Unit 2
What is culture?
Journal #9
 How
would you define culture/ How does
culture enrich my life?
 Watch
 Baraka
Baraka
Journal #10
 What
pressure do you experience to
follow the trends, the language, the
codes of conduct of your peers?
Defining “Culture”:
 Culture
is something that is difficult to
define because it encompasses many
aspects of our day to day living.

 CULTURE
is a set of meanings,
beliefs, values and rules for living
shared by groups and societies as
the source of their identity.
Seven Characteristics of
Culture
1.
Humans create culture:
 Culture
distinguishes us from the rest
of nature.
 Only humans have culture.
Seven Characteristics of
Culture
2.


Culture consists of ways of doing
things:
It is not about the actions, but about how we
do those actions and the meanings and
beliefs about how things should be done.
Culture is a set of values about things we do
everyday, such as driving cars, opening doors
or going to the movies.
Seven Characteristics of
Culture
3.
Culture is public:
 Culture
is about how we as a
community of people do things.
 It is not private; it is public.
 Ex: Media; parades; sporting events
Seven Characteristics of
Culture
4.
Culture arises from tradition:
 Many
of the ways we do things, we got
from our parents / ancestors.
 Some of these traditions go back
hundreds or thousands of years.
 Ex: Family traditions; sports traditions;
Catholic Mass
Seven Characteristics of
Culture
5.



Culture is made up of rule-governed
actions:
Because the way we do things comes from tradition,
we feel that we have a duty to keep them that way.
The traditions function like rules.
Ex: Catholic Mass; family dinners; Super Bowl /
Stanley Cup Playoffs
Seven Characteristics of
Culture
6.
Culture becomes established in
institutions:

Over time, our way of doing things becomes
established in a set and familiar way.
Actions are linked together to form a
“system” of doing things. We sometimes call
these systems institutions (i.e. institution of
family).
Ex: School, Parish, Youth Group, Soccer Team


Seven Characteristics of
Culture
7.



Culture gives us our identity:
The way we do things gives us a sense of our
cultural identity.
The way we do things in Canada is different
from the way things are done in other
countries.
Ex: Italian-Canadian, Catholic, hockey player
Assignment #8
I
am Canadian
Journal #11
 Which
of the media, in your opinion, most
influences youth culture (radio, music,
television, internet, magazines,
newspapers, movies, other)?
 To which do you give the most time?
Journal #12
 What
is the meaning of the saying, “Who
informs you, forms you”?
 How can you avoid being manipulated
by the media?
Journal #13
 What
do you think Jesus would say to our
culture about our preoccupation with the
rights of the individual?
Signs
 Signs
are objects or gestures that express
one specific message or meaning.
 Of example, a stop sign means “ stop”
and nothing else
Symbols
 Objects
or gestures that have different
associations than what they literally are.
 For example, rose, cross, heart all
represent love
What can symbols do?
 Symbols
help us to search for the deeper
significance and levels of meaning
 Symbols are intimately linked with what
they represent
 Symbols speak to us in powerful and
personal ways
 Symbols touch our hearts as well as our
heads
 Symbols are doorways to the sacred.
Why do we need symbols?
 Words
alone are not enough to describe
the desires, fears and emotions that touch
us deeply.
 Words/feelings/ideas that are intangible
(hard to describe) are associated with
something that is tangible (easily
recognized)
 For example, a flower can represent love,
friendship, beauty or new life.
 Do
assignment #9
Journal #14
 How
can my understanding of signs,
symbols and rituals increase my
satisfaction of belonging to various
cultural groups?
Journal #15
 What
do you think the Church should do
to be relevant to young people?
Journal #16
 Many
popular movies and games have
spiritual themes or religious overtones.
Why do you think this is so?
 Are we humans, by nature, religious? Why
or why not?
Journal #17
 What
are some of your everyday rituals?
 How effective are your rituals in getting
everyday things done?
Rituals
 Rituals
are symbolic actions that help us
physically express our values and deepest
concerns
 Ritual usually involves actions that have
meaning while a routine is any set of
actions done on a regular basis
What do rituals look like?
 Rituals
can be simple (handshake, wave)
or complex (catholic mass)
 Rituals help us to express those things that
are hard to express any other way (the
sacrament of marriage)
 Rituals celebrate special occasions, either
personal or as a community (birthdays,
weddings or holidays)
How are rituals a part of our
lives?
 On
many occasions in life, such important
changes take place that we need to
mark them:
Birth
Coming of Age
Adulthood
Death
Baptism
Confirmation
Marriage
Funeral
Life’s event
Symbol
Ritual
Name of Rite
Birth Death
and life
experience
Touch, water
Signing with cross Saying of Creed
Immersion in water in the name of
Trinity Anointing with Holy Spirit
Rite of welcome
Baptism
Passage to
maturity,
initiation into
the Church
Oil Touch
through laying
on of hands
Being made part of the Eucharistic
community sealed with the Holy Spirit
Confirmation
Growth in Maturity
Bread and wine
Praising/ thanking God, receiving
Communion
Eucharist
Sin/Spiritual
immaturity.
Touch
Proclamation of forgiveness
Reconciliation/
Confession
Beginning
marriage
Touch
Ring/Embrace
Exchange of promise and sexual
Expression
Marriage
Service to
leadership
Oil/Laying on
of hands
Calling on the Holy Spirit to give priestly
Office
Ordination to
Holy Orders
(deacon, priest,
bishop)
Sickness/death
Oil, laying on
of hands
(touch)
Anointing the sick person;
invocation of baptism and
death of Jesus
Sacrament of
the sick
(Healing).
Assignment #10
Journal #18
 What
role does religion play in culture?
 How can I discover more about the
impact of religion on the life of my
community?
Religion in culture
 Religion
is a system of symbols and rituals.
We form powerful beliefs, values,
meanings and practices around these
symbols and rituals about who we are in
relationship to God.
Religious symbols
 Symbols
reveal the bond between us and
the sacred. Religious symbols include
things like the stars, the earth, cedar
branches, smoke, oil and water. We use
these things to represent immensity,
power, growth, birth, cleansing,
communion and so on. These symbols
manifest the sacred when they are
accompanied by rituals and words
Religious rituals
 Religious
rituals have the power to open
up new ways of living and
communicating with a power and energy
that is higher and deeper than our own
Liturgy
 In
the Catholic tradition, liturgy is the
Church’s official act of worship. In liturgy,
God interacts with us in the various
situations of our lives. All liturgical rites use
Christian symbols and rites to “retell” or
“remember” the person of Jesus,
particularly his death and resurrection.
Transcendence
 Religious
experience has to do with our
relationship with a God whom we cannot
see, hear, taste, smell and touch. That is,
God is beyond, or transcends, our usual
physical experience.
Secular
 Worldly,
not religious or sacred; living in
the world. To secularize is to make worldly,
separate from religious connection or
influence.
 Watch
My Big Fat Greek Wedding
 Do assignment #11 as you watch.
Journal #19
 What
does culture look and sound like?
 What role does religion play in culture?
 Do
review unit 2, test tomorrow
 Class
celebration = group 2