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Final Project

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Gawai Dayak and Chinese New Years: Today I will be comparing Gawai Dayak, celebrated in Borneo, Malaysia, and Chinese New Year, celebrated throughout China. What is Gawai Dayak?: Gawai is a celebration of good rice harvest for the people of the Iban and Bidayuh tribes. It's celebrated on June 1st and lasts just one day. I am most familiar with how my family celebrates Gawai as Bidayuhs in Sarawak, Malaysia. Traditional Dress: A similarity in Chinese New Years and Gawai is that both have their own traditional dress. For Bidayuhs they wear a bojuh bolih which is only worn to celebrate Gawai by the women. There are three colors essential to every bojuh bolih: black, red and metallic colors such as gold or silver. Black represents waiting for the rice harvest, red represents healthy rice crop and metallic colors represents spirituality. The hat worn is for protection from tapans. Similarly cheongsams are worn for Chinese New Years along with other important events. Cheongsams ...
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Chinese New Year

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https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2018/02/16/586285104 /chinese-new-year-plays-out-differently-for-the-haves-and-have-nots When many people think of Chinese culture one of the first things that comes to mind is Chinese New Years. Another majority of these people know that Chinese New Years is celebrated but don't under the reason(s) why. To start off Chinese New Years marks the new Zodiac for that year ( I elaborated more on this topic in my Chinese Zodiac post ) and also celebrates Lunar New Year. Unlike Gregorian calendar New Years (January 1st), Lunar New Year's date isn't the exact same every year and is based on the phases of the moon. Lunar New Year can occur anywhere from late January to early February. Chinese New Years is 15 days that people of Chinese decent can remember and celebrate/honor ancestors. Everything from the music, food, and colors worn to burning fake money is used to honor their ancestors. In the United States we tend not to celebrat...
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Long Ears

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As we learned in class, long ears meant a lot to Buddhists. "To Buddhists, Buddha's long earlobes symbolize a conscious rejection of the material world in favor of spiritual enlightenment." (nationalgeographic.org) The background of this quote from an article posted by National Geographic is that once Siddartha, the founder of Buddhism and the first Buddha, gave up his worldly possessions such as earrings and other jewels, he still had elongated ears and a reminder that he did in fact give up those luxuries to pursue a life of minimalism and no desire. In Japan, long ears are a symbol of wealth and good luck. In other Asian cultures elongated ears can be interpreted to mean a higher social status or wisdom. 
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Red

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Color_in _Chinese_culture#/media/File:Laisee.jpg A color frequently seen in decorations and clothing, red , is a popular color in many Asian cultures, but why? Specifically in China, red is seen through all events that are meant to be happy and joyful such as by the bride at weddings, Chinese New Years and family gatherings. For Chinese New Years it's not uncommon to receive money in a red envelope because red is a color of fortune and vitality. In a Chinese wedding you will most likely see the bride wearing a red cheongsam (or qipao) as it symbolized good luck, versus a western wedding where a bride is traditionally seen wearing white. In Chinese culture wearing red at a funeral is prohibited because red is not a color you mourn in, however white is. In Western culture white is worn only by the bride and white is commonly a color of celebration. At funerals, black is worn because black is a color of mourning. Sources: Lucky Colors in China
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Tucson Chinese Cultural Center

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Lion statue On November 6th I had to visit a cultural center or attend a festival for my Popular Entertainment (TAR150D1) class. I saw this as an opportunity to double dip and also emerge myself into more Asian culture, which is why I chose the Tucson Chinese Cultural Center. Aside from taking the following pictures I did not spend a lot of time there as wasn't a lot for me there, however the celebration and pride the members of this community had for the parents/grandparents that fostered this community radiated the second I stepped inside. Newspaper article Pieces of decorations in the markets A artist depiction of a market The section I saw in the center focused on the markets that Chinese immigrants owned and operated when they first came to America. I really enjoyed this portion of the market as I felt it to be super personal because the location of all the markets were in Tucson or surrounding cities. There were stories of owners and their battles with pre...
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Buddha

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Buddha Figurines In my room I have various forms of small Buddha statues or figurines. I will admit I bought all of these for the aesthetic aspect of it, as I am not a Buddhist however when I look at them closer I realize many of them were created and sold solely for the aesthetic purpose as a practicing Buddhist would probably not buy these. As we learned in class Buddha is traditionally not depicted laughing or smiling but instead commercialism changed him/her to that. On top of that authentic Buddhist worship pieces are rarely sold for money as that goes against the values of Buddhists to end suffering, and buy feeling the need to purchase items such as these you are feeding into your own personal worldly desires. On this blog  the writer discusses how it's similar to people having statues of Jesus Christ in your home and not being a Christian. Although the idea of Buddha decorations is appealing, by purchasing Buddha figurines you're doing the exact opposite of what B...
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Death Note

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https://gamesforgirlsss.com/death-note-anime-characters-and-ending-explained/ In high school I promised my friends I would try to get into anime, as they all were avid anime watchers. My perception of anime was very set and I was only willing to watch "entry level" anime and allowed my friends to choose from there. The show they chose was Death Note, which at the time could be accessed through Netflix. Death Note  is a manga series that was turned into an animated series to be aired on television, originally in Japanese which was then dubbed into English. Netflix then did it's own adaptation on the show and created an American movie. The general plot of Death Note  is a high school student, Light Yagami, finds a notebook titled "Death Note" along with instructions. The instructions inform Light how he is able to now control the fate of people. The notebook comes with something else, a shinigami who accompanies Light until the day he dies. In Japanese cultu...
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