As a wide-eyed researcher like Ford Prefect, I embark on a journey to explore the rich tapestry of Earth’s cultures. Let’s delve into Hidalgo’s Three Levels of Culture, each layer revealing intricate facets that shape societies across the globe. According to Hidalgo’s three levels of culture, Sri Lanka has a rich and diverse cultural heritage that can be explored through its concrete, behavioral, and symbolic aspects. Here are some examples of each level:
Concrete:
“The most visible and tangible level of culture. Includes the surface-level dimensions such as clothes, music, food, games, and so on. These aspects of culture are often those which provide the focus for multicultural festivals or celebrations.” (Gorski, 2005)
Sri Lanken buildings are known for their colorful architecture.
Sri Lankan traditional clothing is influenced by the country’s history, geography, and religion. There are sari’s worn which are more like one big piece of cloth that can be wrapped around yourself many ways. The orange color of heavy influence comes from the Buddhist monk clothing.
The food is inspired by India, so there is lots of curry and harvested spices to choose from. There are a lot of rice, meat, vegetables, and coconut milk used in these dishes. They also have the most expensive desert in the world by special order with a handmade chocolate stilt fisherman, fine ingredients such as Dom Perignon and a large accompanying jewel.
The musical instruments consist of unique drums and the sitar while some of the Western rap and rock have creeped over into the younger generation’s playlists. They also embrace a lot of the world’s entertainment and love to welcome cultural celebrations that have African drums and dance.
The birds are the most colorful flying element this country has, with 51 unique colorful species this county is know worldwide for having colorful birds adorn pretty much every view.
Behavioral:
“This level of culture clarifies how we define our social roles, the language we speak, and our approaches to nonverbal communication. The Behavioral level reflects values. Aspects to be listed in this category include language, gender roles, family structure, political affiliation, and other items that situate people organizationally in society.” (Gorski, 2005)
English is spoken but Sri Lanka has two official languages, Sinhala and Tamil. There are 2 main fonts used in most of their newspapers and a lot of unique terms and folklore used to create art, songs, and embellished storytelling. According to www.handspeak.com there is a Tamil ASL sign language to help with universal understanding for those unable to speak or hear. The people are 70% Buddhist with the next largest religion being Hindu.
The family unit is traditional with the mother overseeing the children, household and teaching, while the father is the breadwinner. There are still dowries and arranged marriages to preserve lineage.
They believe one should always enhance the lives of others and treat others with respect as represented by the four Bo leaves in the flag corners: These represent Mettā, Karuṇā, Muditā, and Upekkhā, which are the four virtues in Buddhism (loving-kindness, compassion, sympathetic joy, and equanimity).
They value education and STEAM has been introduced to give them a well-rounded curriculum and push them toward more modern avenues they will need to focus on eventually to bring them into a more technologically connected time-period of development This country needs to focus on reading writing and arithmetic.. They have teachers, trainers, mentors, and experts, but lack the computer resources, internet, and widespread devices to bring this to life. Sri Lanka’s STEAM education system is based on the theme “Let’s see, let’s work, step into the future”, which is a great direction to help them try new things and implement Universal Design for ease of use so they can focus on modernizing their daily life skills to have more time to learn in museums, mining facilities and hands on science environments rather than strictly classrooms.
Symbolic:
“This level of culture includes values and beliefs. It can be abstract, but it is often the most important level in terms of how individuals define themselves. It includes value systems, customs, spirituality, religion, world view, beliefs, mores, and so on.” (Gorski, 2005)
Sri Lanka uses colors that are inspired by the country’s natural and cultural diversity, such as green, yellow, orange, red, and blue and these colors are seen uniformly in displays and themes thourought the country. These colors are often associated with the country’s landscapes, festivals, religions, and ethnic groups. For example, green represents the lush vegetation, the Muslim community, and the Buddhist flag. Yellow represents the sun, the Sinhalese community, and the Hindu flag. Orange represents the saffron robes of the monks, the Tamil community, and the Buddhist flag. Red represents blood, fire, and the courage. Blue represents the sky, the ocean, and peace.
As we explore this wonderful culture, we should tread lightly, we do not want to rush in and destroy the nuances and complexities that make this culture unique. Our journey is not just about understanding—it’s about celebrating and exploring the human mosaic and comparing it to other mosaics across the universe.