History of St. Valentines Day - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 7 Words: 2151 Downloads: 2 Date added: 2017/09/18 Category History Essay Type Narrative essay Tags: Celebration Essay Did you like this example? History of St. Valentines Day Introduction: †¢ Saint Valentines Day  (commonly shortened to  Valentines Day)  is an annual commemoration (celebration) held on February 14 celebrating  love  and  affection between  intimate companions. †¢ The day is named after one or more early Christian  martyrs(s somebody who suffers death for the people)  named  Valentine. †¢ It is traditionally a day on which lovers express their love for each other by  presenting flowers, offering  confectionery (CANDY) (is the set of food items that are rich in sugar), and sending  greeting cards (known as valentines). Modern Valentines Day symbols include the  heart-shaped  outline, doves, and the figure of the winged  Cupid (winged boy). Since the 19th century, handwritten valentines have largely given way to mass-produced  greeting cards and the oldest known Valentine card is on display at the British Museum. †¢ By the end of the century, printed cards began to replace written letters due to improvements in printing technology. Ready-made cards were an easy way for people to express their emotions in a time when direct expression of ones feelings was discouraged. Cheaper postage rates also contributed to an increase in the popularity of sending Valentines Day greetings. †¢ According to the Greeting Card Association, an estimated one billion valentine cards are sent each year, making Valentines Day the second largest card-sending holiday of the year (An estimated 2. 6 billion cards are sent for Christmas. ). †¢ Approximately 85 percent of all valentines are purchased by women. In addition to the United States, Valentines Day is celebrated in Canada, Mexico, the United Kingdom, France, and Australia. The first commercial Valentines Day greeting cards produced in the U. S. were created in the 1840s by Esther A. Howland. Howland, known as the Mother of the Valentine, made elaborate creations with real lace, ribbons and colourful pictures known as scrap. Who was valentine? The Saint Valentine that appears in various  martyrologies  in connection with February 14 is described either as: ? A  priest  in  Rome, ? A bishop, or A martyr in the Roman province of  Africa. History: (And coming to St . valentine day was supposedly started in the time of the Roman Empire. In Ancient Rome, the date of February 14 was a holiday to honour the Queen of Roman Goddesses and Gods, Juno. Juno was known as the Goddess of women and marriage. The next day February 15 was the first day of the Festival known as the Feast of Lupercia. ) ? On February 14 is was said that the young boys and girls of the villages would write down the names of every girl and place these names in a jar of which each young man would have to draw a name of a girl and this particular maiden would be their partner for the duration of the festival. Sometimes these parings would last a year and end up in marriage. These rituals u nder the laws of Claudius were banned as the Emperor believed that the reasons why men would now go to war were because they did not want to leave their lovers or families. ?   As a result all marriages and engagements were cancelled as a result Saint Valentine a Roman priest was said to have married these couples in secret and for this he was executed on the 14th day of February. ? While St Valentine was in jail it is said that he fell in love with the jailers’ daughter. By a miracle or some say by the prayers of Valentine she gained her sight and as a last farewell in a note he was to From Your Valentine. Another story as to the origins of Valentines Day was that he was a priest who was also a physician and would cure the sick. ? He was also said to have tried to cure the jailers blind daughter, but, was arrested and on the day of his execution he wrote a note as a final farewell saying From your Valentine which some say is what caused her to gain her sight. ? It is also said while he was in jail awaiting execution that he was sent little notes and flowers from the children whom he had helped when they were sick. This also may have been one of the reasons why he sent a farewell note to the jailers’ daughter and why we send valentines. St Valentines Day is celebrated on February 14 of each year; the reason why it is celebrated on this day is because this was the day that the Patron Saint of Lovers St Valentine was supposedly executed on. On this day lovers all around the world mark this occasion as a day for sending poems, cards, flowers or candy, etc. They might also be a social gathering or ball to mark the occasion. Valentine Traditions ? Hundreds of years ago in England, many children dressed up as adults on Valentines Day. They went singing from home to home. One verse they sang was: ? Good morning to you, valentine; Curl your locks as I do mine Two before and three behind. Good morning to you, valentine. ? In Wales wooden love spoons were carved and given as gifts on February 14th. Hearts, keys and keyholes were favourite decorations on the spoons. The decoration meant, You unlock my heart! ? In the Middle Ages, young men and women drew names from a bowl to see who their valentines would be. They would wear these names on their sleeves for one week. To wear your heart on your sleeve now means that it is easy for other people to know how you are feeling. In some countries, a young woman may receive a gift of clothing from a young man. If she keeps the gift, it means she will marry him. ? Some people used to believe that if a woman saw a robin flying overhead on Valentines Day, it meant she would marry a sailor. If she saw a sparrow, she would marry a poor man and be very happy. If she saw a goldfinch, she would marry a millionaire. ? A love seat is a wide chair. It was first made to seat one woman and her wide dress. Later, the love seat or courting seat had two sections, often in an S-shape. In this way, a cou ple could sit together but not too closely! Think of five or six names of boys or girls you might marry, As you twist the stem of an apple, recite the names until the stem comes off. You will marry the person whose name you were saying when the stem fell off. ? Pick a dandelion that has gone to seed. Take a deep breath and blow the seeds into the wind. Count the seeds that remain on the stem. That is the number of children you will have. ? If you cut an apple in half and count how many seeds are inside, you will also know how many children you will have. How did flowers and lace join Valentines Day? Most of the items linked to Valentines Day came from old-fashioned customs that used lace handkerchiefs and floral bouquets to pass on non-verbal messages. ? When the custom went out of style for everyday use, the original meaning was lost and eventually they became part of the Valentines Day tradition. ? Giving flowers dates back to the 1700s when Charles II of Sweden introduced the Pe rsian custom of the language of flowers to Europe. Books about the meanings of particular flowers were published, and entire conversations could be carried out using only a bouquet of flowers. The rose has become the traditional Valentines Day flower. As it has always been a popular flower, the meaning of the red rose is still well known as the flower of passion and love. The red rose is also the favourite flower of Venus, the goddess of love, which helped give the rose its symbolic meaning. ? Lace Centuries ago, a woman would drop her handkerchief in front of the man she liked. This was a form of encouragement to him, and if he picked it up for her an introduction could be made. Lace has always been part of womens handkerchiefs, and it has since been linked to romance. Cupid He is the winged child whose arrows are shot into the hearts of potential lovers. His victims are supposed to fall deeply in love with someone. In both Greek and Roman mythology Cupid is the son of the goddess of love and is always part of celebration of love and lovers. ? The heart The heart is linked to Valentines Day because it was once considered the source of all human emotions. The custom of drawing a heart shape is believed to come from early attempts to draw an organ no one had ever seen. The symbol progressed to become known as a sign of love. Its for the birds: Lovebirds are often part of Valentines Day. Found in Africa, these brightly coloured birds sit very close together with their mates, earning them their name. ? Doves are also part of the tradition. They are symbols of love and loyalty because they mate for life. A pair of doves will also share the care of all their babies. ? Love knots A love knot is a symbol of everlasting love, because its winding loops have no beginnings or ends. In times past, they were made of ribbon or drawn on paper to prove ones undying love. Celebrations: In  India, in the past Valentines Day has been explicitly discouraged by activists. Sin ce 2001 there has been protests opposing it as cultural pollution from the West. Those who violate this are dealt with harshly, chasing young people holding hands and others suspected to be lovers. ? Despite complaints from religious groups that it is an affront to Indian tradition and culture, and further westernizing the Indian populous, Valentines Day has now become a widely recognized and celebrated day with Indian people. ? Traditionally, the choice of whom a young girl marries, was usually made by her parents. Now though, many educated and professional women in India are following their own hearts, and the young men have also discovered that Valentines Day offers an opportunity to lure the young women their way. ? The Indian Post Office is also cashing in. It has launched a set of floral-scented stamps for Valentines Day and hopes this will encourage people to send letters and cards to each other, rather than relying on emails and text messages to express their love. ? Trad itional Indian society does not approve of public displays of affection between men and women, including hand-holding and kissing. Another Hindu organization, the Shiv Sena, has said it will take pictures of couples caught expressing their love in cinemas, cafes, and shopping malls and give the pictures to their parents. ? Valentines Day is a relatively new concept in India but it has grown in significance in the past five years. Valentine Day Facts ? Teachers receive the most Valentines Day cards, followed by children, mothers, wives, and then, sweethearts. Children between ages 6 to 10 exchange more than 650 million Valentines cards with teachers, classmates, and family members. 73% of Valentine Day flowers are bought by men, whereas women buy only 23% of Valentine flowers. ? Amongst the earliest Valentines Day gifts were candies. The most common were chocolates in heart shaped boxes. ? Around 3% of pet owners prefer to give Valentine gifts to their pets, as they are more grateful than humans. Conclusion: And so here is a complete list of suggestions to give at Valentines. Hope you and *someone* live happy forever. I like chocolates and plushies and my favourite sidebar is the valentines one. Just in case you were wondering. Quotes Gravitation is not responsible for people falling in love When love is not madness, it is not love. â€Å"Lifes greatest happiness is to be convinced we are loved. † â€Å"A life without love is like a year without summer. † There is no remedy for love but to love more. Some love lasts a lifetime. True love lasts forever. Love is the greatest refreshment in life. At the touch of love everyone becomes a poet. Love is a mutual self-giving which ends in self-recovery. Better to have loved and lost, than to have never loved at all. To love another person is to see the face of God. There is no remedy for love but to love more. Def: Valentines Day is a day to express your love, and to celebrate the spirit of lov e. On feb 14, we think about people we love. we also think abt frnds. we may send these special people messages called valentines. it is fun to make or choose these decorated greetings. it feels good to thm when some times give and get gifts. February 14 is valentines day. Every FEB 14, people around the world show their frndship love for those around them by celebrating valentines day. Valentines day has been around for hundred of years. The antient Romans celebrated a Lupercalia, a festival in honour of roman god faunas. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "History of St. Valentines Day" essay for you Create order

Letter From A Gifted Kid - 830 Words

Letter from a gifted kid Dear world, stop the music. Stop talking. Stop everything because I have to find my thoughts again. I have to think again because if I can t think, I have nothing. There is nothing for me. I am not beautiful without those thoughts. I am not talented without those thoughts. I am no longer the kid that so many people believed in without those thoughts. I am the dust on the ground that someone should have kicked, someone should have trampled, someone should have spewed spit on, but decided not to because they thought one day it would rain, the sun would shine, clouds would part, and a seed would sprout forth new life from the dust. If only they urged the plant to grow, a flower would open awestricken to the sky. Well, guess what! It rained, the sun shined, clouds parted, but all that was left was mud- mud that can t think, mud that can t put pen to paper like it did in the fourth grade, mud with a brain that doesn t move as quick as it should or used to move, mud that can t explain the experiment it told you about as an eight year old, mud that can t decide on a path and stick to it (Millions diverged in a yellow wood), mud that is still stuck at the fork, mud trying to muddle through the mess of its mind, the trash left from years of gathering information, the torrent of short-lived passions, the debris left from the war of trying to fulfill some prescribed destiny, lost mud, sad mud. Middle school mud that promised it would never allow itselfShow MoreRelatedFinding The Teachers Perception About The Giftedness Early Childhood1045 Words   |  5 Pagesto grasp array of perspectives and multiple interpretations of the individuals regarding the issue I am investigating (Glesne, 1999). Researcher Reflexivity Everything started when I realized my misconception about one of my students. Let’s start from the beginning of my short but eye opening teaching career. It was seven years ago, when I started working as a kindergarten teacher in a public elementary school in my country, Turkey. I had several internship experiences for four semesters in differentRead MoreThe Importance of Maintaining Gifted Programs: Schools Must Not Neglect Gifted Children1164 Words   |  5 Pages Many people are of the opinion that special education programs for gifted children are an unnecessary burden on tightly-budgeted and under-funded school systems, but this is actually far from the truth. The gifted are perhaps the most neglected group of special needs children in almost every school district. Because many people assume that the gifted do not need extra attention, gifted programs are often the first program to be cut when budgets are reduced, but I suggest that they be the lastRead MoreSchool Contextual Factors That Influence Instruction1802 Words   |  8 Pages1.1.1: Community, District, School Contextual Factors That Influence Instruction a. One community factor I would address is the diversity. In the contextual factors chart I reported that the area of these students come from are not diverse at all and is predominantly white. My chart state that there are 85% white that attend this school. To teach my classroom about diversity I will use this knowledge to have some lessons about diversity. Since they are preschoolers it will not be as easy gettingRead MoreHarry Potter - Original Writing1045 Words   |  5 Pagesmaking him The Boy Who Lived . Harry was then gathered by Rubeus Hagrid, and they headed out to Surrey, where they met Albus Dumbledore and Minerva McGonagall. They cleared out Harry on the doorstep of Lily s mugger sister (Petunia s) home with a letter clarifying what had happened. Reluctantly taking him in, Petunia and her spouse Vernon raised Harry close by their child Dudley. Harry grew up being marginal mishandled and compelled to rest in the organizer under the stairs. He taught at a very earlyRead MoreInclusion in the Public School Classroom Essay1537 Words   |  7 Pagespeers tend to have a higher tolerance to differences with people and less of an anxiety about approaching, befriending, and helping those with more needs then themselves. As this author from ehow.com points out; â€Å"Students with disabilities are often able to learn better because of the increased confidence that comes from not being segregated into classes for different students† (Contributor). So, it is obvious that there are benefits to this topic. The discussion regarding the benefits of inclusionRead MoreWhy Intelligence Is Measured By Standardized Test Scores And Letter Grades1521 Words   |  7 Pagesone who is gifted in mathematics, yet is below average when it comes to skills in their art class is not faulted for their loss of artistic talent. They are praised for their intelligence no matter their artistic prowess. Artistic students are constantly made to feel deficient, as if there is something wrong with them if the struggle with STEM subjects. This paper focuses on asking why students are made to feel that way. Why intelligence is measured in standardized test scores and letter grades. ItRead MoreSmartphone : The Best Source Of Information And Communication In The Daily Writing Prompts967 Words   |  4 Pagesknown as the smartphone. The process of sharing information has just became a whole lot quicker with this device. The amount of information online is unbelievable, and accessible from your pocket with the use o f a smartphone. These devices allow messages to be sent and received in seconds when previously, written letters would take weeks to go back and forth. This also allows for humankind to advance even faster through the process of sharing ideas and information online. Sliced bread was such a goodRead MoreDescriptive Essay : Mascots 862 Words   |  4 Pagesthe far corner of the building. This isn’t the first sight I expected to find at my new high school. He leans against the wall with one of his legs kicked up like some sort of cowboy. Since this is a small Midwestern town and not Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters, something suspicious is up. He raises his right hand to his whiskered snout as if deeply contemplating something. What curious thoughts would be on the mind of an animal man? Though he has been facing another direction the entire timeRead MoreEarly Childhood Education Past and Present881 Words   |  4 Pageseducation, and will always be an integral pa rt of effective learning. Once we understand that children learn and practice what they see in others, we begin to realize the need for dedication and devotion from parents and teachers. Aristotle was a student of Plato who argued for the early removal of children from their parents so that they could be cared for in a school like setting. (Schwartz 1997) As we look back at history itself, we can see that the role of childhood education has been dependent uponRead MoreSymptoms And Symptoms Of The Condition Of Dyslexia1637 Words   |  7 PagesRunning head: CAPITAL LETTERS Title Alondra Alcala Homer Hanna High School Literature and Compositions Mr. Gonzalez (March 22, 2016) Abstract This paper explores articles that inform about the condition of dyslexia, like the possible causes, the various signs and symptoms that can be noticed at different ranges of age, the skills affected by dyslexia and the different ways to improve affected skills, the ways to diagnose dyslexia and the importance of doing so, and last but not least

Memoirs Free Essays

Anne Frank is the best known of these two people, far more than Romeo Dallaire. Her struggle for survival and her eventual plight of death in a concentration camp have awed the world for the last sixty years. Just a young girl who had the rest of her life to look forward to and her youthful plans for that life that were snuffed short by a war machine and the hatred of a man she would never see, Adolph Hitler. We will write a custom essay sample on Memoirs or any similar topic only for you Order Now Hitler’s madness and his intricate hatred for followers of the Jewish faith subsequently brought a halt to millions of lives of people that had never seen him, known him or would have ever harmed him. His fanatical crusade for the â€Å"Arian† race to populate the world and do an ethnic cleansing of any other race, creed or religion created one of the most horrendous and infamous atrocities in world history, the Holocaust. Everyone who has ever read Diary of a Young Girl could not help but be moved by Anne Frank’s courage and optimism during her enforced hiding with her family and the other residents in that attic as she tried to maintain hope in the ominous face of an adverse society that had invaded her native country. It is truly amazing how she managed to maintain her sanity and her outlook on life through such a horrific ordeal. Just fifteen years old with very little experience at life, she seemed to possess a profound ability to see things as they â€Å"really were† and not as she or the others would have wished them to be. Yet, it did not seem to quell her belief that there was good in people and that only a few were responsible for the misery that is often imposed upon others simply because of another’s beliefs or policies. It has to make one wonder if it were not partly because it was a more innocent time in the world when children were not constantly besieged by violence, crime or prejudice. Though probably one of the world’s most famous victims of prejudice, Anne Frank maintained that innocence through her whole life. She was a child caught in a nightmare not of her own making and she along with millions of others suffered because of that nightmare. Romeo Dallaire was a military man that by choice involved him in these types of matters. A Canadian Major General, Dallaire, headed a small United Nations peacekeeping force, UNAMIR, in Rwanda, Africa. Horrible atrocities became evident to him and he set out to appeal for help in these murders that were so ethnic in nature. It involved a conflict that the ruling regime, the Hutu, had begun mass massacres of the Tutsis, a different sect within the country. It was totally classified as ethnic in policy. When Dallaire faxed for advice in 1994, his fax was treated with little or no attention. The United Nations refused to acknowledge it as genocide and would not allow Dallaire to do anything beyond the regular rules that his small military unit was allowed to pursue. Dallaire had to sit back helplessly and watch this atrocity go unchecked. Unlike Anne Frank, he was not a personal victim but he was just as helpless in changing the effect of what was happening. In his writings later, Shake Hands With The Devil, Dallaire expounded on the ineffectualness of Genocide Committees, such as the UN had, when it was doubtful if a particular action within a country can be termed as ethnic genocide. Time has proven constantly that other countries or even the United Nations in these more modern times are extremely hesitant to act despite sometimes often insurmountable proof that ethnic cleansing is occurring and it should be stopped immediately. So what similarities would be between Anne Frank and Romeo Dallaire? They both wrote important works on the results and after effects of ethnic cleansing and genocidal war. Anne Frank’s viewpoint came from an innocent bystander. Her only crime? She was a Jew. She had led a quiet gentle life within a loving family structure and she was only aware of the persecution of the Jewish population by what was happening around her. Once in seclusion, her writings intensified as she grew more and more aware of the plight of other people and of her childhood friends and their families either frantically trying to escape or captured by the Nazis and sent to the concentration camps where most of them never returned. Her diary, which she referred to as â€Å"Kitty†, was begun before she and her family were forced into hiding. It shows all the normal qualities of a young girl her age. Her young hopes and dreams and the beginnings of puberty. Her delightful and expectant views of what life would be like when she was grown were the strongest proof of her innocence. She was a friendly, astute and open person and those qualities did stand her in good stead while she remained in hiding for two years. She managed to maintain a very mature calm while some of the older adults around her were literally â€Å"falling to pieces.† She seemed to rise above the petty squabbles and accusations that formed when so many people are crammed into such close quarters for so long. She tried not to dwell on the lack of food, fresh air, or miserable living conditions that she existed in but instead took a very philosophical point of view of what was happening around her and to her. Her incredible courage has inspired people constantly through the years since her untimely death and the publication of her diary. She very clearly knew the difference between right and wrong. Through her diary, she made a world wake up to how quickly one group can impose its values on another and if the imposed group refused those values, then violence and mass death could erupt from it. To quote the old phrase â€Å"Out of the mouths of babes†, whether trite or not, in this instance, a child taught an adult world what was wrong with prejudice, stupidity and the aggressiveness of war. Romeo Dallaire’s own writings have been a good source for endless purposes as far as a teaching and informative guide to how not to miss the very clear signs of ethnic war. Because Dallaire’s hands were tied in the military sense and the United Nations’ refusal to act upon his advice from the situation that eventually escalated into a full scale war. Dallaire is often quoted by writers on war and genocide because his graphic description of how the massacring of the Tutsis people in Rwanda should have been clear warning signs of what was going to happen. It is one thing to set of councils against genocide but to refuse to act upon situations that fall under the jurisdiction of these councils is almost as heinous as the very acts of war themselves. In an odd comparison, Anne Frank and Romeo Dallaire were exactly alike as they were both witnesses to these atrocities and they were both completely helpless to do anything to stop them outside of writing about them. It is perhaps some comfort that through both of their written observations, we, as a world, are better able to see the fallacy in these types of confrontations and hopefully in the future, take more steps to insure that they never happen again. Works Cited/ References: 1.How to Prevent Genocide: A Guide for Policymakers, Scholars, and the Concerned Citizen by John G. Heindenrich, Praeger Publishing, 2001 2. The Door of Opportunity: Creating a Permanent Peacekeeping Force:   Journal Article by Lionel Rosenblatt, Larry Thompson, World Policy Journal, Vol. 15, 1998 3. Understanding Anne Frank’s the Diary of A Young Girl, A Student Casebook to Issues, Sources, and Historical Documents by Hedda   Rosner Kopf, Greenwood Press, 1998 4. Anne Frank: The Biography: Magazine Article by Martyn Bedford; New Statesman, Vol. 129, April 2, 1999 How to cite Memoirs, Essay examples

Problems In Intercultural Communication Essay Example For Students

Problems In Intercultural Communication Essay Word Count: 1681 Humans have been communicating since four million years. On the other hand, the birth of culture is estimated to have token place about 35,000 years ago. Today, both culture and communication have evolved considerably and have become interdependent of one another, to the point that communication is considered to be a product of culture. Thus, our own culture has a deep impact on our thoughts and behaviors. Since each culture has its distinct aspects, intercultural communication can be the cause of conflict and disorder. There are three main issues which are at the root of the problem of intercultural miscommunication : language as a barrier, cultural diversity and ethnocentrism. I will analyze these three notions in situations in which intercultural communication is frequent such as : the workplace, the classroom and vacation trips. The way people communicate varies widely between, and even within, cultures. One aspect of communication style is language usage. Language has always been perceived as a link between people but it can also constitute a barrier. Across cultures, some words and phrases are used in different ways. For example, even in countries that share the English language, the meaning of yes varies from maybe, Ill consider it; to ;definitely so,; with many shades in between . Furthermore, communication between cultures which do not share the same language is considerably more difficult . Each culture, has its distinct syntax, expressions and structure which causes confusion in intercultural communication. For example , in Asian countries the word no is rarely used, so that yea can mean no or perhaps. Therefore, an American traveling to Japan might be considered impolite if he ignores this rule. Furthermore, individuals who are not comfortable with a certain language may not be taken seriously. Such is the case in the classroom, where a student who has a perfect knowledge of the subject in question may have difficulty expressing his idea due to his inability to write properly and therefore he would not receive the grade he truly deserves. Similarly intercultural communication is dominant in the workplace. In the past, many companies and organizations could operate entirely within their country of origin and conduct their activities exclusively in their own native language. But now, due to an increasingly amount of intercultural business, some American companies require for their employees to have a good knowledge in languages such as Japanese, German, Italian Sociolinguists examine social and cultural influences on language behavior. Among the most important concepts to emerge are those relating to dialects and language standards. Sociolinguists have documented the presence of dialects in every language. These dialects, all of which are legitimate, are associated with educational, economic, social and historical conditions. Hence, even if an individual scrupulously studies all the possible dictionaries of a random language, he would still be somewhat of a stranger to that language since he is unaware of all the dialectal changes. In addition to differences in pronunciation, vocabulary and grammatical structures among cultural groups, variations also exist in the rules for general discourse in oral communication, covering such specific acts as narratives and conversation. In communicating with one another, teachers and students naturally will follow the assumptions and rules governing discourse within their respective cultures. Discourse rules govern such aspects of communication as: opening or closing conversations; taking turns during conversations; interrupting; using silence as a communicative device; interjecting humor at appropriate times and using nonverbal behavior. Once again, an American student studying in the middle east, who would constantly interrupt the teacher in order to clarify the professors opinion, would be considered to be extremely rude since he would be defying his authority. Atomic Bomb EssayBesides language other intercultural differences may be the cause of conflict. Hence, in this specific case, diversity is considered to be at the root of miscommunication. In comparison to verbal communication, non verbal communication takes a different form in different cultures. Gestures and facial expressions play a key role in communication. However, each culture incorporates different types of gestures and disregards others. For example, in most western societies , it is customary to shake ones hand upon introduction. However, in most oriental countries shaking ones hand is frown upon, since they believe bowing is the only .