Celebrating Humanity A Celebrations, after the patte…
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Celebrаting Humаnity A Celebrаtiоns, after the pattern оf Thоmas Alva Edison’s famous quote, often appear to be one percent inspiration and 99 percent preparation. People around the world take celebrating seriously, and many of them are willing to go to great effort and expense to plan and participate in public celebrations. B Exactly when and where human beings began coming together in public to celebrate as a group is unknown and unknowable. Logic suggests that the first public celebrations were related to the patterns of existence and probably spiritual. Chris Johns’ photograph of Makishi dancers in Zambia is a glimpse of a celebration little changed since prehistoric times. In hunter-gatherer societies, success in the never-ending search for food, clothing, and shelter must have triggered the need to celebrate together. C A hunt producing plenty of meat and skins, a good harvest, or the discovery of an easily defended place to live were all events that ensured a group’s survival and well-being. The earliest parades may have been processions of successful hunters returning to a joyful welcome by their thankful families. As civilizations developed, with agriculture, cities and towns, trade, social and political structures, organized religions, calendars, and record-keeping, such celebrations became more regular and formal and served a broader social purpose. D There are records of religious parades and processions dating back to 3000 B.C. Parades were also used to demonstrate military power and celebrate military victories; to attract customers to events such as the circus by giving the public a sample of the entertainment; or to celebrate ethnic affiliation and holidays. The New York Times of October 28, 1917, summed it up by saying, “If you take the parades out of history, you have precious little history left.” E Parades and other public celebrations have also become important economic events in many places around the world. At the Kansas State Fair in Hutchinson, where Joel Sartore’s photograph makes the carnival rides spin like neon tornadoes, or at the month-long Kumbh Mela festival in India, money is being made. F In some places, the commercial aspect has made us forget the original reason for the celebration. Carnival celebrations in Venice, Italy, date back to the late 13th century, when the Senate of the Venetian Republic declared a new public holiday. It was a festival on the day before the solemn six-week religious period known as Lent. The official celebrations were held in large, public spaces. The unofficial celebrations, which involved people in masks partying all over the city, grew in popularity over the next five centuries until the republic was conquered in 1797. After that, Carnival nearly disappeared for over a century. G In the current version of Carnival, hundreds of thousands of visitors attend the celebrations in Venice. Most of the city’s inhabitants avoid the official celebrations, as well as the unofficial ones in the city squares, canals, sidewalks, and bridges. They leave these areas to the crowds of tourists whose purchases of meals, lodgings, and Carnival masks bring great sums of money into the economy of the city and the region. H One cannot blame the tourists. They are attracted by Venice’s unique and undeniable magic. Sam Abell’s photograph captures both the commercial and traditional sides of Carnival. In it, two Carnival participants in costumes float like beautiful white ghosts in front of the Doge’s Palace, just ahead of a woman in a pink winter jacket, wearing a camera around her neck, who seems not at all impressed by the Carnival couple. I Religious celebrations take place year-round in mosques, synagogues, temples, cathedrals, churches, and homes all over the world. There are pilgrimages each year in Asia, Europe, the Middle East, and South America. The Hajj, the pilgrimage to the city of Mecca made by Muslims, is the world’s largest annual pilgrimage, made by three million people each year. Reza’s photograph of thousands of people filling Mecca’s Al-Haram mosque gives a powerful sense of the extreme size and the constant motion of the Hajj. J Of course, many modern celebrations are not connected to any religion. In the Internet era, electronic communication makes it possible to organize celebrations almost instantly. “Flash mobs” are a new way of gathering and celebrating. Planned online, they bring together tens, hundreds, or thousands of individuals to perform some unusual or funny act in a public place. Flash mobs not only reflect the increased speed of communication but also a lighter attitude to celebration. No longer is public celebrating something necessarily linked to human survival, religion, or deep traditions. K This does not mean, however, that modern celebrations are not socially conscious. Photographers such as Szilard Koszticsak and Jason Edwards have managed to capture the commitment and passion of a celebration’s organizers and participants. One striking image evoking community spirit is Edwards’ photograph of crowds in Melbourne, Australia, gathering despite the rain for a music festival to raise funds for wildfire relief. L The level of civic engagement caught by Koszticsak and Edwards with their cameras is a reminder of the time and effort people around the world devote to celebrating, whether it is with family and friends at home or with tens of thousands of people crowded into a square or stadium. Throughout history, across countries and cultures, the experience of a heartfelt celebration is always worth the often significant amount of time and money spent planning, preparing, organizing, and carrying out an event. The priority given to celebrating seems to put it alongside food, shelter, love, and freedom as a fundamental need of humanity. Which of the following is NOT a type of celebration mentioned in the reading?
Whаt ideоlоgy prоvided а theoreticаl justification for imperialism in Africa and Asia?
With regаrd tо genetic cоunseling, оne should try to аvoid using emotionаlly laden terms such as "unfortunately" and "risk."