Why do so many people have turkey at Christmas? Because it's traditional. There are plenty of alternatives, but no, it has to be turkey because turkey's traditional.
Why do brides invariably wear white? Because it's traditional. You could wear something green or blue or red but that wouldn't be traditional.
Why are so many boys circumcised? Because it's traditional. You can produce good reasons for not doing it, but you'll probably be ignored because tradition wins out.
If falling back on "tradition" really means that you're too timid to make your own choices and so you just follow the herd, then that's rather sad. But if you really love turkey, and you really love white bridal dresses, and you really think circumcision is beneficial, fair enough, go ahead.
Of course many traditions are to be applauded - like democracy and free health care and public transport and politeness and donating to charities and teetotallers. Something that goes back centuries can be pointless and irrational and toxic, but it may also be a valuable contribution to our daily lives.
Some traditions are so absurdly over the top I can only look on in disbelief as they take place. Like the state opening of parliament, with the Queen trundling along in her golden coach and all the uniformed flunkeys who preside over the various opening rituals. The state opening costs around £214,000.
PS: I was circumcised, but I never found out why. My parents weren't Jewish. It's something I could have asked my father, if we hadn't been estranged for 20 years.
Oh traditions seem to lead to another time. The Queen and the traditions of the monarchy are amazing.
ReplyDeleteSusan: Personally I think the monarchy is ridiculous and should be abolished. But the presidential system also has its problems, as Joe Biden is once again discovering.
DeleteMake mine a goose. Traditionally. Apple sauce on the side. Not to mention Red Cabbage.
ReplyDeleteTraditions are comforting, they root us, make us feel at home, safe. Sure, over a lifetime, we may shed the odd tradition here and there, replace it by another, tailored.
Brides? Well, where there is white there is hope.The future as yet unsoiled, unblemished. Ask a (white) table napkin/serviette as it unfolds on your lap.
U
Some traditions are passed down from one generation to another and when we do them as adults like turkey for Thanksgiving we sometimes look back at times when we were kids and think about how the Thanksgiving was back then. Maybe it's just me. I don't see some of them as being bad things to keep doing. But I did talk my daughter out of circumcising my grandson when he was born. I see no reason for it and just sent her all the info I had on it and asked her to talk to her doctor about it. She chose not to do it. So sometimes traditions can be broken for good reasons.
ReplyDeleteMary: Glad to know your grandson wasn't circumcised. Well done you!
DeleteThere’s usually a reason behind how the tradition came to be. Some still apply; some don’t. I thought ham was the Christmas tradition? Lol! I’ve never had turkey at Xmas.
ReplyDeleteBijoux: Ham must be an American thing, because I've never heard of Brits having ham at Christmas.
DeleteTraditions can be difficult to break, I think many people follow them because they feel safe with what they know, it’s comforting, something that has been done for generations. We haven’t had turkey for years, we’ve had beef, chicken or gammon. I think circumcision for the sake of tradition is abusive and criminal, men should be able to decide for themselves. I like royal traditions.
ReplyDeletePolly: You're right, traditions can be comforting and reassuring for a lot of people. And yes, they can be very hard to break. Oh, and having just said I'd never heard of Brits having ham at Christmas, up comes gammon!
DeletePersonally I agree that circumcision is abusive and criminal. I have absolutely no memory of being circumcised though.
Circumcision is an assault in my view...and any religious traditions which go in for mutilation are unacceptable. We tut happily at the priests of Isis being deballed - in the past, so no longer relevant but accept infant mutilation today. And do not start me on tribal markings involving cuts or burns...
ReplyDeleteFly: Religious mutilation is abhorrent. But people hang on to these traditions as if they're as natural as sunshine.
DeleteI understand circumcisions' were fobbed off on new mothers as "hygienic". Easier to take care of, keep clean, etc. That was my mother's explanation to me.
ReplyDeleteJoanne: "Hygiene" seems like a good idea until you realise you don't know anyone who's both uncircumcised and disease-ridden.
DeleteHam is traditional for Christmas in some American homes. But then so are homemade Tamales on Christmas Eve or potato Latkes on Hanukkah. I don't mind those edible traditions -
ReplyDeleteAs for the Monarchy over there - I don't have to pay for it so I think its charming. Yeah a bit over the top, but I'd be sad if you all didn't have that anymore.
Circumcision is a religious covenant between God and the Jews and why gentiles started doing it is beside me. When I was a young mommy, I had a friend whose little boy was uncircumsized and he ended up having to go in to be curcumsized at the age of 5. Very traumatic for him. I often wondered what became of him.
Debby: Indeed, why ever did gentiles start doing it? Circumcision at age 5 must have been traumatic.
DeleteI don't think free healthcare, public transport, or democracy are traditional?!!
ReplyDeletePersonally, no, I'm not much of a traditional person, I got married in red.
Sx
Ms Scarlet: Hmmm. So when does something become traditional as opposed to being just a recent innovation? The NHS goes back 73 years, so I would count it as traditional.
DeleteTradition means: the transmission of customs or beliefs from generation to generation, or the fact of being passed on in this way.
DeleteThe NHS is not a custom or belief!! It's an organisation!! And democracy is a system of government.
Sx
Ms Scarlet: Oh dear, smack bottom for sloppy use of language! Must try harder. But I would view the NHS as a custom myself.
DeleteBlaming it on tradition is followed everywhere. I come from a family which did not do this and were kind of looked down upon by the more orthodox of our community. Today too, we are considered to be oddballs.
ReplyDeleteRamana: Amazing that you're still considered oddballs after all this time! Keep up the good work!
DeleteTradition along with religion are man-made and need critical thinking - sadly lacking when I see brides abandon their own names and walking down the aisle with Daddy to give them away like they're a piece of old luggage.
ReplyDeleteAs to genital mutilation - all of it meant to remove sexual pleasure - it's barbaric and yes, obscene.
XO
WWW
www: Why brides take their husband's name, I do not know. It has no benefit and just means a lot of fuss and bother registering your new name everywhere. In other countries like Italy brides keep their own name.
DeleteDo your followers need to know that you are circumcised ?
ReplyDeleteRegards Hannah
PS Must I tell how my genitals look like ?
Hannah: I'm sure they don't need to know, but they might be interested, since I've raised the subject. I'm glad several commenters think that circumcision is cruel and barbaric.
DeleteTradition is indeed comforting in some cases, Nick, but if something is being done just because "that's the way it's always been done" then that's crazy in my opinion. Of course, many of what I once considered "traditions"no longer exist now. Growing up, Christmas decorations were not displayed until Thanksgiving or afterwards. Now they are out at Halloween. Call me old-fashioned and that's OK, but I liked the older tradition better.
ReplyDeleteBeatrice: Xmas decorations at the end of October? That's crazy. Here they'd probably go up at the end of November.
DeleteThe other variation on "tradition" is the old response "If it was good enough for Aunt Mary, it's good enough for me".
Turkey seems more like a Thanksgiving tradition to me. We usually make duck on Christmas. I think traditions are useful if they tie you to past generations in a way that makes you feel connected to something larger than yourself. They can be a lot of fun. They are less useful and even problematic when you do things because you feel obligated but don't really enjoy it.
ReplyDeleteAgent: I guess it's true that traditions tie you to something larger than yourself. But there are plenty of things that do that. Yes, what I dislike is the feeling that I'm being pressured into doing something for no good reason except "tradition".
DeleteI guess if someone does something for a reason, whether or not its considered by others as “tradition”, that may make sense. I’ve heard reasons given for why some items you’ve named have been practiced by many. Turkey, i think, was because the wild creature was so prevalent when that practice got started. A bride wearing a white dress was supposed to be only something a virgin could do when that got started, I think. Circumcision was said by some non-Jewish medical doctors to be a health issue to lessen males contracting some prevalent STDs. I think maybe social cultures at the time thought it all made sense then. But times and information change, some people accept what’s new and change, too, while others don't — some mindlessly and others for their own personal reasons keep doing the same old thing as tradition. As with so many things there are those who have rigid ideas, which can include the practicing of traditions important to them, but others who are much more flexible. For some, tradition requires the family members must all get together on various holidays — and on that very day — but not all families see this the same.
ReplyDeleteJoared: Yes, I guess all these traditions make sense to the person concerned, for reasons best known to them. But it's sad how all these traditions have been exploited by big business to boost their profits.
Delete