Cultural Comparison

A Discussion of Hair

      Culture: it’s all the behavior we learn, everything we pick up on as we grow up, all the little things we do not even notice we do. It can be as obvious as the clothes you wear and the customs you practice or as subtle as your sense of personal space and the respect you show others. There are differences in culture in every society around the world. Now, society is not defined by political lines. A society is a group of people with the same learned behavior, or culture. There can be many different kinds of people with many different kinds of learned behavior within the political boundaries of a country. On the flip side of that, there can also be a group of people with the same culture that is spread out over several countries, maybe even several continents. Two examples of societies which happen to fall mostly inside the boundaries of a country are the Hindu women in India and typical North American women.

      India is one of the most populated countries in the world, with a population of 1,166,079,217. For every 1.06 men in India, there is one woman. 80.5% percent of the people in India practice Hinduism. Hinduism is the oldest of the five most commonly practiced religions. Some prominent themes of Hinduism include Dharma (ethics/duties), Samsāra (The continuing cycle of birth, life, death and rebirth), Karma (action and subsequent reaction), Moksha (liberation from samsara), and the various Yogas (paths or practices). To list every Hindu practice would be close to impossible because there are many different variations of the Hindu religion and practicing Hindus believe different things. One ritual some Hindu women practice is called tonsuring – the cutting of hair for religious regions. This is the ritual that will be discussed, as well as other reasons why Indian women shave off their hair.

      Meanwhile, thousands and thousands of miles away on the North American continent, there is a very different society. Yes, there... [continues]

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