Heritage. Heritage may be defined as any attribute or immaterial possession that is inherited from ancestors. In relation to cultural heritage, it is the legacy of physical artifacts and intangible properties passed from one generation to the next, maintained in the present, and preserved for the benefit of future generations. Cultural heritage is unique and irreplaceable, and should be preserved for generations to come.
Museums, Ethics and Cultural Heritage
Cultural Heritage in a Changing WorldWaking LionsThe Ethics of Cultural Appropriation
As I mentioned in my Chinese Moon Festival post, one of my homeschool goals for 2014 is to teach my children about the various cultures that surround us here in St. Louis, as well as in the broader sense of the cultural heritage of our great nation. To that end, I wanted to look up what some of the cultural heritage observances are in the USA. I want them to learn to Celebrate Cultural Heritage- it is a National Treasure.
^By the way, the Celebrate Cultural Heritage image is a 5X7. You can click on the image or the title to open the pdf in a new window for printing.
Cultural heritage observances in the USA include:
- January- none to date
- February- Black History Month*
- March- Women’s History Month*, Irish American Heritage Month, Greek American Heritage Month
- April- Arab American Heritage Month, Scottish American Heritage Month
- May- Asian Pacific American Heritage Month*, Jewish American Heritage Month, Haitian Heritage Month
- June- Caribbean American Heritage Month
- July- French American Heritage Month
- August- none to date
- September 15- October 15- Hispanic Heritage Month*, Christian Heritage Month
- October- Filipino Heritage Month, German American Heritage Month, Italian Heritage Month, Polish American Heritage Month, European American Heritage Month
- November- American Indian Heritage Month*
- December- none to date
Those with an “*” denote federally recognized observances.
I am working on material to use in teaching the kidlets about the heritages that surround us. I will be sharing some of them as we go.
- If you know of any great resources, I would love to know!
It is important, when celebrating cultural heritage, to avoid cultural appropriation. There is a big difference between honoring another culture and appropriating it.
I’m really glad you posted this. It’s been quite a while since my kids were little and we explored all of this. It would be fun for me to delve into it again just for the heck!
There really needs to be a January month added! But that is crazy how many heritages are being celebrated!
I think teaching our kids about other cultures, traditions and heritages is one of the best things we can do for them. By teaching them about the way others live, we teach them to be open minded and tolerant 🙂
Thanks for sharing. I knew about some of these, but not all.
Thank you for sharing all of these! Even if my son doesn’t celebrate it at school, I love to do something at home.
I’m not really sure we have much cultural heritage left 🙂 We’ve been in this country since the 1500s. I do love cooking dishes from other countries though.
I had no idea there were all those special cultural heritage months. We don’t do a lot to celebrate our heritage, but we did make a trip to Puerto Rico last year (where hubby’s parents are from) and this year we are going to Germany, where my great-grandparents came from.
I spent two years in Okinawa and love sharing my memories with my children. We also lived in another state for a while that had little pockets of people from the area my husband’s family is from – it was nice teaching them there about their heritage. Enjoy your fun days!
I didn’t realize there were different months for different cultures, how neat. I usually like to check out the different areas at the fair that are setup for the different cultures. Its always fun to show the kids all the different things.
I didn’t know about Greek American Heritage Month. That sounds like a great excuse to cook up all my favorite dishes!
That is such a good question. This is something I haven’t thought about very much. I do try to keep up with our local family history though.
interesting there are a few months with SO MANY heritage months!! sounds like you could do units for years on this 🙂
I didn’t realize there were so many heritage holidays! Those are great events to expose children too.