Comparing The Ways Different Cultures Celebrated The Summer Solstice

Yin and Yang are fundamental to the understanding of the Chinese religion since they believe that everything goes hand in hand and is never fully one way or another. The symbol represents a sunny and shady side, yet they go hand in hand to complete the circle. This represents in every day both sides will be present to be completed. For example, losing a loved one can hurt however that person gets to move to the next journey. Or it raining on a day off. Even though one might not be able to go out and get some sun on there day off the environment gets rain and plants get nourished, good comes with bad. Even thought many don't like being sad, one must be sad to understand happiness, which is an essential

Like many ancient traditions, the origins of Chinese New Year are rooted in legend. The ancient legend of this holiday says that thousands of years ago, an evil monster named Nian, roughly translated as "year", would come and kill villagers, their children, and destroy the village (Chinese New Year). One year an old man came to the town and he set up red papers and firecrackers in an attempt to get revenge on the Nian, his actions scared the Nian away and spared the town from destruction. From this encounter, the Chinese learned that the Nian was afraid of the color red and loud noises (Chinese New Year). This ancient legend became the foundation of Chinese New Year as people began to hang red lanterns, wear red clothes, and light

In the short film All Summer In a Day, there is a classroom full of children on a planet very similar to Earth. This story is taking place in the future and on a very dismal planet. The sun only shines once a year and only for a couple hours. On this planet it rains all day, every day. All of the children flock together to see the sun when it shines but one kid in particular is very loving of the memory of the sun. All of the children are too young to remember the sunlight except for the one, Margot. Margot was born on Earth and is older than the other children so she remembers the sunlight very faintly. William is jealous that Margot can remember the sun being out and he cannot. Therefore william picks on Margot by bringing her hope down and

Before humans had any knowledge to base their beliefs on, they would find many extreme ways to demonstrate their love for their gods. Many different society's and cultures had a variety of different ways in which they proceeded in doing this. The significance of these acts, is the notorious impact that it has made, today, on our everyday lives. Through worshipping, sacrifices, labor, and preparations for the afterlife, these civilizations set a defined precedent for the way we live our life.

For thousands of years ancestors of ancient China have watched over people. They would protect them and watch over them providing that they pray. People of ancient China used a shrine. The shrine was used to honor the ancestors and ask for luck to come when needed. People of china believed there doors had to face south. They believed that the doors facing south brought good fortune and not misfortune. There are many ancient traditions in china for example Yan-Yat, Yan-Yat is the 7th day after chinese

The Mayans, for example, were another culture that used celestial bodies in their development of their calendar. The Mayans involved the Sun, Moon and the planet Venus in their way of developing their calendars. However, the interesting part of the Mayans was that they developed two different length calendars, with them we received a 260 day and 365-day calendars. The Mayans were also a part of the contribution to the formation of the calendar we use now. A significant part of the Mayan culture was that their calendar will "keep going and keep going for billions, trillions, octillions of years into the future." (Source 3) With the Aztecs, we get what is known as a leap year, because the Aztecs, "adopted a 365 solar day calendar with a leap year occurring every fourth year." For these cultures, it was important to portray time to their people so they could keep records for future generations to

Have you ever been betrayed by someone that you trusted? “The Summer People”, a fairy tale short story written by the author Kelly Link, portrayed the characters in a way that be can be greatly related. Throughout the story, she used several literary elements, such as symbols, allusions, and dictions to help the readers to understand the moral of the story. The main character, Fran, was bonded with the faith to be the caretaker of the summer people, and there is no possible way that she can escape from them. Despite the kindness of her friend, Ophelia, Fran decided to use her to gain freedom from the summer people. Ophelia has always been truthful to Fran, even though Fran bullies her during the beginning of the story. At the end, Ophelia was betrayed by Fran and forced to take over her responsibilities of the summer people. In an e-mail interview conducted by Journal of the Fantastic in the Arts with Kelly Link by the editor, Brian Attebery, explained the style of her writing. Link stated, “The primary goals of fiction — whether it’s fantasy or realism or whatever — are to entertain, to raise or answer question, to unsettle or to comfort, to communicate. The tool set changes. The goal varies too, and that’s independent of genre” (qtd. In Attebery 414). The statement from Link gives the readers that why she decided to write stories like The Summer People, which can be greatly related to realism, because it’s important to understand thing aren’t always going to turn

By definition, the term “Chinese Rites” does not refer to any indigenous Chinese ritual, but to three specific customs. First, periodic ceremonies performed in honor of Confucius, in temples or halls dedicated to the well-respected Chinese philosopher. Second, the veneration of the familial dead, a practice found in every social class and manifested by various forms of piety including prostration, incense burning, food serving, etc. Third, the missionary use of the terms Tian (天 heaven) and Shangdi (上帝 lord of heaven) to convey the Christian concept of God.

In the Northern Hemisphere the summer solstice takes place in June and Winter solstice in the Southern Hemishere. Summer Solstice is the day with the most daylight and is about the twenty first of the month. This is Mid Summer Eve celebration, Lithia, for many people. This day is the official beginning of summer in the northern hemisphere ans winter in the southern hemisphere.

Yang reaches it’s height of influence with the summer solstice. Yang may also be represented by the dragon, the colour blue and a solid line trigram. The Five Elements are discussed in the Great Norm chapter of the Book of History but there is no comparable discussion on Yin-Yang. There are five elements and four seasons, thus the earth becomes assigned to the centre thereby aiding the other elements in the 'rule' of the seasons. This gives us a view of earth as the pivot around which the seasons revolve. However, there are some who assign mid-summer as earth's season and others who say that the mid-month of each season corresponds to

The people throughout the lands still commemorated this event-known around the world as “The Celestial Festival”-the day in which the Gods bestowed the world with magic as they all ascended to their kingdom in the

As explained in World Religions Today, in contemporary culture, the discoveries made through science are usually articulated in the structure of mathematical equations. These mathematical equations serve as proofs of the fundamental truths that the particular science reveals. Analogous to this idea is the symbolism in the Yi-Jing system of East Asian Religions. The symbolization of the Yi-Jing system enriches the conceptualization of the universe as incessantly changing. Within the Yi-Jing system, the yin-yang symbol exemplifies the most familiar representation of these uncovered fundamental truths (Esposito 502-3). In this essay, I intend to explain the meaning of the terms yin and yang and discuss the role they play in Chinese religions generally. Further, I will explain the way in which the symbolism of yin and yang contribute to the Chinese conception of the universe and the way that role is played out in religious practices.

As I had mentioned, Chinese New Year is the longest and most important festivity in the chinese Lunisolar Calendar. Ancient Chinese New Year is a reflection on how the people behaved and what they believed in the most. In the celebration of the Chinese New Year, people

Overall, summer is just a wonderful season with so much to offer. The best thing about this time of the year is that everyone is so happy, whereas, compared to the winter, everyone is

According a popular myth, the origin of this day lies in the fight against Nian, a beast in Chinese mythology. The beast would visit cities and eat cattle, crops, and even people. In order for families to protect themselves from the beast, they would place food at their doorsteps so that the beast would not harm them. One day during a family dinner, the family noticed how the beast was startled by seeing the color red. Word of this spread to other friends and family. Soon, from then on, on the first day of every New Year, people would hang red paper lanterns and other red objects to scare off the beast. They would also light bamboo stalks in order to scare the beast away. After some time, the beast stop coming to the city all together. However, by this time relatives and family had already adopted the habit of getting together to protect each other from the beast.