10 Fascinating Cultural Tradition Around The World
Here are 10 interesting traditions around the world That are still practised today.
1- Obon, or Bon Festival from Japan.
The Obon, Bon Festival, or Urabon is one
of the most well-known and popular events in Japan and is the Japanese festival for the spirits of the dead.It's a Buddhist festival
that has been celebrated for over 500 years and originates from the story of a Buddhist disciple named Maha Maudgalyayana, who used his powers to see the spirit of his deceased mother.
He made an offering and released her from her suffering,
on the 13th to the 15th days of the seventh month
to honour and commemorate deceased ancestors.
Traditions include paper lanterns being hung
to help guide the spirits, Obon dances being performed, visiting the graves of deceased family members, and making food offerings at altars and temples.
Many people dress up for the Obon dances,
which act as a cheerful affair to welcome home the souls of their ancestors.2- Songkran from Thailand.
Songkran is known as Thai New Year or Buddhist New Year,
The festival is celebrated in Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar,
and is perhaps best known as the biggest water fight in the world, and each year, thousands of tourists from all over the world come to experience the festivities.
The celebrations often include revellers praying to each other
with water guns, which is no doubt refreshing, as April is often Thailand's warmest month.Some of Songkran's earliest traditions
included pouring water over Buddhist statues.The water poured over the Buddhist statues was then trickled
over the shoulders of village elders or beloved family members as a form of blessing.
High culture holds that the water is spiritually purifying,
and is thought to be able to cleanse the bad luck or mistakes people have made in the previous year, and bless your year ahead with happiness and good fortune.
It's also traditional to spend time with family
and loved ones during Songkran. Many people make trips to Buddhist monasteries to leave offerings such as food or new robes for temple monks, and send prayers.
3- Haka, a Maori practice from New Zealand.
This ancient ritual dance comes from Maori legend.
The dance has been said to imitate the dance of Tane-Rore,
the son of the personification of summer, Hine-Raumati and the sun god Tama-quite-ra. It's said that the shimmering appearance of heat in the summer is Tane-More dancing for his mother, Hine-RaumatiThe dancers' flickering hand movements
are thought to emulate the flicking of Tane-Rore's dance.The haka consists of people chanting
with foot stamping and body slaps in rhythm.It's often men that perform this,
but women perform this too.
They incorporate exaggerated facial expressions
into the dance, such as bulging eyes and protruding tongues.There are many different versions of haka,
as haka is simply the term for all Maori dances.Haka was originally used as a war dance to unify the men
and scare off the enemy.Today, a haka may be performed for a variety of reasons,
and serve many functions like birthdays, weddings, welcoming guests, rugby matches, funerals, and more.
3- The Pilgrimage of Rocio, from Spain.
The Pilgrimage of Rocio dates back to the 17th century
and takes place on the weekend of the Pentecost, which occurs 50 days after Easter.It's a religious celebration often involving hundreds
of thousands of participants paying homage to the Virgin of El Rocio.Before the Pentecost, devotees ride horseback
or take horse-drawn carriages to El Rocio, which is located 80 kilometres from Sevilla.El Rocio is a hamlet and in the municipality of Almonte
in the province of Huelva.Travellers Come from Huelva, Sevilla, Cadiz,
and many other towns across the region to gather in El Rocio, and they sing traditional flamenco cantas and couples in their way.
People camp along the route while travelling
and create bonfires, eat, sing, and dance through the night.The pilgrimage culminates in a procession
to the Shrine of the Virgin, and on that Monday morning, the statue of the Virgin Mary, or the Virgin of Guadalupe, is taken out of the shrine and paraded throughout town.Worshippers participate in jumping the fence,
also known as salt de la verja, and climb over the altar railing to reach the statue and carry it.5- Dragobete from Romania.
Dragobete is celebrated on February 24th
and is essentially Romanian Valentine's Day.Dragobete is a symbol of youth, love,
hope, and nature rebirth.Traditionally, the day involves a series
of rituals performed by young people to find love and happiness in the future.This includes traditions such as searching for flowers
in the woods and dancing and kissing in front of their communities.Being alone on this day has also been considered a sign
of bad luck in love for the remainder of the year.
Dragobete calls back to traditional Romanian mythology,
which tells the story of Dragobete, a young god who was the patron saint of love and cheerfulness.Dragobete is often associated with Roman mythology's Cupid
and Greek mythology's arrows.
He did not use his powers as a god
to make people fall in love but reminded them to never stop celebrating love. Some scholars linked the celebration of Dragobete to the arrival of spring,
linking him with fertility and the rebirth of nature.The festival takes place less than a month
before Spring Equinox, and some say this is when the birds begin to build their nests, trees begin to bloom, and nature comes back to life after winter.6 BAR MITZVAHS
Bar mitzvahs and bat mitzvahs are celebrated by Jewish people all over the world, but notable in Israel.
The bar mitzvah and bat mitzvah celebrates the coming of age of Jewish men and women with a traditional ceremony held at the age of 13.
Bar mitzvah translates to son of the commandment, and bat mitzvah translates to the daughter of the commandment, so the ceremony represents at once personal independence, as well as a personal responsibility to religious practice.
Major traditions of the bar and bat mitzvah celebrations include the bar or bat mitzvah, reading a portion of the Torah, and a celebration following synagogue.
Some customs have changed, evolved, or been added to, however, to the modern-day bar and bat mitzvah celebrations, like the inclusion of girls in the traditions the hat did not occur until 1922 when Judith Kaplan became the first girl to celebrate her bat mitzvah in the US, and the modern-day US, bar or bat mitzvah celebrations are often followed by large parties and many gifts.
7- Holi from India.
Holi is a Hindu festival marking the beginning of spring,
ancient in its origins, and dating back to the fourth century where the first mentions of the celebration were recorded in a poem.
The festival has mythological roots in the Hindu legend of Holika, a demon who was the sister of the demon King Hiranyakashyap.
Hiranyakashyap believed himself to be superior to all the other gods, and rulers of the universe.
His son, Prahlad, however, followed the God Vishnu, causing Hiranyakashyap to create a plan with Holika to kill Prahlad.
The plan was for Holika to take Prahlad into a bonfire, and she would protect herself from burning with a magical shawl. In the story, Prahlad is saved by Vishnu, and Holika is killed by the flames.
Vishnu eventually killed Hiranyakashyap and made Prahlad king.
And so the moral of the story is that good will always triumph over evil.
The tradition of the Holi festival represents the cremation of Holika by lighting bonfires the night before Holi, sometimes taking the ashes of the fire
and smearing them on bodies as an act of purification.
This is followed by Rangwali Holi, the well-known festival in which people throw and smear coloured powders on one another. Rangwali Holi is what you might be more familiar with, and that part of the festival originates from the love story of Radha and Krishna. Krishna is depicted as having blue skin,
and is said to have complained to his mother
about the fair complexion of Radha.
His mother suggests to him to smear Radha's skin with paint, hence the tradition of smearing coloured powder on loved ones during Holi. In some parts of the country, festivities surrounding Holi last over a week, and it's also known as a great equalizer for Indian people.
CNN reported that the festival is a time when the rules
of caste and creed are briefly forgotten
with everyone taking part.
8-PRINCE'S DAY
Prinsjesdag, or Prince's Day, from the Netherlands.
This tradition dates back to the 18th century when Prince William V was the ruler.
His birthday was March 8th and was called Prinsjesdag. Now Prince's Day is held on the third Tuesday of September and is also known as Budget Day, when the king delivers the speech from the throne,
officially opening parliament each year, and delivers the government's plan for the year.
Today, Prince's Day involves spans of the royal family lining the streets to watch the queen and king proceed in a glass carriage from Noordeinde Palace to the Ridderzaal, where the king delivers his speech.
It's a large procession with many escorts and military personnel dressed in their royal attire, and it's a big, big event with thousands of people lining the streets.
After the speech is delivered, the king and queen reemerge from where the speech is given, and onto the balcony, where they wave at the crowd below, and for a week or so leading up to Prince's Day, festivities continue in Prinsjesfestival, which involves many events, including the hat walk, special boat rides, and unique meals.
9-Witches'Night
Witches' Night, or burning of the witches,
from the Czech Republic. This night is rooted in pagan tradition and takes place on April 30th.
It's often described as a Halloween-type event where people gather to create witches out of straw and old fabric, and they're sent up into flames to ward off evil and bid farewell to the spirits of winter as the summer approaches. Parades and celebrations are held.
People gather, dress up like creatures, make noise, play music, dance, eat, drink, and burn witch dolls in a big bonfire.
10: Carnival from Brazil,
Carnival from brazil though it is also celebrated in countries throughout Latin America.
So between the two-day festivities
in Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil is home to some of the largest and most elaborate Carnival celebrations in the world.
Carnival celebrations are highly nuanced and localized vary hugely, not only across Brazil but all over South America.
Every year, thousands of people crowd into the Sambadrome, the parade area built specifically to house their Carnival festivities.
Here, they'll watch the annual parade, which includes floats, or many samba schools, with performances by the dancers in extravagant costumes.
Carnival parties filled with dancing and drinking may last for weeks as blocks, or street parties, continue throughout local communities.
I know that was a lot of storytelling, but I find traditions super, super interesting, and I just can't believe that those were only 10 traditions that we talked about
out of the many, many, many traditions that exist.
So if you have an interesting tradition you want to share, feel free to leave them in the comments below, and remember,
some traditions that may seem familiar to you may be completely foreign to someone else. So don't be afraid to share.
