Traditional cultural expressions include tangible and intangible items unique to a specific culture, including everything from visual and performing art forms to religious ceremonies and architecture. It was not until I realized that wearing or using the cultural expressions from other societies often constituted cultural appropriation that I began to examine my own cultural expressions more critically. For example, for non-native people to wear moccasins is a form of cultural appropriation by taking traditional cultural expressions and taking them completely out of context. As Franklin (2016) also points out, some indigenous cultures perform dances or music in front of tourists with potentially problematic results. Yet cultural expressions are one of the most important ways of retaining the core elements of a traditional culture, helping societies to pass on their knowledge, wisdom, and traditions to future generations. Cultural expressions also allow members of a society to communicate and share the beauty of their culture with others. The three cultural expressions I would like to discuss in light of my own personal background include food, art, and religious ritual.
Food is sometimes a neglected cultural expression, but in my household, food traditions occupy a unique role. My grandmother used to make blintzes every Sunday morning, and we also ate challah every Friday night. Because we grew up in a Jewish neighborhood, our food cultural expressions were things we took for granted until we encountered people from other cultures who ate different...
Other foods that we learned to associate with our culture included shakshuga, an egg dish, humus, bagels, and brisket. When I see these types of food being served, they are usually presented as being Jewish foods, but some of them have become divorced from their cultural origins in the same way that moccasins are sometimes taken out of their cultural context. Therefore, I believe it is important to recognize the cultural value of food and to acknowledge the people that have passed on these recipes. In my family, my grandmother passed on many of the recipes given to her by her grandmother before her. She used to say that tradition was important and that food was an expression of love, which was why she held on to these recipes and continued to make them even if it was not a special occasion. The traditional foods we ate were sometimes consumed on Jewish holidays, or for the Shabbat dinner, linking food to other cultural expressions like religious ritual.
Religious rituals are one of the most important cultural expressions to the Jewish people. I believe that the religious rituals are less about mysticism, theology, or spirituality than they are about community. The rituals bring together different members of the family, and almost all the religious rituals focus on food. Even Yom Kippur, the day of fasting and atonement, eventually ends and people will eat together. All Jewish people interested in preserving their cultural heritage may participate in the religious rituals, even if they do not necessarily feel superstitious about the…
