Personal Cultural Heritage Item
Cultural heritage is what influences the values and fashion choices we adopt (Goddard, 2015). It is influences our family traditions and our family members. Most importantly, cultural heritage influences our zeitgeist or spirit of times that fits into our own history (Goddard, 2015). There are some people that take an interest in understanding their culture and their influences while others do not. The purpose of this assignment is to discuss my family’s cultural heritage. I will be including a cultural item, my family ties and traditions, and my current cultural patterns that reflect my lifestyle.
My Family’s Cultural Heritage
Since the time I can remember, I was always told my cultural heritage roots are from Italy and I am Italian. My great grandparents sailed across the Atlantic Ocean to come to New York. Italy is a peninsula and is located in the heart of the Mediterranean Sea. It is currently home to more than 62 million people of which 96 percent are Italian (Zimmerman, 2017). Italian culture focuses on family, architecture, arts, music and food (Zimmerman, 2017). The primary language spoken is Italian (Zimmerman, 2017). They focus on men being head of the household/breadwinner and women being the primary caretaker (Zimmerman, 2017).
The biggest value to them is extended family, having frequent family gatherings and children remaining close to their family through adulthood (Zimmerman, 2017). Meanwhile, the primary religion is Roman