Cultural Artifacts Class Activity

 

The activity was to bring 5 items that define and describe you as a person culturally. Everyone in the class had to go home and find 5 items that represent them. Everyone brought different artifacts. I brought 5 artifacts that represent my culture and where I come from. My list of five items included: Arabic coffeepot called “dallah”, special Arabic coffee cup called “fenjan”, dates, Arabic incenses called “bakhoor”, and oud oil. Each artifact had a specific cultural meaning behind it. First, the coffee pot and coffee cup are always served together, we usually use these stuff to served the Arabic coffee to welcome guests into the home. Second, the dates have received more attention than any other fruit in my country. I decided to bring dates because it is one of the important elements that represent my culture. Third, the incense "Bakhour" is a great home fragrance and is brought out on special occasions like wedding, love moments, or for welcoming guests. Women use it to give their clothes an exotic seducing smell. Fourth, oud oil is very polar amongst Arabs people, they use it as perfume. All of these items are the most representative traditional customs of my country. This was a fun and interesting activity. I really like it. We learned a lot about one another, our culture, and ourselves. This could easily apply into a writing activity about your items or what it says about the culture. You could make this into an oral activity by having students talk in groups about their items and their discoveries. Students could have questions and predictions about a certain item they find interest in. There are many different Language Arts activities you could incorporate within this Social Studies activity.