Heritage Months and Celebrations

"Communal celebrations bring out the best in Celebrating Urban Community Life is a comprehensive guide to understanding and enhancing communal celebrations as a source of community capital. Drawing on case studies from New York, San Francisco, and Toronto, Melvin Delgado discusses the many ways in which fairs, festivals, and parades can enhance communal life. Providing a framework for social scientists, urban planners, and social workers to analyse and foster celebrations that benefit urban populations, the book is a valuable resource for those with an interest in this growing area of academic and practical interest."

"... This book introduces the origin, development, and traditions of 'The Spring Festival,' and it offers readers a panoramic view of this unique Chinese festival. The book - written as an English-Chinese bilingual text - tells the stories behind the festival's name and covers nearly every aspect of the festival. The influence of the festival on ethnic minorities of China and overseas Chinese diasporas is also included."

"... Encompassing work by a diverse group of scholars of American studies, anthropology, art history, religion, political science, and other fields, "Culture and Belonging in Divided Societies" addresses the power of cultural expressions and enactments in highly charged settings, exploring when and how changes in a society's symbolic landscape occur and what this tells us about political life in the societies in which they take place."

"... The papers in this volume address the question of how ancient and medieval societies lived with the uncertainties of a lunar calendar. How did lack of foreknowledge of the beginning of the month impact upon administration, the planning of festivals, and historical record keeping? Did societies replace the observation of the new moon crescent with schematic calendars or calendars based upon astronomical calculations and what were the ideological and practical consequences of such a change? The contributors to this volume address these topics from the perspectives of a variety of Ancient Near Eastern, Jewish, Ancient and Medieval European, Asian and American cultures."