A tradition is a ritual or belief passed down within a society, still maintained in the present, with origins in the past.

Common examples include holidays or impractical but socially meaningful clothes, but the idea has also been applied to social norms such as greetings. Traditions can persist and evolve for thousands of years and new traditions continue to appear today. While it is commonly assumed that traditions have ancient history, many traditions have been invented on purpose. The concept of tradition is also found in politics and philosophy. In artistic contexts, tradition states the validity of an art form. The modern world with its mechanisms has had a negative effect on tradition. In response to this, tradition-preservation attempts have now been started in many countries. I'm going to present examples of traditions around the world. You might have heard about some of them, but others may be unknown to you. Firstly, many trad are strongly connected to religion or religious practices. Christianity has many trad connected to its biggest holidays Christmas and Easter: the Ch. Tree and the dec. of eggs. Islamic trad: The pilgrimage to the city of Mecca. Every able-bodied Muslim who can afford it must make the pilgrimage to Mecca at least once in his or her lifetime. Diwali involves the lighting of small clay lamps filled with oil to signify the triumph of good over evil. During Diwali, all the celebrants wear new clothes and share sweets and snacks with family members and friends. Next we have wedding related trad In the Scottish pre-wedding tradition of Blackening the Bride, the bride is taken by surprise and covered with various substances and then paraded around town for all to see. Log sawing - After the couple is married, the newlyweds must saw the log in half working together. This is supposedly a sign of how they will handle things together in their marriage. Indian weddings, which are traditionally multi-day affairs, involve many ceremonies, such as medhndi, the practice of painting intricate

patterns on the brides hands and feet. There is also a special dance and song associated with this process.

Here we have a picture of an African American tradition called Jumping over the broom. It simbolizes the entrance into a new life and the creation of a new family by symbolically sweeping away the partners former single lives and jumping over the broom to enter in a new adventure as husband and wife. Although trad is usually viewed as a positive aspect of people's lives, sometimes it can go as far as to violate human rights and cause sufering and pain to people. For ex: Seppuku is a form of Japanese ritual suicide by disembowelment. It was part of the samurai bushido honor code, and was either used voluntarily in order to escape capture or as a form of capital punishment for a samurai who had committed serious offenses, or performed for other reasons that had brought shame to them. The Kayan women belong to the Karen tribe, and they follow an ancient tradition which consists of elongating their necks, using golden rings. These women are considered privileged and are admired by their tribe. The rings are made of bronze and without them the women would die because their muscles cannot support the weight of their heads. Sati is the rite of burning a woman on the pyre of her husbands cremation. Sati was a Hindu funeral tradition, now very rare and a serious criminal act in the India. Usually this trad happened with the consent of the widow, but there have been cases in which the woman was forced to do this. For a thousand years, Chinese women were subjected to a practice that had as a result the deformation of the feet. Female children of young age had their feet bandaged tight so that the feet could not develop normally. This practice caracterised the Chinese woman until 1911 when it was finally banned and condemned by the government. This means that cultural rights cannot be invoked or interpreted in such a way as to justify any act leading to the denial or violation of other human rights and fundamental freedoms. Claiming cultural

relativism as an excuse to violate or deny human rights is an abuse of the right to culture. While trad is still imp in our existence, we need to decide which parts of it are archaic and have a negative effect on our lives. I believe that with time we will find the answer.