Cultural norms and differences that serve to create harmony

What Do We All Do?

Eat

Communicate

Sleep (Dream)

Wear Clothes

How are we different?

What can we learn about each other?

My family is from Ghana and we still practice our customs.

We eat foods like Fufu, Jell-Off rice, Banco, Whatchey, Plantain and much

more.

My aunt brought material , from Ghana, with this type of pattern for my mum so that she could sew a dress for me. I may wear it to church or family celebrations.

The traditional cloth for Ghanaian people is bright and colourful kente cloth.

A close family, being part of our community and education are still very important parts of our Ghanaian culture.

My ancestors were Irish. Although we don’t really practice a lot of the Irish cultural traditions, my family likes to play a game called ‘Slamdunk’. The aim of the game: whoever puts a king or queen down first and says “Slamdunk” wins two cards.

St Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland, was said to have brought Christianity to Ireland. The national emblem of Ireland is the Shamrock. St Patrick used the three leaves to explain how the Trinity of the Father, the Son and Holy Spirit could exist as separate parts of the whole being.

We celebrate St Patrick’s day by decorating our house in green.

My ancestors are from India and my family practices Hinduism. It’s the world’s oldest, existing religion. We just celebrated Diwali, the festival of lights, which lasts for five days. Our house was lit up with small oil lamps. We exchanged gifts like Indian sweets, snacks or candles.

On ordinary days, my mum cooks the traditional food of curries, with bread, chappatis or rice.

We go to the Mandir; a place of worship for Hindus. I wear clothing appropriate for it so that means NO JEANS!

As a family, we watch Bollywood movies (Traditional Indian movies) and listen to Bollywood songs.

Although we don’t really practice a lot of the Scottish traditions, every Sunday all of my family help my mum to cook a roast dinner then we sit down together round the dinner table and eat it and each week we have a different type of meat.

St. Andrew was one of Christ's twelve apostles. The X-shaped saltire cross upon which St. Andrew was supposedly crucified has been the Scottish national symbol.

My family celebrate St Andrews day by putting the Scottish flag in the front window.

My ancestors were traditional Irish travellers. They were NOT homeless people but a separate, distinct, proud culture with their own language, standards and traditions. They had their own language called Cant, Gammon or Shelta.

Even though we are not travellers, I would like to find out more about my family.

I am half Turkish-Cypriot because my dad is full Turkish-Cypriot and my mum is full English.

Whenever we go to my grandmother’s house for a BBQ, we usually have lots of Turkish food such as: rice wrapped in vine leaves, Helim Cheese inside some batter like wrap, and we also have that with meat stuffed inside. My favourite is called Kofte which is basically a cooked cold meat ball.  

My culture is Punjabi and we practice Sikhism. We greet each other by saying ‘"sat sri akal"Showing respect for others is very important in our culture. I respect my elders by always saying ‘Ji’ at the end of someone's title, For example, I call my parents mummy Ji, papa Ji and I call my grandparents mama Ji and baba Ji.

Family is also very important in our culture so in my home there live three generations: my grandparents, my parents, my brother and I.

We celebrate birthdays, anniversaries, holidays and all types of occasions as one big family unit.

One of the customs I practice is that I tie a Rakhri (String bracelet) around my brother ‘s wrist. It represents the bond between us as brother and sister and also this means that he has the responsibility of protecting me. We attend a lot of

functions and festivals at the Gurdwara ( our place of worship)

We just celebrated Diwali ( The festival of lights)

As a sign of respect, I have to wear the tradition clothing.

My grandmother and mum make traditional foods such as:

Chapattis ( Nan)

Daal ( Lentils)

Vegetable Curries

SamosasPakoras ( Onion Bajis)

Pani Puris

Britain is full of customs and traditions.

Traditional British food has been based on beef, lamb, pork, chicken and fish and generally served with potatoes and one other vegetable. Typical foods eaten in Britain include: fish and chips, pork pies and cornish pasties and roasts dinners. Some dishes have strange names like Bubble and Squeak and Toad in the Hole.

Education is very important part of British culture. I attend Danson Primary School. We all wear a uniform so that means that we are all equal.

Children begin studying in primary education at the age of five until they are eleven. Then they move to secondary school, there they stay until they reach sixteen, seventeen or eighteen years of age.

In England we like to form orderly queues (standing in line) and wait for our turn e.g. boarding a bus. 'Queue jumping' is frowned upon.

Britain is a country that is very reserved.

If someone is blocking my way and I would like them to move, I just say excuse me please.

I learnt from an early age that it is good manners to say "please" and "thank you". It is considered rude if you don't. You will notice in England that we say 'thank you' a lot. We might use slang words like ‘Ta’.

In Britain, we keep animals in our homes. We call them pets. The animals that we usually keep are cats and dogs. I have five cats. We look after them, give them food and water and we care for them. Other pets that we keep are horses ( kept in a stable on a farm), hamsters, fish, rabbits and guinea pigs.

I am part Australian. Australia has no official religion; there is an atmosphere of religious freedom. People chose a religion which suits them provided they don’t break the law. However, 60% of the Australian population choose to be Christian. There are many people in Australia, but the most

famous are the Aborigines; of their pictures they make by putting paint on edge of sticks and pushing the paint paper or wood.

I had a lot of the same food that I eat in Britain but the most interesting things I tried were Shark, Kangaroo and Crocodile meat…… delicious!!!

Like football here, Aussie rules football is the most popular sport to play and watch.

The game, which you play on a cricket pitch, is a bit like rugby. However, when you tackle it has to be between the waist and shoulders. If the oval shaped ball is kicked whoever catches it has made a mark, which means they can kick or run. If they chose to run they can get tackled, but until they’ve made up their mind they cannot get tackled. A team is made up of 18 players. When they could score they can kick it over the posts or score over the try line. To pass they hit the ball out of their hand with the other hand.

My Cultures

English , Jamaican and American

I practice ALL three cultures!

English people have different religions. It is also a very popular place for tourists because of Big Ben and many other buildings. It is very popular around the world for it’s capital; London. The traditional food is pork and turkey at Christmas (the birth of God’s son). Britain’s population is over 55 million. A lot of countries have followed the language of English and many countries speak it.

Jamaica is very well known for it’s beaches and sunshine. Jamaica has a population of over 2 million people. Its capital is Kensington and has a whooping population of over 800 thousand people. They speak English and most are Christian. Their favourite food is Jerk chicken and like to drink Ginger beer.

America’s current president is Barack Obama. Although they practise a lot of different cultures, they ALL pledge allegiance to one flag. It is a very popular place for tourists for its famous buildings. They play different sports to us like baseball, basketball and American football. The talk and eat the same way as we do. Britain and America have a lot in common.