20 Examples of Traditions and Customs

Human beings unify and interrelate the culture: a complex system of symbols, practices and rituals that are transmitted from generation to generation, and that largely shape our way of being in the world. This set of knowledges and visions inherited and preserved in time are expressed through customs and traditions, which are repeated and celebrated on a specific date and in a specific way, to keep alive some ancestral feeling in the group. For example: Day of the Dead, Halloween, Oktoberfest, Christmas.

While they are terms more or less synonyms, we could differentiate them in that the traditions harbor a greater degree of formality and national elaboration, often constitute identifying symbols of the national or the regional with a view to the exchange nations, while customs are mostly aimed at the intimate, the unofficial and unofficial saying.

Both usually involve dance, costume, gastronomy or certain forms of mysticism or religiosity, although the same tradition can be expressed through different customs or elaborations punctual.

Examples of traditions and customs

1. The Mexican cult of the dead. Of ancestral origins, this tradition celebrates once a year the day of all the dead, on November 1 and 2. Skull-shaped sweets and sweet breads ("Pan de muerto") are common, as are rhymes (“Skulls”: humorous and satirical epitaphs), cartoon lithographs and offerings to souls deceased.
2. Halloween Day. Also known as "Halloween" and linked to the medieval burning of witches and the night of the Walpurgis, it is actually the contraction of All Hallows ’Eve: "the eve of All Saints". It is celebrated by decorating homes with orange and black, lighted candles, and sculpted pumpkins (“Jack-o-lantern”), And children's costumes to trick the neighborhood.
3. The carnival. Carnestolendas parties have their origin in the Roman Empire, inherited in turn from Hellenic celebrations to the god Bacchus or even earlier cultures, but they come to us linked to the Christian calendar and the days of the lent. It is common in almost the entire Christian world and combines costumes, parades and street parties, with jokes, jokes and the celebration of the body.
4. Celebrate birthday. Practically universal tradition of the human being, commemorating the day of his coming into the world, consists of intimate parties and gifts from his loved ones, in addition of diverse customs that can go from different variants of the birthday song, eating a cake or sweet with candles, to the type of gifts and obligations rituals.
5. Sunday mass. Christian custom par excellence, which summons the faithful to the church to receive a sermon of religious and moral instruction from the local parish priest, as a way of constantly renewing the bonds of faith. It is usually celebrated on Sundays, the Sabbath according to the Bible, although each of the Christian sects celebrates it according to their rules and particular religious visions.
6. New year celebration. Another universally accepted tradition but expressed through diverse customs, usually involves parades, fireworks, family gatherings, and public parties, marking the end of an annual cycle and the start of other. Typical foods are eaten (a Hispanic classic is the twelve grapes or chickpeas just before the new year), rituals (wearing clothes yellow, bring food to the neighbors, throw the old out of the window) or symbols (the dragon, for example, during the new year Chinese).
7. Yom Kippur. Jewish tradition of penance and prayers, called "The Great Forgiveness," celebrated ten days after the Hebrew New Year. It is customary to undertake a fast from dusk until dusk the next day and any type of conjugal relations, personal hygiene or drinking is prohibited. Sephardic people usually wear white during these dates.
8. Oktoberfest. Literally: “October party”, it takes place in the Bavarian region of Germany, especially the city of Munich, once a year between September and October. It is a celebration of beer, a typical product of the region, whose origin is supposed in 1810 and that usually lasts for 16 to 18 continuous days of celebration.
9. Viking festivals. Custom of the European Nordic countries in which they recall their Scandinavian roots through costumes, dinners specific and antique markets, all in order to pay homage to the customs of the original tribes of the region.
10. Ramadan. It is the month of fasting and purification of Muslims, whose beginning marks the end of the last month of the Islamic lunar calendar, during which prohibits sexual intercourse, altered moods and the intake of drink or food from dawn to dawn to become night.
11. Marriage party. Another almost universal custom of man, which formally and socially inaugurates the period of coexistence of a couple, through specific festivals and rituals, linked or not with the religion and the church. They vary greatly according to culture and religion, but they usually involve parties, dances, ceremonial dresses for the spouses and some symbol of commitment (such as rings).
12. Saint John festivity. Common to Catholic peoples but with particular emphasis on the populations Afro-descendants of the Caribbean (Colombia, Cuba, Venezuela), in whose history the Christian saint assimilated African deities and allowed the coexistence of cults. It is usually accompanied by drums, alcoholic beverages and a lot of dancing around the villages.
13. Gnocchi on 29. Every 29th of the month, in Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay it is customary to eat some preparation of gnocchi (from the Italian gnocchi: a type of pasta made with potatoes), a custom undoubtedly received from the large Italian immigration of the 19th and 20th centuries.
14. Clitoral ablation. Common custom in sub-Saharan Africa and certain South American peoples, consisting of the section or cut of the clitoris in newborn girls; an ancestral form of hygiene that is being widely combated by international organizations for the protection of women, as it does not represent any benefit and upsets their sexual health.
15. The levirate. Custom abolished in most of the western world but still resistant in some African peoples, proposes the obligation of the brother of a deceased husband to marry the widow and perpetuate the house family. Note that in many of these towns bigamy and polygamy are common.
16. Descent of the saint. In the Yoruba religion, widely disseminated in the Hispanic Caribbean, there is an initiation process during which a specific deity is being linked with one of his faithful, and that requires him to wear absolutely white clothes during specific periods that vary from one year to three months.
17. Sanfermines. Spanish tradition in Pamplona, ​​Navarra, which worships San Fermín through various public festivals and the confinement, a journey that some brave people from the town make to the central square of the city, being chased by several raging bulls.
18. Japanese tea ceremony. Linked to a certain practice of Zen Buddhism, it is a custom to treat guests with green tea made from crushed leaves. This is done through a ritual of manual gestures and procedures prescribed by tradition and that constitute a way of connecting with one's own.
19. Kings Day. Catholic custom that survives in Spain and some Latin American countries, in conflict with the more commercial and universal concept of Christmas (with Santa Claus and the Christmas trees, etc.). Celebrate the arrival of the Magi (The Wise Men from the East) to the birthplace of Christ, by exchanging gifts.
20. Thanksgiving Day. Exclusively North American and Canadian celebration, inheritance of traditions carried by the settlers and coinciding with the Native American harvest festivals, usually through the preparation of turkey and fruit. In some regions commemorative events and parades are held.

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