Customs and Festivals

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Customs and Festivals
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Customs

• A custom is a traditional practice--a mode of
  individual behavior or a habit of social
  life--that is transmitted by word of mouth or
  imitation, and re-enforced by repetition and the
  force of social approval or disapproval.

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Customs

• Customs are closely associated with superstitions
  or beliefs. They involve both verbal and
  nonverbal elements that are traditionally applied
  in specific circumstances.
• Many customs do not involve faith in magical or
  supernatural results of an application.
• Custom that do incorporate traditional beliefs in
  the supernatural are usually classified as
  superstitions. (Brunvand)

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Customs v. Mores

• If customs become so engrained and so widely
  accepted that they become a fixed pattern, often
  moving beyond the informal, imitative style of
  true folklore, we may term them manners or mores.
• For example, putting the knife on the left of the
  plate may likely be found in formal written
  guides or in pictures showing proper etiquette.
  Serving coffee hot, even in the summer, rather
  than. Likewise, not talking with ones mouth
  full is widely considered bad manners, although
  some cultures may see it as appropriate not
  eating with fingers is widely enough observed in
  our culture to likely move it beyond the gray
  line from folk custom into manners. Eating meat
  with a fork rather than spearing it with a knife
  may also have moved beyond a folk custom.

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The Study of Customs

• Ethnography is the descriptive study of all
  traditions in a particular group or region.
• Ethnology involves comparative studies of
  tradition in different cultures.
• Ethnocentricity is the assumption that ones own
  customs, manners, and mores are the right
  ones, and that those of other cultures are
  wrong or bad in some way.

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Rites of Passage Customs

• Many customs are associated with events that mark
  a change in our lives These may include birth,
  teeth loss, birthdays, first communion, baptism,
  driving, graduations, turning of age, courtship,
  marriage, family reunions, homecomings, and
  death.

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Calendar Customs

• Some customs are associated with annual events,
  such as St. Patricks Day, April Fools Day,
  Easter, May Day, Halloween, Memorial Day,
  Christmas, New Years Eve, and Thanksgiving.