It’s funny the way our “base culture” can shape the way we look at the world. The other day I came across a picture of a black couple from the U.S. posing ironically in front of what appeared to be scary guys in KKK hoods…but if course it was the cofradías (Brotherhood of Penitents) of Seville, Spain, whose unique costumes date back to the 14th century. It’s similar to the minor shock Westerners get when they arrive in Japan and see swastikas printed on Japanese maps. The symbols (which are left-facing, the opposite of the ones we see on History Channel documentaries) are called manji and are an ancient symbol used in Buddhist and Hindu countries to denote the locations of temples. A few years ago my wife and children visited a friend in Kuala Lumpur, Malysia, staying at her house. The friend was quite wealthy and employed several maids to clean their house and cook, which caused some confusion with my daughter, who wondered why the women weren’t wearing flamboyant uniforms modeled after 19th century French maids. To her, a maid is a kawaii female who serves coffee and cakes for her go-shujin-sama (“master”), maybe while wearing cat ears for extra cuteness. We all had a big laugh at this interesting example of culture shock.
Some thoughts on culture shock and maids.
