Culture
“What is that for?” she asked.
“Its an egg cup.” I replied.
Then she responded “How do you use it?”
Picking up a boiled egg, I then demonstrated how an egg cup works!
Using a knife I showed our guests how to cut the egg open and eat it using a teaspoon.
“Fascinating” I thought.
Sitting around the breakfast table that morning, we were informed that it wasn’t a common thing in the USA to use egg cups. Yet for generations in Europe – egg cups have been quite a thing!
It was a wake up call for all of us.
𝐂𝐮𝐥𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞 – traditions, societal norms, languages, what we wear, how we sit at the table, how we greet visitors, unwritten rules that govern our social behaviours, foods, ceremonies, pastimes, architecture or simply put – they way we do things around here – is part n parcel of our everyday experience at the moment.
In our interconnected world, our cultures are fluid and in continual motion.
While change is inevitable, this little egg cup experience reminded me that no matter what culture a people are a part of, one thing is for certain, we constantly make random discoveries of cultural norms all the time!
I am writing this from a hotel room in Copenhagen this morning. Walking around the city yesterday, Monic and I came across a cultural icon of this nation – Hans Christian Andersen! He too has influenced the culture of this society for generations!
From a little egg cup, to a prolific writer, what cultures have impacted your life?