Traditions: what is it? Types of traditions - national, social, cultural, religious and others

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:47

Traditions are some historical group experience embodied in social stereotypes, which is accumulated and reproduced in society. It is necessary to distinguish this concept from art, which represents a more individual creative activity. Through traditions, a certain group of individuals inherits the knowledge necessary for self-development and even survival. That is, this term can be interpreted as a certain mechanism of collective communication. Experts identify the main types of traditions: folk (ethnic), social, national, religious and cultural.

Origin of the term

The well-known word "tradition" for many has a fairly clear meaning. If we talk about literal translation, then in Latin the term means "transmission".

Initially, the concept of "tradition" was used only in a literal sense and meant action. The ancient Romans used it when they had to give someone a material object or marry a daughter. Subsequently, material objects faded into the background, they were pushed aside by the transmitted skills and abilities. Thus, the meaning of the word "tradition", or rather, its semantic spectrum, indicates the main difference from everything that could be brought under this concept. Tradition is something that does not belong to a certain individual, as it is transferred from outside. The derived meaning is associated with everything that is connected with the distant past, which has irrevocably lost its novelty, is unchanged and symbolically stable. And strict adherence to customs relieves many of the need to independently comprehend the situation and make a decision.

Traditions and society

Each new generation, having at its disposal a certain set of traditional patterns, does not accept and assimilate them in finished form, it involuntarily carries out their own interpretation. It turns out that society chooses not only its coming future, but also the past that has sunk into oblivion. Social groups and society as a whole, while selectively accepting some elements of the social heritage, simultaneously reject others. Therefore, social traditions may well be both positive and negative.

National heritage

In general, traditions are the so-called element of culture, which arises in one generation and is passed from ancestors to descendants, remaining for a long time. These are certain norms, rules of conduct, rituals, procedures that must be followed. Considering along with the dataterm definition of the word "heritage", we can say that the concepts are almost identical.

If we talk about national traditions, then these are the rules that appear in almost everything. This applies not only to clothing, style and behavior in general, they are also manifested in movements, gestures and other elements that are present in the psychology of people. Such concepts and manifestations are very important for a person, since it is they that are able to trigger an unconscious mechanism in a person who is clearly able to determine the line between "one's own" and "alien".

National traditions are a phenomenon that has formed as a result of the life of each people or nation, regulated by functions in the human mind. In other words, regulation occurs in family life, in communication, and behavior. Traditions have their own characteristics, namely, they have high stability, continuity and even stereotyping. Characterized by a long-term factor that is the regulator of social phenomena.

Modern attitude to cultural traditions

The variety of traditions of most countries is sometimes simply amazing. The fact that for a certain people is the norm of everyday life, in another country can often be perceived as a personal insult. We can say that traditions are one of the fundamental things in the cultures of various countries of the world. Therefore, if you decide to relax in some exotic country, you must first familiarize yourself with its customs in order not to get into an awkward position. For example, in Turkeyone of the important traditions is the need to remove shoes at the entrance to the house and the temple. In no case should you refuse an offer to drink a cup of tea, this may be perceived as an insult.

Not just a set of rules

Cultural traditions are not only a set of etiquette rules, it is a certain semantic flow aimed at showing the depth of the history of a country, these are values laid down over the centuries, passed down from generation to generation to maintain and identify a unique mentality its inhabitants. For example: countries where Buddhism is widespread believe that touching a person’s head is unacceptable, since the human soul lives in it. Unfortunately, in many countries, traditional rites have gone out of fashion, so to speak, and have lost their value due to technological progress. I would like the interest in preserving one's culture not to lose its relevance in any corner of the world.

Synonym for the word

The word "tradition" is a feminine noun, if necessary, it can be replaced by the concepts of custom, habit (masculine nouns), heritage, tradition (neuter nouns). Instead of a single term, you can use phrases with the word “so”, for example: it happened, it’s the way it is. Among writers, and not only among them, traditions are called unwritten laws. One of the most unusual synonyms in Russian for this noun is the word "itihasa", which means "that's exactly what happened."Most sources define a synonym for the word "tradition" in several variants, in which, in addition to those presented above, the norm, establishment, custom, value are in the lead. An interesting option is the use of the word "hashar" (a term that has long entered the Turkic and Tajik languages and means "joint work").

Religious traditions

Religion also has its own traditions, which makes it a spiritual and cultural well. Religious traditions are a set of stable forms and methods of worshiping the gods (God). Each of the religions existing on earth carefully preserves and in every possible way supports its tradition, but most often in each religion there are several traditions at once, for example: Orthodoxy, Catholicism, Protestantism - in Christianity, Shiites and Sunnis - in Islam, Mahayana and Hinayana - in Buddhism. The religious traditions of the East practice a certain technique of working with both the body and consciousness, which is aimed at enlightenment, i.e. obtaining extremely high states of human consciousness. Christian religious traditions include church attendance, prayer, confession, and the observance of religious holidays. The most famous holidays are Easter, Christmas, Epiphany, Trinity, Ascension, Annunciation. Also, not all traditions are observed, if only because in the digital age people have become not as pious as their ancestors were. Now, few people at the festive table ask for harvest or rain. It's just that the holiday has become another reason to get together with the whole family.

Without a past there is no future

Traditions are a heritage that is unshakably authoritative, they are meekly accepted and passed on in agreement with the fact that the departed ancestors - the "carriers" - have a solid say in the lives of their heirs - the "followers".