An intercultural learning of similarities and differences of rituals and customs of two cultures

Abstract

In this article, we present intercultural learning as an art education approach that can develop a student's sense of cultural diversity and its value by qualitative immersion in and comparison to other cultures (Amorim 2001). As an example, we chose two popular rituals, Korean Ancestor Worship Ceremony and Native American Sweat Lodge, which are written as anecdotal narratives providing first-person voice to cultural experiences, to discuss cultural similarities and differences discovered in both ceremonies. We hope that our approach of intercultural learning provides an example to honour each other's tradition and culture, treating each other as a member of the group of people who have equally invaluable cultural traditions, as well as leading to learning that cultural information should be understood in its authentic contexts.