America in I think 1984 and a few years after that they had me.

We believe in Shaman, where a person can contact the after life. We still preform the ritual here in the US, but im not a really big believer of it, it just waste a lot of money, cuz you have to go buy a pig, chickens or a cow which uses a lot of money. Most kids and myself are losing our culture because we were never born in the other country so we never learned to appreiciate our own culture. It's such a shame.

Well that's all I have to say about my culture and I hope all you guys who read this will learn a little bit about me.

[CGY]

Chinese in Canada. Prefer to say something about China.

As you all know, we got 1.3 billion Chinese in China, the country with the most population in the world. Governed by one party, the Communists, and is the third largest nation in the world. 56 different races through the country, and more than hundreds of different dialects. Farmers counts as most of the population, and the poorest of all of them. For the riches, we have some of the richest in the world, and for the poors, some of the poorest of all, with an average earning of about 50 US a year. Unimprovement rate is high, and uneducation rate is also high.

Many things to say, but to lazy to write them all.

[uch1h4_s4suk3]

[rag_gurl]

really. wow, you're like the first person here who has actually heard of hmong people.

[masterful_arno]

ESTONIA

Background:

After centuries of Danish, Swedish, German, and Russian rule, Estonia attained independence in 1918. Forcibly incorporated into the USSR in 1940, it regained its freedom in 1991, with the collapse of the Soviet Union. Since the last Russian troops left in 1994, Estonia has been free to promote economic and political ties with Western Europe. It joined both NATO and the EU in the spring of 2004.

Location:
Definition Field Listing
Eastern Europe, bordering the Baltic Sea and Gulf of Finland, between Latvia and Russia
population is about 1.5 million

well dont know what to write here like this....hmm...lot of countryes call it the youth country or something....

heres more info
http://www.estonica.org/eng/teema.html?kateg=41


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now im gonna criticise the thread uner me about finland that says they have the second best school sytem, i lived there and studyed...its UTTER CRAP...nufsaid
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for some reason i havent thought that any anime i have seen isnt bad...

[fray_quantum]

wow

[free_fighter]

I'm also an indonesian. In Jogjakarta, a kraton, or a palace was built. It was actually meant for the Mataram kingdom, and still is. But they too are a part of Indonesia and doesnt have any special privilege... Well, maybe there is some, like being treated by the public to the equivalent of celebrities. But there still is a king who resides there. And also, without no doubt, the Borobudur. I think its self-explanatory.
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Life is what you make it to be, not what it makes you to be.

[Chirai]

I'm from Finland, you all have to know our country ^_^. Population is somwhere like 5.5 million, if i remember right. Land of thousands lakes, between Sweden and Russia.

History goes like (you all must be intrested...) first this was part of Sweden, then at 1800-century moved to Russia, and at year 1917 got independet. Lalalaa, then we have just been, or not. Never have been so good at history that i cound remeber everything. We have a president, Tarja Halonen. For those who really are interested, shes woman. For me as a somekinda feminist, it is nice thing.

Education system is second best in the world as you know. I dunno how it is so, but. Someone told me that it is becouse we have as much good students, as much bad students, but those in the middle are better than others have. So it is not about education, is it becous us \o/. Students i mean.

Im kinda pround of our land - it has somekind of history if you want to study it (hah, my explanation is not so good...), our nature is wonderful (i show you some more pics after some weeks i go to our lapland to have a haik), our language is pretty hard for those who are not finnish (is it some reason to be proud?), and everything. Yeah.

Im just so lazy. Go and have a look at these. Reality those are backgrounds, but they are photos also ^_^. Just klick those links under them and they got bigger. Nah, i guess you can do it ^____^.

[Jsy3k]

Wow, quite interesting cultures and never heard of some of them here, esp. some like hmong and Finland.

Well, I'm going to talk about one ceremony in Singapore called Thaipusam. Even though I am an Indonesian, but I have stayed in Singapore for over 8 years and I find this ceremony quite interesting, but at the same time, can send chill off your spine.

Thaipusam is a Hindu ceremony which is carried out on the 10th Hindu month of Thai (this lies either on last week of January or first week of February). It is actually a birthday ceremony of Lord Subramaniam, the youngest son of Lord Shiva: the most awesome god of Hindu pantheon. Any devotee who wanted to be in the ceremony must follow a very strict fasting, dieting and build up their self-discipline through meditation to purify themselves and also allow themselves to be in trance state so that they could bear the pain.

Why did I say "bear the pain"? It is because they will be pierced by needles and not one body parts, but a lot of them. That also includes tongue and ears. For stronger devotee, they will have to carry a kavadi, a special mini monument which consists of a lot of needles and they are carried by the needles that are pierced through their bodies.

Not only that, they have to travel from one temple in Singapore to another temple 4 km away while carrying their kavadis. After all are done, all the needles are painfully removed in a loud chanting and ashes are used on the wound to make sure infection does not take place.

Thaipusam are also being celebrated in Malaysia and some other countries also. The one described above is how it is celebrated in Singapore.

Some of these pictures are quite graphic. You are warned.

Some pictures of Thaipusam:
Picture of Kavadi
Picture of Kavadi 2
Thaipusam Picture 1
Thaipusam Pciture 2
Thaipusam Picture 3

(Extracted www.nus.edu.sg, www.rainpalm, www.uta.fi, www.mindspring.com, www.trekearth.com for the pictures. All copyrights for these pictures are reserved and any request to remove the picture will be done so on request)
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Innocent Tranquility

The Smile that defies all thoughts of rationality[/

[rag_gurl]

[Jsy3k]

That's not all, rag_gurl. The main problem is even though they are pierced, they do not even once bled when the needles are pierced. I can say that they are really in trance mode when they are pierced.

Hey, anymore interesting cultures about the hmong people, rag_gurl? I never heard much of the hmongs. Any good and unique cultures? I'm really curious about it.
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Innocent Tranquility

The Smile that defies all thoughts of rationality[/

[0ni-]

im half asian and half dutch (i know weird combination, but true) my mother from holland and my father from taiwan..that s basically all i know even tho we have families in taiwan and i actually went there twice before but never really learned much about the place

i actually have the asian hair (really straight) but something about my hair color, before my hair was pitch plack but now when u look at my hair under the sunlight u can see a sorta redish color under the black and it wasnt as dark as before..strange huh?

born and raised in the USA ~ currently in west palm beach florida
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If a quiz is quizzical, what is a test?

[theone06]

So I guess I'm the only one from Jamaica here!
We are that small island south of Cuba, you know the one were Bob Marley comes from and also Shaggy and Shawn-Paul. We are nice ppl who contrary to popular belief are not violent (im a passivist), not all of us are rastas (very few are) and dont have perfect teeth that shine like well polished ivory in the tropical sun. Now that we got that out of the way:
Jamaica is a former British colony (the Queen is still the head of state tho).
We are mostly black ppl but really there are so many mixed and remixed ppl that we call everyone black, there are a few East Indians, and some Asians (last time i was home the asian community had grown much larger) very few white ppl but we dont care cuz it dont matter your skin as long as your jamaican we will love you or hate you like any other jamaican. Jamaica is a beautiful country blessed with lush vegitation and great history. Jamaican men love women and jamaican women love money (but then doesnt everybody). I encourage you to visit sometime you wont reget it.
Oh and B4 I forget. It true all Jamaican men are well endowed (Ps Im a Jamaican male ladies) LOL

[Bowser]

Well i'm British and live in England (the country of yobs and hoolagans).
I'm actualy part french and south african, but born and raised in the UK.

I live in London, its a great city with a great clash of cultures. It has the usual consumer stuff like Starbucks and Nike shops and also the stereotypical shops/restorants like Fish and chips and small caffs.

For the moment the domenent religion is Protestants, tho there are loads of catholics, Muslims, Orthodox Jews and etc...(like I said, clash of cultures).

The UK currently has a problem with housing, health system and violant crime (tho crime overall has gone down). Money is becoming a big issue, the economy is doing well so prices and living costs have gone up.

Recently their has been problems between Afro-Carrabian communities and Indian communities.

Drinking in UK is legal at 18 years old and opening houres for some pubs/clubs has been extended, so many teenagers have taken up binj-drinking~and this is also becoming a problem~

The great thing about London is that anyone can get a job. No matter where you'r from there will always be a job available for U. Also despite ppl saying that public transport is bad in the city I find this untrue (its just a little expensive).

Anyway, this is all i can remember for the moment, any questions and you ask on Longest Thread ever, i'll usualy be there. Hope i gave a little insight.