American Indian Awareness Week on April, 2024: Indian Values still present in India's youth?

American Indian Awareness Week 2024. American Indian/Indigenous Awareness Week : Multicultural Center Images. American

Indian lovebirds had reason to rejoice this Valentine's Day thanks to a recent court ruling that cleared a young married couple who were caught kissing in public of "obscene" behaviour.

But the verdict is unlikely to have much of an impact in a country that still squirms at public displays of affection and where even hand-holding can elicit awkward stares and snickers.

Indians still recall the uproar when American actor Richard Gere locked lips with Bollywood starlet Shilpa Shetty at an AIDS awareness event in 2007, leading a judge to issue an arrest warrant against him.

The debate over what is appropriate social behaviour has intensified in recent weeks after several right-wing Hindu groups threatened to target unmarried couples and unleashed a tirade against "un-Indian" mores.

Although many people condemned such extreme reactions, they also criticised a growing "pub and mall culture," an indication that many Indians are uncomfortable with practices seen as culturally alien.

At the heart of this debate are the more than 422 million Indians aged under 35, many from the urban middle-class generation that embraced "Western" imports such as MTV and McDonald's but are reluctant to push the boundaries their parents stayed within.

Despite the popularity of Bollywood movies with sexually suggestive scenes, dating and common-law relationships, there is little chance of life imitating art when the sanctity of tradition, culture and morality are at stake.

"Bollywood has always been escapist," said Rashmi Bansal, the editor of youth magazine JAM.

"I think people have an internal antenna which tells them... this is a movie but this cannot happen in real life."

While JAM's core readership is comprised of young Indians with exposure to economic and political globalisation, Bansal said they are still most comfortable with soft consumerism that doesn't threaten long-held values.

"We're okay with adopting many things from the West, but there is a certain something called family values which means in a nutshell we should not drink, we should not date," said Bansal.

"Everything you do somehow still has a reference point about whether it's acceptable to your family."

Padma Govindan, founder of the Chennai-based Shakti Centre that promotes dialogue on gender and sexuality, agreed.

"Middle and upper-middle class in India really like being able to buy Nike sneakers and Louis Vuitton bags," she said.

"But what they don't like is that along with those consumable goods comes the idea that there could be a shift in values as well. That plays into this very deep-held schizophrenia and anxiety around sexuality in India," said Govindan.

Govindan wrote a weekly sex advice column in the New Indian Express daily until it was axed in January for being too risque. It still exists online, but the complaints it drew highlighted the limits of public discourse on traditionally taboo subjects.

Even so-called "liberal" Indians often draw the line at any promotion of non-heterosexual lifestyles.

Much of this discomfort with non-traditional family structures comes down to the pressure of living in villages and non-urban settings, said Anand Kumar, a sociologist at Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi.

"Seventy percent of India is still living in face-to-face communities, where anonymity is not possible," a world away from urban India "where people can have live-in relationships, gay or lesbian partnerships," he said.

Regardless of location and lifestyle though, Anand said all youth face an "acute pressure for continuity" in the face of globalisation.

"A lot of the publicly played-out conflicts of values, cultures, ideas and behaviours that we're seeing in India were the same things that were happening in America 30-40 years ago," said Govindan...

Where can I find the list of occasions for everyday of the year?

Here is a site that has EVERYTHING (URL below):

---- April 2.

Autism Awareness Week

---- April 5 - 11.

Adult Literacy Awareness Month

---- September.

AIDS Awareness Month, National

---- November.

Alaska Day

---- October 18.

Alaska Flag Day

---- July 9.

American Beer Month

---- July.

American Eagle Day

---- June 20.

American Family Day

---- August 2.

American Heart Month

---- February.

American Indian Heritage Month, National

---- November.

American Recycles Day, National

---- November 15.

American Red Cross Month

ETC..

Black History: Are their other months that celebrate different ethic groups and culturals?

Of course, there are but some people want to whine about Black History Month. There are Jewish, Irish and Italian-American Heritage months all white.

Heritage and History Months

National Mentoring Month - January

Acknowledging the positive impact mentoring has on young lives is the goal of this celebration. The first observance was in 2002, spearheaded by the Harvard Mentoring Project and MENTOR/National Mentoring Partnership. The month brings attention to the need for mentors, as well as how individuals, businesses, government agencies, schools, faith communities, and nonprofits can work together to ensure productive lives for young people.

African American History Month (Black History Month) - February

Prior to 1925, little information could be found in the US about African American history. A widely held belief existed that African Americans had made little contribution to US society. In 1926, Carter G. Woodson spearheaded the first Negro History Week to raise awareness. Fifty years later, the week was expanded to a month. February was selected because of the birthdays of Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass, two individuals who dramatically affected the lives of African Americans.

Women's History Month - March

On March 8, 1857, garment workers in New York City staged one of the first organized protests by working women. Women’s groups internationally have designated times to mark this day. To add women’s history into educational curricula, a Women’s History Week was initiated in 1978. By 1981, the week was a national event, and in 1987, the National Women’s History Project petitioned Congress to include all of March as a celebration of women.

Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month - May

Generations of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders have strengthened the US as a nation. Many ethnic groups worked tirelessly to build a national railroad, paving the way for western expansion. The first Asian/Pacific Heritage Week was celebrated in 1979, in response to little recognition of this population during the 1976 bicentennial. By 1990, the celebration was one month long and then made official in 1992.

Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Pride Month - June

Until recently, Pride Days for individuals who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender (LGBT) were celebrated at many different times all over the US. The most significant date in LGBT history occurring in June was the 3-day protest in 1969 at the Stonewall Inn in New York City, an event that marked the first time that the gay community joined together to fight for its rights, thereby gaining national attention. The anniversary of this event was one of the reasons June was chosen as the nationally proclaimed month to celebrate LGBT Pride.

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Hispanic Heritage Month - September

In 1968, Congress first designated the week including September 15 and 16 as National Hispanic Heritage Week. This week was chosen because of two historical events: Independence Day (September 15), which celebrates the formal signing of the Act of Independence of Central America in 1821; and Mexico’s Independence Day (September 16), which commemorates the beginning of the struggle against Spanish control in 1810. In 1988, Congress expanded the week to a full 31-day period beginning September 15.

American Indian Heritage Month - November

Since 1900, many have sought to recognize the great influence American Indians have had on the history, cultural development, and continuing growth of the US. Various dates and weeks were acknowledged until 1976, when Congress authorized a week in October as Native American Awareness Week. Finally, in 1990, the month of November was chosen because it is traditionally a time when many American Indians gather for fall harvest festivals, world-renewal ceremonies, and powwows.

May is Jewish American Heritage Month.

March Is Irish-American Heritage Month.

October is Italian Heritage Month.