Hospitality
The act or practice of being hospitable, that is, the reception and entertainment of guests, visitors, or strangers, with liberality and goodwill. Hospitality frequently refers to the hospitality industry jobs for hotels, restaurants, casinos, catering, resorts, clubs and any other service position that deals with tourists.
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Hospitality as a sociological phenomenon
As hospitality is a sociological phenomenon, and because its norms differ in each society, there might be:
- Christian view of hospitality,
Paul of Taurus urged hospitality on Christians, telling them that some people have thus entertained angels. Offering hospitality to pilgrims was a major duty of a monastery.
- Middle Eastern (Arab) rules of hospitality,
- Greek hospitality (Xenia is Greek for hospitality, but not necessarily norms that non-ancient Greeks follow),
A famous Greek legend Baucis and Philemon, recounts how they, though poor, were the only people of their town to offer hospitality to Zeus and Hermes, and so were blessed while the rest were transformed into fishes. Further, Zeus (as the manifestation Xenios) was the patron of hospitality and guests, ready to avenge any wrong done to a stranger
- and any other hospitality norms that differ in various world cultures,
- and very contemporary, in virtual communities like Wikipedia.
Contemporary usage
Contemporary usage seems rather different from historical uses that lend it personal connotations. Today's hospitality conjures images of throwing good parties, gracious hosts entertaining, etiquette, Martha Stewart or even talk shows, or, the hospitality services industry as it relates to the entertainment and tourism business. On the other hand, hospitality used to be, and may still be, a serious personal duty or responsibility.
Hospitality is a prosaic word, even trivial, that everyone can relate to, perhaps even more concretely so outside of North American culture. It seems perhaps even a candidate for having something like a universal meaning or agreement, if not positive value.
In the western context, with its dynamic tension between Athens and Jerusalem, two phases can be distinguished with a very progressive transition: a hospitality based on an individually felt sense of duty, and one based on "official" institutions for organized but anonymous social services: special places for particular types of "strangers" such as the poor, orphan, ill, alien, criminal, etc. Perhaps this progressive institutionalization can be aligned to the transition between Middle Ages and Renaissance (Ivan Illich, The Rivers North of the Future).
The Bible and Middle Eastern conceptions of hospitality
In Middle Eastern Culture, it was considered a cultural norm to take care of the strangers and aliens living among you. These norms are reflected in many Biblical commands and examples, for instance: [1]
Perhaps the most extreme example is provided in Genesis. Lot provides hospitality to a group of angels (who he thinks are only men); when a mob tries to rape them, Lot goes so far as to offer his own daughters as a substitute, saying "Don't do anything to these men, for they have come under the protection of my roof." (Genesis 19:8, NIV).
The obligations of both guests and hosts are stern. The bond is formed by eating salt under the roof, and is so strict that an Arab story tells of a thief who tasted something to see if it was sugar, and on realizing it was salt, put back all that he had taken and left.
Cultural value or norm
Hospitality as a cultural norm or value is established sociological phenomenon that people study and write papers about (see references).
See also
- Crown Group Hospitality Organisation
References
- Reference 1
- Reference 2
- the enjoyment of the provider.
Categories
Cleanup from December 2005 | Culture | Hospitality companies | Sociology | Virtues