Cultural Differences In American Culture Essay

During CultureALL, we had six speakers come in from all over the world to tell us about their cultures and how they celebrate traditions. In the United States, we celebrate Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving, and many more. In other parts of the United States, they celebrate different traditions. Out of the six speakers, I chose two that are in the United States, however they are not part of the main 48 states; Alaska & Hawaii. I also chose Japan because there are a lot of interesting celebrations that I would like to write about. Alaska became a US territory in October 18th 1867 then later a US state in January 3rd, 1959. Russia sold Alaska for $7.2 million dollars. Alaska day is the celebration of Alaska becoming a US territory and it’s reserved for October 18. Alaska day is a day were people take the day off, relax, hang out with friends and family, and it’s a paid holiday (for state

One of the most recognizable dances in the world comes from Hawaii - the hula dance. Many argue of where hula originated from, most agree with it came from the island of Molokai, but others say it was from the island of Kauai. Wherever it came from, the dance still has the same meaning. Each hand movement, stepping of the foot, and swaying of the hips told a story that connected them and their gods. There are two types of hula dancing, the more traditional Hula Kahiko, and then the more modern Hula Auana. Hula Kahiko takes much training and is regarded as being a dance to connect with aciencet Hawaii and relatives. This unique style of hula is usually danced to religious chants and different types of percussion instruments. Hula Auana based on Hula Kahiko, but it has modern rhythms and instruments playing along with it, such as the ukulele, drums, guitar, ect. People learn this style of dancing by going to a special school that is dedicated to passing on the tradition of the Hula Dance to the next