TRADITIONS

1 What are traditions? They. are beliefs, customs, music, storIes, food, and dress that each

generation passes to the next. They are social habits. Their origins are largely unknown but we

follow them without thinking. They are the things that make people around the world

different from each other. However, the new trend, globalization, threatens the existence of all

traditions. As technology, science, and business bring different nations closer to each other,

cultural differences lose their importance. Wherever you go in the world, people eat

hamburgers, wear jeans, play the same computer games, and listen to similar types of music.

Even languages are not immune; they are filled with many foreign words.

2 People have two distinct attitudes about traditions, i.e., there are two different opinions about

whether traditions should be kept. Some people believe that no tradition is worth saving. They

believe that every place on earth will gradually become the same, and a global culture will

emerge. Others think differently and want to preserve all traditions. They prefer to keep the

world with a variety of different cultures in it. They think that it is possible for many different

cultures to live together peacefully. To understand and respect each other and give others the

right to be different, we must be more tolerant of each other's traditions. We can get a better

understanding of traditions if we classify them into three groups: religious traditions, social

traditions, and superstitions.

3 Religion is the source of many of our traditions. One example of religious traditions is

holidays. In fact, the English word for holiday originates from "holy days"; that is, religious

days. Many of the most important holidays, such as "Ramadan Bayram" and "Christmas Eve,"

are religious in origin. Other traditions like circumcision and pilgrimages also come from

religion. A pilgrimage is a journey to a sacred place like Mecca or Jerusalem, the holy lands for

Moslems and Jews. Many daily practices also depend on religion. For example, Moslems

cannot eat pork, whereas Hindus cannot eat beef. Jews have many rules about food, whereas

Christians have none.

4 There are many social traditions that originated long ago. No one remembers why we wear

wedding rings on the fourth finger of the left hand. Similarly, we have forgotten why knives

have round ends, why we use forks instead of chopsticks as the Chinese do, why men wear

trousers in the West but dresses called "thobes" in Arabia or skirts called "kilts" in Scotland.

Have you ever thought about why white is a symbol of purity in the West but of death in the

East? There are thousands of details in our daily lives that started for reasons that we no

longer know. Even the stories that we tell our children or the dances that we do at ceremonies

have forgotten origins. In other words, many social traditions have historical origins.

5 Superstitions are traditional beliefs that we share with other people in our society about luck.

Sometimes we try to avoid bad luck by avoiding certain things. For example, people do not

walk under ladders or cross the path of a black cat. Many people try to avoid the number "13,"

so many hotels in the US will not have a thirteenth floor or a room number 13! Another

example is .knocking on wood to avoid bad luck. Many of these superstitions seem to be

universal, whereas others are more local. People of the Middle East and the Balkans believe

that a blue bead on a child's clothes will keep away bad luck or the "evil eye."

A. What do the following refer to?

 

1. them (para. 1)

2. others (para. 2) other _____________ _

3. none (para. 3) no _______________ _

B. Guess the meanings of the following words using the clues in the text.

1. distinct (para. 2) probably means ____________ _

2. preserve (para. 2) probably means _____________ _

3. sacred (para. 3) probably means ____________ _

 

C. Mark the following statements True (T) or False (F).

T F 1. People generally know where most traditions come from.

T F 2. Globalization has an effect even on languages.

T F 3. Religion plays a very small role in our daily habits.

 

T F 4. It is common for men to wear skirts in the Middle East.

D. Fill in each gap using the information in the text.

 

* It is important to (1) __________ each other's traditions as this makes it

possible for cultures to live in peace.

 

* Apart from superstitions, there are (2) _________ _ and

(3). ___________ reasons that make up traditions.

 

* (4) __________ symbolizes death in the East.

E. Answer the following questions.

1. Give two examples of how globalization affects culture.

2. \'(!hy do people of the Middle East and the Balkans put a blue bead on their children's

clothes?