A Tradition
A tradition of a society, be it a small village, region or a whole country, is a custom which has started some generations before for a particular reason and has been handed over from one generation to the next. This behavior becomes a tradition because of some conditions prevailing when it is established.
This custom might be a set of values: what is right or wrong in certain circumstances, farming procedure: when to grow and what to grow, food processing procedure: how to store goods over a period of time and how to cook it and so on.
A Particular Reason
The reason for a particular custom to become a tradition lies mostly in the environment. Some conditions make that some acts or behaviors are better for the individuals and/or the society as a whole. In this way a custom that enables a society to sustain and to be preserved when some other societies with other customs might fail results in the preservation of that particular custom which then has become a tradition.
Survival of the fittest: the societies which have customs that best fit to the environment and make the most of it, with the most prosperity, will prevail over societies with outdated and/or unfit customs and traditions.
Historical Conditions and Environment
Before the 19th century, technological, economical and social development was very slow. For most part of history economic growth has been estimated as a percentage of growth per century or millennium, not per year. Many societies were almost totally stagnated, for example the aborigines of Australia, some tribes living in the Amazon and so on.
Most societies before the 19th century also had more things in common. Production and productivity was very low and therefore most members of a society made their living on agriculture or farming. Most of the power was muscular power, some from animals such as donkeys and horses but mostly from humans. And within the human species the female usually has only 66% of the muscles that the male has and even much less power. The male is physically stronger and has traditionally used this strength, in many societies, to dominate the female.
There is more. These societies were usually fragile, unsafe and tough. There was usually not very effective welfare system, not very effective judical or law enforcement system, fighting, war and pillaging and people generally very vulnerable to the forces of nature. Life was short and humans had little control over their environment.
The only thing that one could trust on was the greater family. The family was usually the safety net to fall back upon.
Traditions Coming from these Conditions and Environment
To run a farm usually takes more than one person, often a lot more. A very convenient way to address this problem is a union of one male and one female. They then produce children which then can be added to the workforce.
Like all species humans have a strong urge to have a descendant. They also have a strong sex drive. This goes hand in hand, so having sex is a common practice and as a cause new individuals are added to the population.
But the genes are strong in each individual, and they are selfish. Each individual wants his/her genes to live to the next generation (children) and if that fails similar genes (nephew/niece) might do the trick. From this comes one of the basic foundations of marriage. A male needs a guarantee that the children that he is providing for bear his genes. Another base is that a female cannot provide for herself and an infant for the first couple of years, until the infant becomes a toddler (this reaches back further than historical times, to the hunter-gatherer period ca. 10.000+ years ago). So for the individuals and their genes and the survival of the species marriage is a very convenient solution, given the environmental conditions.
But for society it is also a good solution. Since the sex drive is so powerful, the most powerful force on Earth, and there are not many options for a birth control to prevent a pregnancy, a marriage is also advantageous for the society. If females were having children and the males did nothing to take care of them the burden would be pushed on society, in this case usually the family of the female. So to secure them from this possible additional economic burden the families of females have throughout history sometimes put restrains on the females of the species.
Because muscular power was important it was also heavily respected, as in other places in the animal kingdom. The muscles call the shots, not the females.
These societies have most often been very conservative. This set of traditions has been working for long time without to many changes and people are afraid to make to many changes; too many uncertainties.
Some sets of values and traditions have also been established for simplification, to “smoothen” society, for sustaining the power of a certain group (this group has the power to establish traditions) or empowering a certain group, with debatable effects. This can be said for example about the tradition that women should cover themselves up. Because some societies have considered it too hard for males to contain their sexual aggression, their sex drive, the females are covered, sometimes from head to toe but sometimes less, to make it easier for them. This restriction on the freedom of the females has been justified as being for their own protection.
Throughout history there have been made improvements on the sets of traditions currently prevailing in a given area at a given time. These improvements have usually been made to improve the function of the society, to improve the situation of some discriminated groups or help the society adapt to different circumstances. These improvements have usually been in the form of minor "revolutions" that take place for some decades or even centuries. But they all have that in common that something has changed and the society takes heed of that and evolves. Those societies who fail to keep up become dominated or even perish.
Many of these improvements have come through religious cults. For example the teachings of the Buddha, Jesus and Mohammed. These humans all have that in common that they were trying to improve the society but within the current framework and environment. Buddha taught how to find inner peace and that the animals should be treated well, Jesus taught how to forgive and that humans should love one another and Mohammed tried to improve the judicial system and the situation of badly discriminated groups, such as slaves and females.
Conditions and Environment in a Modern or Rapidly Developing Society
The society of today is usually very, very different to what history and archeology can tell us of societies of the past. The economically developed, modern societies are changing year by year, day by day. New technologies are being invented and older ones being perfected, constantly. To tell where "one society" ends and "other societies" begin is becoming increasingly difficult. We are all more and more dependent on one another, globalization. The members of these societies usually do not have to depend entirely on their family. Now there is a welfare system, police force, strong judicial system and so on. Economically developed societies are also far less vulnerable to the unpredictability of nature. Less than 5% of the population lives as farmers. Production and productivity has reached heights never before dreamed of in human history.
The conditions have changed, the environment is different and therefore the old traditions do not apply. The survival of the individual or the society has nothing to do with them anymore. In the modern society no traditions are needed expect the rule of law and the right of ownership.
Traditions that Lose their Practical Purpose
Most traditions have therefore lost their practical purpose, the rules have changed and they don‘t apply.
This is for example true for the domination of the male. A modern society works much better if everyone can do the most; all can live up to their fullest extent and hence contribute the most to society. The energy source of the society is not coming from muscular power any more. If there is a female that can do the job better than a male she will do it, even if it is to run the country.
The sex drive does not have to be contained in a marriage anymore because proper birth control eliminates the risk of pregnancy.
And marriage is no longer a necessary contract to have children. Both because individuals, females and males, can often provide for the child on their own and DNA tests can easily verify who are the parents of a given child, no confusion is needed.
These are just some examples but one can easily deduct similar conclusions for most old traditions and customs.
Traditions and Identity
As mentioned before a modern society seems to generally make everything very much alike; it becomes hard to distinct one society from another. Some people seem to lose their identity. In these cases people often go back to their roots and cherish them. This does not have to be a bad thing; people need to have some kind of identity. But one must have in mind the difference between a "bad" tradition and a "good" one.
Good Traditions and Bad Traditions
Therefore that does not mean that all old traditions in a modern society are bad. Some traditions are very simple, basic and less dominating. For example traditions regarding music, dance, weddings and lots of other customs that make life fun and interesting. The bad traditions are the dominating ones who do not apply any more given the different environment and situation of the today’s world. And one questions if some of them ever should have applied...
Every tradition that hampers reasonable human activity in some way that implies that some are "better" than others, that limits the liberties of some while celebrating the liberties of others, does not treat people equally or is unjust in any way is in my opinion a bad tradition.
Why don‘t I Like your Traditions?
I have never stated, neither in spoken word nor in paper, that I dislike your traditions as a whole. But I state it now: I do not like your traditions as a whole. But I also state: I do not dislike your traditions as a whole. You should read the last sentences again carefully and in context with each other and this writing as a whole.
Many of your traditions I find very interesting and likeable. They may spice up life a little bit and can be fun and interesting, but also tasty like dolma!
But some of your traditions I dislike very much. You can guess which ones.
Mingachevir, July, 2008
Benedikt Þorri Sigurjónsson