Our Origins: The Importance Of Rediscovering Our Roots
In a globalized world, it is increasingly difficult to maintain a sense of identity and community, and it is even more complicated to pass it down to new generations who are experiencing a time of intense globalization.
Maintaining a tie with our origins and identifying ourselves in a community is very important.
History has forged people characterizing them from each other. Art had a huge impact to pass down knowledge and traditions. Despite the different forms of expression, it has the power to define and unite all the people in a large artwork at the same time.
The use of the dialect
The dialect is an element that creates a strong sense of aggregation and belonging to a specific community. In Italy for example, different geographical areas were contaminated by people and travelers in the past with different traditions, giving birth to different cities each with specific characteristics, hence without affecting the sense of unity of the Italian people. Also, the dialect has the power to trigger a mechanism of bilingualism that is well explained here.
Thus, it is clear how all this is important especially for children: The passed down knowledge, traditions, dialects, the variety of food, are all elements that reassure your kids by giving them first a place in the community and then throughout the globalized world.
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Discovering our origins through the others
Globalization tends to erase cultural differences, creating a sense of emptiness and insecurity. But developing a healthy sense of belonging and knowledge of our history helps to open up to others without fear, towards the discovery of history and the other’s peculiarities.
A powerful tool for the child is the awareness of the different one, understanding and considering the “other” as a different free individual but the same equal to him. To do this, it must be first triggered in him a sense of consciousness that starts with the knowledge of their origins and surroundings.
For example, cooking is a strong aggregation vehicle. It is a group activity, but at the same time has the power to intrigue and spark new connections. Therefore it is essential to experience different dishes with kids, perhaps explaining the difference with ones they already know. At the same time, it is crucial to rediscover the dishes of oneself’s tradition.
The same applies to the dialect. Knowing and understanding the language of our grandparents, discovering the differences with our main language will increase the child’s ability to learn new words.
The journey that leads to self-awareness is part of the traditions of our community. First of all, it is necessary to know oneself’s place in it to be citizens of the world.
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