Are traditions important?

[ahinton]

Yes but ferneyhoughgeliebte going to Huddersfield every November is not really a "tradition" in the sense of the state opening of parliament or Xmas pudding or bullfighting or Lederhosen or the Eurovision Song Contest, is it? Maybe it is.

Maybe he'll give us the benefit of his inevitably unique experience and tell us whether or not it is so...

[Richard Tarleton]

he Queen's annual distribution of Maundy money is a tradition.

The Queen's Christmas messages over the years have been the subject of a UCL study

[Sir Velo]

Has anyone ever listened to one of Brenda's speeches?

I know, off to the tower with him!

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Maybe he'll give us the benefit of his inevitably unique experience and tell us whether or not it is so...

I can confirm that no bull (nor any other animal) is ever hurt in my visits to the Festival. And I had thought I had told Richard that my lederhosen were a private matter that I'd rather he didn't share here.

[jean]

The Queen's Christmas messages over the years have been the subject of a UCL study

The Mail report says

But of the 42,000 words she has spoken, only 3,991 are distinct words which have never been repeated, according to mathematicians at University College London (UCL)

which doesn't seem quite fair, as it is possible to frame completely new statements using a rearrangement of words one has used before.

(But I'm not about to do more research to find out.)

[ahinton]

I can confirm that no bull (nor any other animal) is ever hurt in my visits to the Festival. And I had thought I had told Richard that my lederhosen were a private matter that I'd rather he didn't share here.

!!!

[ahinton]

[duplicate - deleted]

[P. G. Tipps]

Whilst I can do no other than agree with that last bit, the rest is flawed; "science" - or rather practitioners in the world of scientific research - do/does not pretend to "know everything", which is why there remains so much to be discovered; the fact that, despite discoveries that have already been made and the ongoing advancements in scientific research, the remains so very much to be learned is hardly a legitimate excuse to pour scorn on those practitioners and their faith in learning and discovery, is it?

Hear hear, ahinton! ...

[vinteuil]

Has anyone ever listened to one of Brenda's speeches?

I have.

Once.

[P. G. Tipps]

I think that he means that, for him, something or other wasn't "hugely difficult"...

Extraordinarily well ratiocinated, ahinton! ...

[Dave2002]

"Tradition" could be used as a way of "justifying" NIH - Not Invented Here - which is somewhat bogus. Many people involved in making decisions really have very little experience outside of "what they know" - so actually are mostly not well placed to have a view. They can't compare different systems because they only have knowledge of one (at most) so really can't make an informed judgement. However, occasionally inertia does have its place, if the "benefits" of uncertain new ways of behaviour are unclear, and many people would rather stick with what they know, rather than try out new things and ideas. Sometimes this is baseless, and stupid, IMO, though not always.

Traditions are fine if people can derive benefit and pleasure from them, but some definitely do outlive their usefulness. Some evolve though.

One example is mince pies, which are a curious British invention. Apparently historically they really did contain meat, and the meat was mixed with spices and other flavouring in an attempt to make meat palatable during the winter - hence the name "mincemeat". I doubt whether many of us would like to eat one of the original forms of mince pies, though some of us still enjoy the modern variant. I wonder how many people died as a result of having dodgy mince pies in centuries past.

Another is the evolution of Santa Claus - obviously dressed in something like a red dressing gown. Apparently in centuries gone by, green was the colour of the stand ins for the modern Father Christmas, so now "red is the new green".

[french frank]

But in answer to the original question, some are, some aren't. There is no other answer. Many 'traditions' relate to the seasons of the year, the annual repetition of natural events. Do you stop planting ALL your vegetable seedlings in spring and try planting out in October instead? Are birthday celebrations a 'tradition'? Tradition, in a general sense, is essential; but some traditions aren't; and others should be discontinued. As far as national traditions are concerned, who should decide when they should be stopped, which ones, and how?

[Richard Barrett]

it is possible to frame completely new statements using a rearrangement of words one has used before.

And indeed usually necessary, or balgy struits rimblify your empralfage and nobody knows what you're talking about.

[ahinton]

balgy struits rimblify your empralfage

That doesn't look at all like Welsh to me...

[vinteuil]

And indeed usually necessary, or balgy struits rimblify your empralfage and nobody knows what you're talking about.

... no - but it looks English : (adjective, possibly pejorative) (plural noun subject) (active verb, present tense) your (singular noun object).

I still think Burke is the person who sets out why 'tradition' might be important as a stabilizer in society over time (he can of course be argued with).

There must have been psychological and sociological research done on the kind of people who are drawn to 'tradition' and those who are drawn to reject it.

I like small meaningless traditions that give some picturesque local colour to life; I am much more suspicious of (and inclined to rebel against) those Big 'Traditions' which we are Called On To Respect with lots of capital letters - royal and military flummery and the like...