Ways You Can Help Preserve Your Cultural Heritage

Cultural heritage is defined as traditions, beliefs, or a way of life practiced by a group of people and passed on from generation to generation. In other words, they are the traditions and beliefs chosen by your ancestors and passed on down the family tree to you through birth. Even if you were never taught these traditions and beliefs or choose not to practice them they are still part of you and where you came from simply by being born into that group of people, this often referred to as ones "roots". Likewise if you are not born into a particular group of people but choose to practice their traditions and beliefs, although it may be part of who you are today, it can never be part of where you came from and therefore cannot be part of your cultural heritage. There are many ways to help preserve your cultural heritage, this article will explore a few of them.

The best way to preserve your cultural heritage, whatever it may be, is to share it with others. Sharing your cultural heritage helps to enrich the lives of others through the gift of discovering diversity. There are several ways you can accomplish this.

- You can teach your own children to practice the traditions and beliefs of your ancestors and tell them to continue to pass it on to future generations. Teach them to be proud of their roots especially if they know very few other children of the same cultural heritage.
- You can also donate to or participate in associations that fund workshops and museums that help to educate others about your cultural heritage. These organizations will be around for many years to come and are probably one of the best ways to educate others about the history of your ancestors.
- You can choose to use a day such as Cinco de Mayo, if your roots are in Mexico, or black history month, if you are African American, to put on a display of your cultures songs or dances at your local elementary school. Get the kids to participate and let them have fun with it. You can also have them make arts and crafts projects that pertain to your cultural heritage. Remember, they will retain more of the information you give to them if its enjoyable.

The importance of preserving our own cultural heritage escalates with each passing decade. As time go on and people move from one country to the next or become to busy to reflect on their roots, the more it is at risk for endangerment. It is our responsibility to keep world history intact for tomorrows children so that they may have the same opportunities to learn about the past and their own roots as we have. At a time when we are all striving to be one people and minimize our differences from each other for the sake of unity, we also need to understand the cultural heritage of other people and help each other celebrate our own uniqueness.