Cultures Combined

Angie Boughanem,12, loves getting to share her culture with others. Boughanem lives with her brother and two Lebanese parents in an Arabic and English-speaking home. Arabic is the official language of Lebanon.

One of Boughanem's favorite parts of her culture is the food. She adores the dish Warak Enab, which is grape leaves wrapped around rice, sometimes with meat or various vegetables.

"It's so good! My mom's is the best," says Boughanem.

Her family enjoys many Lebanese traditions and holidays. Boughanem and her family celebrate Eid, a largely Islamic holiday, despite the fact that her family isn’t Muslim and instead practices a smaller Lebanese religion. Eid means "festival" or "feast" in Arabic and is commonly celebrated by gathering with family and giving gifts. Boughanem's family also celebrates Lebanese Mother's Day, which is observed on March 21 in many Arab countries. Boughanem and her family enjoy catching up with extended family every year for this holiday.

"Whenever it's mother's day there, we call them," says Boughanem.

Another interesting way that Boughanem connects with her culture is through dance. Ever since she was little, Boughanem and a group of her friends have performed Dabke, a traditional Arab style of dance. Dabke is a lively and jubilant folk dance that often features complicated synchronized footwork. Performances are customary at weddings and other celebratory events, often accompanied by shouting and stomping. Boughanem’s Dabke dance group started from a humble place, but have been improving their skills and the level of their performance outfits, which are based on traditional clothing, over the years.

"As we got older, we learned even better dances and got even better costumes," says Boughanem.

Boughanem has performed Dabke with her dance group at the annual Arab Festival in Orlando, and more recently at weddings and events outside of Florida. Boughanem loves performing with her friends and bringing joy to others through this dance.

"We do Dabke every chance we get," says Boughanem.

Another Edgewood student, Rachel Esteban, 10, takes pride in both her Taino and German heritage. Taino refers to the indigenous people of Puerto Rico. Although she was raised in Florida, Esteban has always traveled to Puerto Rico often, visiting family and partaking in many family traditions.

The holiday season is a big deal in Puerto Rico, but Christmas isn't necessarily the main event. In Puerto Rico, one of the biggest holidays is Three Kings Day, which is celebrated after Christmas on January 6 in honor of the three wise men that came to visit Jesus in the biblical story. The men are thought to have ridden on camels, so for Three Kings Day children in Puerto Rico will leave out grass and water for them to enjoy after their long journey. The holiday is filled with the exchanging of gifts as well as parades and festivals.

Another beloved Puerto Rican tradition is known as Parrandas. Parrandas is kind of like Christmas caroling, but a little more extreme. On the date that is set, the first house will start off the celebration by showing up to another house singing, playing instruments, and pounding percussion. That house will provide them with snacks and drinks. Then, they all go from house to house, dancing, singing traditional Christmas carols called aguinaldos, and eating. When the merry chaos finally reaches its peak, everyone will reach the last house and have a big meal to end the night. Esteban has fond memories of partaking in Parrandas while she spent the holidays in Puerto Rico.

"I never knew how much family I had until the festives, because I was meeting people who were, like, very distant relatives of mine... it was a lot of people. It's really cool," says Esteban.

In addition to her Puerto Rican heritage, Esteban has enjoyed connecting with her German side as well. Esteban got the chance to go on a tour of Germany in 7th grade and made many memories. She visited many cities, such as Frankfurt, and also got to visit the Black Forest, a mountain range famous for its dense woods and charming villages. While in Germany, Esteban tried authentic German gingerbread and was surprised by how different it is compared to the way it's normally made in America today.

"I didn't know gingerbread was supposed to be soft... it's really good," says Esteban.

Likewise, Jamie Aquino, 12, appreciates being connected with her Thai heritage. Thailand is famous for its rich cuisine. For Aquino, the amazing food is one of the highlights of her Thai background.

"The food is spicy most of the time, or like, tangy," says Aquino.

Some of Aquino's favorite comfort foods include Kai Pa Lo, a classic Thai soup with boiled eggs and simmered pork belly, and Pad Kra Pao, stir-fried basil leaves usually served with meat, rice. Aquino enjoys this dish with a fried egg.

"It just tops it all off. It's really good," says Aquino.

Aquino has gotten to visit Thailand several times and is thankful since her trips have been crucial in helping her attain fluency in the language. Many of Aquino's relatives solely speak Thai, so being able to communicate with them in their native language is valuable to Aquino.

Beyond connecting with family, Aquino also connects with Thai music. When she was young, the songs from a stage production of one of Thailand's most famous epics, Ramakien, introduced Aquino to the beauty of Thailand's traditional music. The music in this work utilizes traditional instruments like the Ranat Ek- a percussion instrument similar to a xylophone- and various Thai wind instruments. Presently, Aquino also enjoys listening to Thai rock music, which is a popular genre in Thailand.

In addition to Thailand's language, it also has many colorful traditions such as Songkran, the Thai new year festival. However, the new year is celebrated there in an unusual way. Aquino laughed revealing what activity annually takes place.

"You throw water at each other," said Aquino.

During this jubilant and chaotic festival, everyone, young and old, simply partakes in a giant water fight, using squirt guns, water balloons, or whatever you can find. It seems like America should be taking some notes since this tradition certainly sounds more fun than watching a ball drop on TV.

Although Max Bergmann, 11, has lived in America for much of his life, he identifies as a Swedish person. Bergmann moved to America from the Netherlands when he was four, but visited Sweden every summer while he was growing up.

Bergmann enjoys many Swedish traditions. When Bergmann would visit Sweden, he and his family would celebrate Midsummer, a Swedish holiday that takes place during the summer equinox. Some of the holiday's traditions include picking flowers, gathering with friends and family, and dancing and singing around the midsummer pole. The exact origins of these unique traditions are cloudy, but it's well documented that they go back thousands of years. This time of reunion and celebration is beloved in Sweden, and when Bergmann and his family weren't able to visit Sweden, they put up a midsummer pole at home and carried out their celebration anyway.

"It's not quite the same, since we don't remember all the songs and all, but it's still fun," says Bergmann.

Being fluent in the language, Bergmann enjoys films by the famous Swedish director Ingmar Bergman, who is regarded as one of the most influential filmmakers of all time.

"A lot of his films are in Swedish. I think you can sort of appreciate them more because they are [in Swedish], if you understand the language. You know, certain figures of speech and subtleties you pick up on better," says Bergmann.

Furthermore, Bergmann also enjoys listening to Swedish music. While everyone is familiar with the popular ABBA, Bergmann also enjoys many more obscure Swedish artists. Since the family members he spends time with in Sweden are all older, he knows a lot more about the 20s and 30s music rather than modern Swedish music.

Jangjit Singh, 8, shared a little about his background, being Indian-American. Singh moved to the U.S. when he was very young, so he speaks English just as well as Punjabi, his parent's native language. Punjab is a northwestern region of India with a rich cultural tradition.

Fluency in another language has many perks, one of them being the ability to better experience movies and music in other languages. Singh enjoys watching Punjabi and Hindi movies with his family.

"They're fun to watch with my parents, we watch them like every night," says Singh.

Since living in the states, Singh has visited family in India. Singh enjoyed his travels but is also grateful for his parent's hard work that gave him the opportunity to live in America. His parents are busy hard-working people. Singh's father owns an Indian restaurant in the local area, and Singh loves the vibrant cuisine of his country.

"I like Butter Chicken and rice with naan, it's really good," says Singh.

It's clear that different people can interact with their cultures in very different ways. For many, cultural traditions are a way to connect with family or feel a sense of community. On the other hand, it can be quite insightful to learn about other cultures and expand our view of the world. Often, someone with a completely different set of experiences and perspectives can be sitting right next to us, especially in America and even at Edgewood. Our school has a diverse student body with a variety of backgrounds and perspectives represented. Hopefully, you've learned something new, but also remember that there can be a lot of interesting things to learn from the people around you every day.