This personal artifact essay is a writing piece about an artifact that is an important to me. I discuss why I chose this artifact, the personal and cultural significance of the artifact, where and when I got it, and how this artifact extends to a historic social practice of the subculture my artifact comes from.

Jiu Jitsu Belt as my Personal Artifact
I chose my jiu jitsu purple belt as a personal artifact. Jiu jitsu is a ground fighting technique originating in Japan hundreds of years ago that was later modernized as a sport in
Brazil during the 20th century. Jiu jitsu incorporates a color belt system to show a person’s developing skill. There are five belts that practitioners above 16 years old can have: white, blue, purple, brown, black (there are other belts at the highest level that I will briefly get into later).
You get a new belt when your instructor thinks you earned it, that you can fight better than you were previously able to.
Instructors also award stripes that are pieces of tape that are wrapped around one side of the belt to show progress at the current belt level. You can earn up to four white stripes on belts from white to brown, and on the black ones there can be six stripes (called degrees). After six degrees on your black belt, you get a red/black belt and then advance up to a red belt. To understand better the belt system for adults, you can look at the following belts chart at,
Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Belt Guide
 
In addition to belts and stripes signifying progress, practitioners use the belt to hold together the training uniform (called a “gi”) by tying the belt around their waist. I started practicing when I was 16 years old and received my blue belt in September 2018, after nine months of training. I knew I was going to get the blue belt as long as I passed the blue belt test on a scheduled day. 
Almost four years after I started training, I received my purple belt. In contrast to the scheduled test for the blue belt, I was surprised to receive the purple one without a test. It was a meaningful surprise by my instructor, because he awarded it a week after I was eliminated in the first round of a world championship tournament in Texas. After losing this competition, I was ready to continue training as a blue belt for a few more months to fine tune and review my technique before I would even think about the next belt
level. But in a regular class, the instructor pretended he needed to use me to demonstrate a technique. In reality, it was a cover to promote me. The instructor told me, “give me your back” so I was facing the other students and couldn’t see my instructor’s face. I heard him start talking about the technique and then his voice faded away. I saw students start smiling. I did not know what was going on and by the time I looked down, I saw my instructor tying a purple belt around
my waist. After the class was over, I sat down reflecting on what happened. I could not comprehend that I actually advanced to the next level. Seeing the purple color around my waist
meant that my commitment was recognized, and that felt good.
My purple belt is important to me because it validates how much I’ve learned during the years I’ve put into training. I have been teaching children and adults as an assistant instructor with a blue belt, but the purple belt allowed me to become an instructor that does not need supervision to teach the beginner curriculum at the academy. This belt also allowed me to teach intermediate level private classes. As I look at my belt, I am reminded of the countless hours of mat time I put in since my first class. I also think of the hours of learning and training I will have in the future. I know I have a long way to go to reach the desired level I want to be at, but seeing myself as a purple belt means that I am getting closer. 
People from different backgrounds who speak different languages train jiu jitsu all around the world. I met many training partners who don’t know English, in my gym or when I trained in other countries (Israel and Greece). While I couldn't always talk or communicate ideas with them in the same language, we could connect through jiu jitsu language. The language barrier does not matter in our community/subculture. 
Being able to “speak” jiu jitsu means that those who are dedicated and love this sport are united. I can feel comfortable with someone else who speaks broken English because I can still communicate through jiu jitsu moves. I chose this artifact because jiu jitsu is a big part of my life. The gym where I have been training almost everyday for the last few years is like my second home. It was easy for me to pick the belt as my personal artifact because it represents a goal that is important to me: to keep getting better.