Cultural Event Report on the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History - Essay Example

CULTURAL EVENT REPORT Event and Location The museum visited was the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History. This is a museum located in Washington D.C. The museum served as the event location for the cultural festival that was attended. It could be realized that the National Museum of Natural History was highly suitable for the cultural festival due to its composition and general make up. For example the museum contains a collection of over 125 million natural science specimens and cultural artifacts (Cooper, 2012).

This makes it highly ideal for cultural events, where people come to have a sight the relationship between scientific developments and cultural changes. What is more, the event location has also been specially adapted for research purposes and so it does not only provide visitors with sight seeing but comprehensive learning experience. It is not surprising therefore that the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History remains the world’s most visited natural history museum (Cooper, 2012).

The event attended was the World Cultural Integration Festival. This is a world cultural festival that is organized to coincide with some of the world’s most popular happenings in culture and scientific discovery. To this end, for the year in review, the festival was organized on July 1 to coincide with the abolition of the slave trade and signing of the Slavery Abolition Act 1833. Due to the theme of the event for the year, which centered on cultural integration, there were visitors from all over the world including all major continents.

A roll call actually showed that there were representatives from as many as 40 different countries. Even though some of these attendees to the cultural festival at the museum live in the United states, their presence was good enough to give a cultural blending representation of the event as diversity in culture was displayed at its best on the day. Upon arriving at the event, my initial reaction was one that reflected the theme and purpose of the event and was able to carry me throughout the event.

This is because the very first reaction I had upon arriving at the event was that culture is diverse; culture is dynamic; and the integration of different cultures is beautiful. This impression and reaction was as a result of how different people from different parts of the world had come together with a single purpose of learning about the other person and learning to live with what other people have. The diversity was seen in the dresses that people and the language they spoke. It also exhibited in their general conduct.

However the differences, all people present did well to get on well with the other from a different cultural background so well. Description of Specific Pieces At the Hall of Human Origins, there was a piece of lifelike full-size reconstruction of hominid species, which has been preserved over the years at the museum to give a vivid idea of how the human species has evolved over the years (Cooper, 2012b). From lessons learnt about this piece, it was realized that the human species has evolved for about 6 million years.

The hominid species was critically examined by all present and using an artifact of a number of stages of the human evolution process, it was realized by all present that indeed, all human, no matter their cultural origin or background have certain innate and natural qualities in common. It is the similarity and oneness about our origin that should make us see ourselves as one people and not try to show supremacy over others due to their cultural origins. The second piece that was very interesting was an artifact of a butterfly evolving from a piece of plant.

The artifact was made of wood and was in brown color. In the piece, the butterfly could be seen bulging out of the plant. This piece gave a direct relationship between science and human culture in a very beautiful fashion. For example, while the artifact generally showed that plants and butterflies have evolved together over the years, it also showed how the human species has evolved on its own without any direct link with other forms of species. The message that this sends down to the visitor is that humans would continue to be the keepers and brothers of each other in generations to come and so the need for them to live in harmony and unity.

Summary The event, its location, its theme and the attendees come together to give a vivid picture of the cultural heritage of the human species and how special this species it, regardless of some differences that exists among it. Culture has been a dynamic way of expressing the dynamic ways in which humans can live. However, events in history like the Slave Trade have given an idea of how this dynasm can be abused in some instances. But with the present cultural festival and the pieces and preservations of the museum for that matter have given a clear indication of how possible it is for people to co-exist in differences emanating from cultural backgrounds.

REFERENCE LIST Cooper R, (2012b). Best 5 Washington DC Museums. Accessed December 13, 2012 from http://dc.about.com/od/museums/tp/Best5Museums.htm Cooper R. (2012). Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History. Accessed December 14, 2012 from http://dc.about.com/od/museums/p/NaturalHistory.htm