A tradition is a social custom that is passed on from generation to generation. They originate from historical myths, legends, events, or beliefs that are mostly unverifiable. People follow traditions with liking and festivity or sometimes even with disliking due to social pressure.
One culture’s tradition may be hilarious or weird to other cultures. For example, the annual La Tomatina Festival in Spain. It takes place on the last Wednesday of the month of August in a small village near Valencia. The festival begins at midnight and ends at 1 pm. It’s a fun fight with red tomatoes. People gather in thousands and engage in throwing tomatoes at each other. About 120 tons of ripe tomatoes are thrown at the festival.
Another strange tradition described by Stephen Rabley in his book ‘Customs and Traditions in Britain’ is Hogmanay which is still common in Scotland. It’s the Scottish New Year’s Eve celebration. After midnight people visit their friends with a weird present – pieces of coal. This is because the year’s first visitor must bring coal to the house for good luck. Of course, the present can also be used to make a fire in the cold Scottish winter.
Such interesting and inexplicable traditions are not rare. They can be found in almost every culture in the world.
Traditions can be cruel and unethical like human sacrifice and cannibalism. Such traditions do not exist anymore. They have vanished as the societies that practiced them became civilized in course of time.
Governments often step in to stop traditions that are unfair or unethical. In the cultures of our subcontinent, dowry is a common custom. It’s a payment of property, money, or specific goods by the bride’s family to the groom or his family as demanded at the time of marriage. The tradition of dowry has been legally banned by the governments of India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh in 1961, 1976, and 1980 respectively.
In India followers of the Hindu religion used to burn the widows alive during their husbands’ funerals. The First British Governor-General of India Lord William Bentinck abolished that horrible custom in 1829.
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This article was published in the Daily Sun on October 7, 2022. Please read the full article here or here.