„For at the judge’s, old customs were held in high esteem,

And never did he accept violations of the respect,

Which is owed to age, spirit, status and dignity.

or good morals, says he, guarantees the survival of house and kingdom.

And if compromised, house and kingdom will be compromised as well.“

(Sir Thaddeus, Or the Last Lithuanian Foray A Mickiewicz) -  Should the old customs and traditions of your home country be preserved?

Barbara Marten - 28.09.2019 @ 10:55

Here are my thoughts about the topic.

Damian Stępak - 09.11.2019 @ 10:08

“Unique” among others

by Damian Stępak, VIII LO Kraków/Poland

Many young people nowadays would ask: why should we learn about past customs that our ancestors respected or even why should we know traditions that older generations still cultivate, and which are known and common in our country. Do people really need them? Are they really necessary? Can’t we do without them? I think everyone has had such thoughts. Maybe it seems mysterious and strange to the people who do not know the culture. However, if parents or grandparents don’t explain what it is for, how would younger generations know that? Traditions and old customs make sense only when we understand and know them. Of course, if someone wants to continue them because of fun, then why not? But then it could not be called tradition. It is an artificial play.

My culture teacher (of Cultural Studies) once said that if we do not know our beginnings, we are like a leaf in the wind. Obviously, we will decide ourselves whether we want to continue traditions and old customs or not. But if we do, we need to know the answer why we want to do it. Also, when we reject our traditions and customs, we have to be aware that we cut ourselves off from the culture we live in.

In the most famous Polish national epic poem “Pan Tadeusz (Sir Thaddeus) [...]” by the Polish poet and writer Adam Mickiewicz we find still alive truths although this poem was written almost 200 years ago. The old Judge (one of the characters) cares about old customs, because he knows why he does so. “For good morals, says he, guarantee the survival of house and kingdom. And if compromised, house and kingdom will be compromised as well. “

He knows that they are good for him, his family and his environment. His behaviour reflects his manners and what kind of person he is in general. He could be a great example of a respectful person. He was taught for his whole childhood how to treat people because of their age, status and dignity. He wants everyone to feel at home (at ease and comfortable) in his house. And when other people, his guests, also knew the traditions and customs, they could feel the way he wanted. They would also not have problems during their stay at his house, e. g. they would know where their place (to walk or sit) is, how they should greet others and talk with them about different topics, how to eat and what they should do before, during and after eating. Those are only a few examples of what old customs and traditions are based on. Indeed, it is not easy to learn all these behaviours, and the Judge admits that and also makes a speech on this topic.

All those issues make our cultures different from each other and, therefore, interesting and worth knowing for those who do not know them. Different behaviours make people curious of their cause. Because of that we travel around the world and are interested in observing different lifestyles in various countries.

Back to the question: Should old customs and traditions of your home country be preserved?

In my opinion, definitely yes, they should, but I can’t speak for everyone, and you may have different reflections. Of course, we should be conscious of our decisions referring to what I said earlier. You need to know why and what you actually want to achieve by following old customs and traditions. And, please, remember that your culture makes you unique among others. It would be boring if everyone was the same. We could not discover different world’s cultures. Do you agree with me? What do you think? Please share your thoughts and opinions.

Picture by: Dorota Szafraniec

Hello Damian,

Your article was very well written, and I agree with you: Traditions are important, they make our countries what they are, they make us all unique. Isn't that why we travel? To experience different cultures, different lifestyles?

It has been said that traditions divide us, that they encourage hatred, and sadly, I think it is true to some degree. Humans fear what they do not understand. They feel safe in their community, anything that is different is seen as a potential threat. However, I think that in today's society, people are a lot more open towards other cultures. We want to learn, to understand.

I personally love to travel, and I think books provide a great opportunity to do so if you don't have the chance to do it otherwise. For example, I read "The Bear and the Nightingale" by Katherine Arden, a wonderful book, and I learned a lot about Russian culture and mythology back in the day. A countries history, it's mythology, it's traditions, all that seems so incredibly interesting to me.

If we gave up all our traditions, we would lose a part of us. Instead of trying to become the same, we should embrace our differences and show them proudly to others. Learn from and with each other.

Anja Leitner - 04.01.2020 @ 12:57

Hi Damian! I like the fact that you pointed out the importance of knowing our beginnings as they define the essence of the culture we live in. I totally agree with the statement that other cultures are worth knowing as much as I agree with what Anja added- that we should learn from and with each other. Living in distant parts of the world and having different history makes us a valuable source of wisdom for each other as we can see some issues form different perspective, which can be very enriching and help us improve ourselves. As it was shown in "Sir Thaddeus"- the book Damian referred to, Polish legacy was very beautiful and noble, but (unfortunately) there is the other side of the coin- there were a lot of bad features typical for Polish gentry such as hot- headedness and revengefulness, which we can't be really proud of. And it's probably the same when it comes to other nations- no one is perfect and that's normal. That's why I like reading books by other, both Polish and foreign authors from the same era and comparing the cultures they described to each other.

Amelia Marchewczyk - 21.01.2020 @ 21:39

Hi Damian! I really enjoyed reading your text and you made some very good points regarding traditions. I myself think that traditions are important both for remembering your own history, and for keeping the traditions alive. Not all traditions are good, and therefore they maybe should not be kept, and hopefully people then realize this. I think traditions may be a big part of someone’s culture, and therefore may be a big part of their life and identity, and that they then will continue with them.

Evelina Svensson - 23.01.2020 @ 11:39