The challenge of keeping a national identity as a subculture in some countries is most evident in connection with special events such as transition rites. For instance, the coming of age is such an event. No culture remains unchanged without steady efforts by its subjects to keep and reaffirm it. However, cultures do not survive only by being maintained. This is so because in the globe where all things change; culture has also changed. However, the continuity and changes of the subculture are currently at stake. The humanities help people to understand their place in the earth via ages to a current time. It focuses on the art, social and religious activities of an individual, which is based on western tradition. To get a clear picture of the belief on the humanity legacy of the past, it is vital to experience the current culture and focus on its relation to the humanities traditions of the past. Therefore, the paper focuses on the cultural events that have influenced our past and present life. I will evaluate the two wedding events as two cultural events that relate to the humanities. This special events concern the life cycle and critical events, but the personal turning points are about the special significance.
In the pop culture, the ceremony of transition that has received the most attention is the wedding. The weddings are mainly considered in many cultures as an important event in the life of the individual and society as rites of passage. I was able to watch the production of culture in the contemporary wedding of the royal family. The royal wedding between the Prince Williams and Catherine in 2011 was the most anticipated wedding. This cultural event engendered renewed global interest in the rites, rituals and rules of the British Monarchy (Gary, 2011). The event received widespread media coverage and global attention. In Britain, the wedding was celebrated with a public holiday and the minting of a special five-pound coin. Many towns and villages held street parties to celebrate this cultural event. Moreover, the Commonwealth countries issued commemorative stamps to mark the event.
The groom was dressed in the uniform of bedecked with medals. The bride carried the flowers that contained sprigs of myrtle, cut like that used by Queen Victoria. The royal wedding event has taken same pattern until the 19th century from which it has changed significantly has demonstrated in the prince Williams wedding event. The royal wedding event takes place in the Westminster Abbey for over 1000-year history (Gary, 2011). However, before the world war the wedding events took place in private in royal chapels. For the decades, the royal weddings have been marked with grand processions with street decorations and parties. This was the strong method of enabling common citizens to share in the royal ceremony. The wedding event was marked with the great feast that demonstrates the wealth and power of the royal family. For instance, very ornamented foods like gilded peacocks were extremely common on the medieval tables (Charsley, 2001).
The wedding events have been there since the creation of the kingdom. The wedding event varies from one culture to another. The royal wedding in Great Britain is an example how this cultural event should be put into proper historical context. The recent wedding in the royal family was demonstrated as up-market soap opera because it did not demonstrate the historical context of weddings in the Great British. The wedding event of Prince William demonstrates the dramatic change in loyal weddings. This wedding was significantly different For instance, some societies beliefs on issues of witness, responsibility and performance as part of marriage rituals.
However, the change of culture has led to imposing elements in the modern wedding events such as the use of cake. Similarly, the national mood of celebration has completely compared to that reflected on the 1000 years ago. For instance, in the royal wedding of Prince Williams there was no national identity has it was expected from a royal wedding. This is so because of the cultural diversity that has also influenced the lifestyle and culture of the royal family. Similarly, the western culture has managed to influence every aspect of the royal wedding. For instance, the dress used by the Cate demonstrates the western influence on the fashion because it was entirely different from those used by various queens 1000 years ago.
Similarly, the royal wedding has influenced several wedding events in various societies. For instance, the wedding cake and icing demonstrate in the royal wedding is still done in Scotland (Charsley, 2000). The customs of Scotland belief in transferring favors via wedding cakes. Similarly, the cake has changed from celebratory loaves of bread, creation of icing on distinctive cakes used in the modern weddings.
The contemporary wedding of Japanese has some similar and different traits of the royal wedding of Prince Williams. Cate was dressed by a British designer with a modern dress while the Japanese bride starts with the girl being dressed in many-layered traditional Japanese outfit. The Japanese girl dresses with complete with a heavy wig in a traditional style and the customary white, mask-like makeup (Goldstein-Gidoni, 2001). The bride keeps on changing the outfit as well as fulfilling their carefully assigned tasks in the wedding program. The two wedding rites performed during these cultural events as well as food is extremely different.
This wedding was similar to that of Prince Williams because it demonstrated a combination of traditional-Japanese and western elements. This is so because the wedding industry is being involved in the production of tradition and culture for profit that has gone against the cultural identity in contemporary societies. This is so because the wedding is concerned with the question of family, marriage and gender constructions which have great influence on the rituals that will be included in the event. Therefore, the bride, groom and families are regarded as actively involved in this cultural event. Since the wedding is an event in which cultural identity is being constructed, wedding events have changed significantly in most societies.
In a recap, the two wedding events demonstrate the cultural events that focus on the relation to the humanistic traditions of the past. This is so because the humanities help people to understand their place in the earth via ages to the current time. These weddings focus on the art, social and religious activities of an individual, which is mostly marked by the western tradition. The wedding events demonstrate there is a great challenge in keeping a national identity because culture diversity in most countries. Similarly, this event is the most evident on how humanity connects with special events such as transition rites. Finally, the cultural diversity is what makes one cultural event to influence another.
References
Charsley, S. (2000). Rites of Marrying: The Wedding Industry in Scotland. Manchester
and New York: Manchester University Press.
.Charsley, S. (2001). “The Rise of the British Wedding Cake”Natural History, Vol. 102 Issue 12, p58.
Gary, Y. (2011). “The Royal Wedding Is a Class Act.” Nation, Vol. 292 Issue 19, p10-10.
Goldstein-Gidoni, O. (2001). Packaged Japaneseness: Weddings, Business and Brides.
London and Honolulu: Curzon Press and Hawaii University Press.
