Customs/Religion

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Customs/Religion Culture
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Jewish

• Funeral The deceased must be buried as soon as
• possible. No coffin is used.
• Cap on holy grounds
• Praying at least 3 times a day group praying
• Food
• Livestock no rabbit meat, pork and horse meat
• Fowl no birds (chicken, duck and goose are o.k.)
• Seafood only the ones with fins and scales (no
  eels, lobsters and crabs)
• Daily product Milk and cheese cant be consumed
  with meat at the same time (6 hrs apart separate
  plates for daily product and meat).
• Absolutely no insects and bugs (vegetable
  cleaning)

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• Star of David
• Sabbath
• starting from the sunset of Friday to the sunset
  of Saturday
• No working farming, driving, writing, sewing,
  cooking, shopping, business
• No entertainment, traveling or war

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Buddhism

• Buddhists believe that life does not begin with
  birth and end with death, but rather that every
  person has several lives based upon the lessons
  of life not yet learned and acts committed (karma
  ??????) in previous lives.
• Buddhists believe that selfishness and craving
  result in suffering and that compassion and love
  bring happiness and well-being.

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• The true path to peace is to eliminate all
  desire, a condition which Buddhists define as
  nirvana (???????????????????) -state free of
  desire, suffering, or further rebirth, in which a
  person simply is, and is completely at one with
  his surroundings.

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Five Commandments in Buddhism

• Dont kill.
• Dont steal or rob.
• Dont say inappropriate words.
• Dont drink alcohol.
• Dont lust.

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Proper Behavior According to Buddhist Doctrine

• Great emphasis and value is placed on outward
  forms of courtesy such as politeness, respect,
  and self-control in order to maintain harmonious
  relations.
• It promotes a non-confrontational society, in
  which public dispute or criticism is to be
  avoided at all costs. .

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• To be openly angry with someone might attract the
  wrath of the spirits, which in turn could cause
  violence and tragedy.
• Openly criticizing a person is a form of violence
  as it hurts the person and is viewed as a
  conscious attempt to offend the person being
  rebuked.
• Loss of face is a disgrace to a Thai so they try
  to avoid confrontations and look for compromises
  in difficult situations.

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Buddhist Countries
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Islam

• A single, indivisible God. (God, the creator, is
  just, omnipotent and merciful. "Allah" is often
  used to refer to God it is the Arabic word for
  God.)
• The Day of Judgment when people will be judged on
  the basis of their deeds while on earth, and will
  either attain reward of Heaven or punishment in
  Hell. They do not believe that Jesus or any other
  individual can atone for another person's sin.
  Hell is where unbelievers and sinners spend
  eternity.

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• Other beliefs
• The supremacy of God's will.
• God did not have a son. Jesus (pbuh) is a
  prophet, born of the Virgin Mary.
• Jesus (pbuh) was not executed on the cross. He
  escaped crucifixion and was taken up into
  Paradise.
• Alcohol, illegal drugs, eating of pork, etc. are
  to be avoided.
• Gambling is to be avoided.

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Ramadan

• It takes place during the ninth month of the
  Islamic calendar.
• The name "Ramadan" is taken from the name of
  this month the word itself derived from an
  Arabic word for intense heat, scorched ground,
  and shortness of rations. It is considered the
  most blessed month of the Islamic year.
• Fasting is practiced by most Muslim during the
  month.

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Islamic Countries
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Points of Etiquette

• Clothing
• modest and conservative
• Violators of dress codes will be frown at or
  evicted from various places, especially holy
  sites.

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Head Covering

• The etiquette at many
• Muslim holy sites requires
• that a headscarf or some
• other modest head covering
• be worn. For women this might
• be a hijab and for men it might
• be a kufi, turban or keffiyeh.

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• turban
  keffiyeh

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• Yarmulke
  Kerchief/veil
• (Jewish men) (Orthodox
  Christian)

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Clothing taboos for female visitors

• Shorts
• Skirts above the knee
• Sleeveless blouses
• Low necklines
• Bikini at the pool
• Both men and women from other cultures are
  expected to wear non-revealing clothes.

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Left hand

• Among Muslims, the left hand is reserved for
  bodily hygiene and considered unclean. Thus, the
  right hand should be used for eating. Shaking
  hands or handing over an item with one's left
  hand is an insult.

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• Public displays of affection are often frowned
  upon. This may even include hand-holding between
  people of opposite gender.

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• In many cases, people of the same gender holding
  hands while walking is considered an ordinary
  display of friendship without romantic
  connotations

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• Many people in the Middle East claim a more
  modest area of personal space than that which is
  usual elsewhere. Accordingly, it can seem rude
  for an individual to step away when another
  individual is stepping closer.

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• In regard to vocal emphasis, volume and body
  language, people in the Middle East may
  communicate in ways which other people (such as
  English and Germans) reserve for when they are
  angry or upset. This should be kept in mind when
  analyzing the mood of a situation.

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• Special respect is paid to older people in many
  circumstances. This can include standing when
  older people enter a room, always greeting older
  people before others present (even if they are
  better known to you), standing when speaking to
  ones elders and serving older people first at a
  meal table.

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• Many people throughout the Middle East,
  especially Arabs, take great pride in shows of
  hospitality, never failing to at least serve
  coffee and a snack such as figs but preferring to
  present guests with a lavish choice of expensive
  delicacies in abundance. To refuse such
  hospitality can cause offense.

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• In some areas in the Middle East, it is common
  for people to take their food from a common plate
  in the center of the table. Rather than employing
  forks or spoons, people may scoop up hummus and
  other foodstuff with pita bread.

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• In many Middle Eastern countries, grouping the
  thumb and fingers together, and shaking it up and
  down, fingers pointing upwards, indicates "wait".

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• In Iraq and Iran, the thumbs up" gesture is
  considered an offensive insult.

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• Displaying the sole of one's foot or touching
  somebody with one's shoe is often considered
  rude. In some circumstances, shoes should be
  removed before entering a living room.

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• Many in the Middle East do not separate
  professional and personal life. Doing business
  revolves much more around personal relationships,
  family ties, trust and honour. There is a
  tendency to prioritise personal matters above all
  else. It is therefore crucial that business
  relationships are built on mutual friendship and
  trust.

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Hinduism

• Hindus recognize one God, Brahman (???????), the
  eternal origin who is the cause and foundation of
  all existence.
• Moksha Hindus believe that the soul passes
  through a cycle of successive lives and its next
  incarnation is always dependent on how the
  previous life was lived.
• The soul There are many different conceptions of
  the soul. What is the soul, where does it live
  and what happens to it when we die?

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Dinning Etiquette of Hindu

• The cardinal rule of dining is to always use the
  right hand when eating or receiving food and
  never the left.
• Everyone must thoroughly wash their hands before
  sitting at the table as some Indian foods are
  primarily eaten by hand. Additionally, one must
  wash their hands after eating the food.
• Almost all Hindus consider the cow sacred, and
  never eat beef.

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• In formal settings, it is expected that everyone
  will wait for the host or the eldest person - the
  elder taking priority over the host - to begin
  eating before everyone else starts.
• It is not necessary to taste each and every dish
  prepared but you must finish everything on the
  plate as it is considered a respect for served
  food.

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Alcohol and Religion

• Some religions most notably Islam, Sikhism,
  Jainism, the Bahá'í Faith, The Church of Jesus
  Christ of Latter-day Saints, the Seventh-day
  Adventist Church, the Theravada and most Mahayana
  schools of Buddhism, some Protestant sects of
  Fundamentalist Christianity and Hinduism
  forbid, discourage, or restrict the consumption
  of alcoholic beverages for various reasons.
• In the early Islamic period drinking was
  considered to be one of the two offences against
  God, the other being illicit sex. Even now
  according to Islam several Qur'anic verses are
  commonly understood to prohibit the use of
  alcohol. The Qu'ran says that although there are
  some benefits in alcohol, the sins are greater
  than the benefits(Qur'an 2219). Only the use
  of alcohol for medical, scientific, industrial
  and automotive purposes is allowed. But, the
  Islamic view on heaven includes promises of
  "rivers of the finest wine" that are free from
  alcohol so believers will not suffer intoxication
  therefrom(Qur'an 3747).
• Many Christian denominations use wine in the
  Eucharist and permit the use of alcohol in
  moderation, while others use unfermented grape
  juice in the Eucharist and abstain from alcohol
  by choice or prohibit it outright.
• The Jewish religion uses wine on Shabbat for
  Kiddush as well as in the Passover ceremony and
  in other religious ceremonies, including Purim,
  and allows the moderate use of alcohol, such as
  kosher wine.
• Buddhist texts recommend refraining from drugs
  and alcohol, because they may inhibit
  mindfulness.
• Many Pagan religions, however, have had a
  completely reverse view on alcohol and
  drunkenness - some have actively promoted it as
  means of fertility cult on promoting fertility
  and sexual lust. Alcohol is seen to increase lust
  and sexual desires and to lower the threshold of
  approaching another person. For example, Norse
  paganism considered alcohol as the sap of
  Yggdrasil, and drunkenness and intoxication by
  mushrooms was an important rite of fertility.
  Somewhat paradoxically, one pharmacodynamic
  effect of alcohol reduces sexual arousal.