The cultures and traditions always vary hugely around the world. If they ever caught you doing something that would appear seriously strange to someone from another culture, this is because they are part of what makes our planet such a diverse and fascinating place to live. We can find customs and traditions that range from delightful to the distressing to the downright odds.
There are many cultures around the world. According to some scholars, there are over 3800 cultures in the world, but this number is far higher in reality. Cultures aren’t restricted to territories of the countries. For example, one region alone could have dozens of communities with their unique system of beliefs. Cultures and traditions comprise customs, laws, dress, architectural style, social standards, religious beliefs, and traditions. A tradition relates to a specific activity, event, or behavior that has repeatedly from generation to generation. A tradition differs from a custom.
The different traditions are an intrinsic part of all the different cultures. These unique cultural practices often help us define the sense of who we are and where we belong. This is the case whether we practice our traditions is a question. It is still a part of our cultural heritage and engaging in it or maybe not says something about both who we are and who we aspire to be.
Tradition and culture are inseparably linked. Both have developed over countless generations. Traditions are unique to certain societies and are usually born of local beliefs and circumstances. These can relate to a wide variety of different areas of daily life.
Wedding Cake, UK
There is a history and origin of cakes made especially for weddings, also known as wedding cakes. Since the ancient Greeks and Romans, these wedding cake has been part of the ceremony. The groom breaks bread over the bride’s head as part of the nuptials. This act symbolizes her submission, the end of her purity, and represents good luck and fertility.
Over the years, few areas of daily life have generated many traditions as the food that we eat. Food-based traditions are an important part of almost every culture, from the implements that we used to eat and how we set to the foods that we associate with certain occasions and times of the year. In the UK, there is also one more tradition which is associated with a cake that the couple who marries has to freeze the top tier of their wedding cake and eat it a year later, or on their first wedding anniversary. Doing so is supposed to bring the couple luck. As they make a traditional wedding cake from an alcohol-soaked fruitcake, topped with marzipan and royal icing.
A wedding cake is a traditional cake served at wedding receptions following dinner. They also served the wedding cake at a wedding breakfast in some parts of England. The ‘wedding breakfast’ does not mean they will hold the meal in the morning, but it is at a time following the ceremony on the same day.
Red Brides, India
We know red as one of the most flattering shades to wear on the big day and it is an incredibly symbolic color. Depending on where it is seen, it has many meanings. It often represents love, desire, or danger in cinematography. When we see red color on street signs, we know we are being given a warning about something. Often influenced by religion the colors are typically important in wedding traditions across the globe. In England, the bride usually wears white, which symbolizes purity, while they associate red with the devil. But the symbolism of red in Indian and Pakistan culture is completely different. Old Hindu beliefs influence it and it features majorly in weddings.
In Pakistani or Indian culture, colors are highly important. The color red symbolizes love, commitment, strength, and bravery. This association of the color red is associated with the stunning sunrises that spring to mind when you think of the Indian subcontinent. These qualities are all desirable for a bride to be associated with.
The tradition is that bride has to wear a red sari, ghagra, or lehenga-cholis to symbolize prosperity in her new life. It also complements the complexion of the bride, which enhances the bride’s beauty. Pakistani and Indian brides wear henna, which is also a symbol of beauty, and in Indian culture, it symbolizes the passage into adulthood and married life. There are many cultures around the world that have traditions related to clothing. The color that a bride wears on her wedding day is often traditional and thought to bring good luck. For example, in China, brides wear red, in the US, they dress in white.
Magpies, UK
The myth is that if you find a Magpie feather; it brings good fortune by boosting your psychic energy. It is said that it solidifies the power of magic. It is said that if you place it in the garden beneath the soil, it will enrich the land with Magpie magic. It is said that if you want to further enhance the power, light a vanilla-scented candle the night you find the feather.
They link this to many traditions which are born of superstitions–widely held but in irrational beliefs which are often linked to luck and to the supernatural and magpies feathers are an excellent example of this. As a sign of fearlessness, some Native American tribes held a tradition of wearing a magpie feather. There are many Christian communities that believe that seeing a lone magpie represents bad luck. Over time, various traditions have arisen to ward off that bad luck. There are some people who salute, while others say good morning to the solo bird, and some others will settle for doffing their hat. Such are the examples of traditions and customs that are linked to warding off bad luck and encouraging good luck to exist across the globe.
Red Envelopes, China
A red envelope in Chinese culture is simply a long, narrow, red envelope. In these traditional red envelopes, they often decorate it with gold Chinese characters, such as happiness and wealth. Other variations of this also include red envelopes with cartoon characters depicted. There are also red envelopes from stores and companies that contain coupons and gift certificates inside.
How red envelopes are used in Chinese culture is another interesting thing to know. During the Chinese New Year, they put the money inside red envelopes which are then handed out to younger generations by their parents, grandparents, relatives, and even close neighbors and friends. Workers may also receive a year-end cash bonus tucked inside a red envelope in some companies. These red envelopes are also popular gifts for birthdays and weddings. They typically leave red envelopes given in Chinese New Year unsigned, unlike a Western greeting card. But for birthdays or weddings, there is a brief message which is typically a four-character expression, and or maybe a signature which is optional.
The color red symbolizes luck and good fortune in Chinese culture. This is the reason they use red envelopes during Chinese New Year and other celebratory events. Other colors of envelopes are used for other types of occasions. For example, they use white envelopes for funerals.
How to give and receive is another very interesting thing to know. It is a solemn act of giving and receiving red envelopes, gifts, and even business cards. Therefore, red envelopes, gifts, and name cards are always presented with both hands and also received with both hands.
The recipient should not open it in front of the giver of the red envelope at Chinese New Year or on his or her birthday. But at a Chinese wedding, the procedure is different. At a Chinese wedding, there is a table at the entrance of the wedding reception where guests give their red envelopes to attendants and sign their names on a large scroll. The attendants will immediately open the envelope, count the money inside, and record it on a register next to the guests’ names.
They keep this record of knowing how much each guest gives to the newlyweds. This record-keeping is done for several reasons. One of the reasons is bookkeeping. Another one is that the record ensures the newlyweds know how much each guest gave. This is also done to verify the amount of money they receive at the end of the wedding from the attendants and if it is the same as what the guests brought. Another reason for this is that when unmarried guests eventually get married, the bride and groom are typically obliged to give the guest more money than what the newlyweds received at their wedding.
Remembrance Day, Europe
As well as traditions that honor the lives which are both past and present of certain individuals, many countries observe traditions that honor the dead more widely. Remembrance Day, which is the 11th of November, is a national holiday in France and Belgium. They commemorate it for the armistice signed between the Allies and Germany at Compiègne, France, for the cessation of hostilities on the Western Front. It took effect at 11:00 am, which is the “eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month.”
The European Day of Remembrance is for the Victims of Stalinism and Nazism, known as Black Ribbon Day in some countries. It is an international day of remembrance for victims of totalitarian regimes, specifically Stalinism, Communism, Nazism, and Fascism. It is observed on 23 August. It symbolizes the rejection of “extremism, intolerance, and oppression”.
The European Parliament designated the European Day of Remembrance in 2008/2009 as “a Europe-wide Day of Remembrance for the victims of all totalitarian and authoritarian regimes, to be commemorated with dignity and impartiality”. The bodies of the European Union have observed annually this day since 2009.
They celebrate it in the UK and countries across the Commonwealth, for example, a two-minute silence is held at 11 am on 11 November. It marks the time at which the hostilities of the First World War ended in 1918. Those observing it reflect upon the sacrifices that were made by so many in order to deliver freedom from oppression.
Flamenco, Spain
Music and dance form are an important part of the culture of people across the world. Traditional music and dance vary hugely from culture to culture, both in terms of the instruments used and the style of the dancing. The traditional, moving music carries a power all of its own.
It’s all about evoking passion, temperament, and energy. Flamenco is one of the most exhilarating art forms to witness, both in the visual and in the audible sense. It has centuries of socio-cultural evolution. Flamenco has a rich history, which unfolds with every stomp of the dancer’s feet, the strum of the musician’s guitar, and the clap of the singer’s hands. It rooted its origins in the gypsy culture of Andalusia, in the south of Spain.
Although the Spanish dance can be seen as synonymous with its national identity. They routed its roots to popularity were more complex. Unquestionably, there is not a sole reason or event that propelled flamenco to gaining a recognized status as a global dance in line with ballet and hip-hop. There are a variety of factors that enabled this transformation. I can recognize three major developmental phases in the evolution of flamenco which are the gypsies to Spain, the romantic era, and Franco’s dictatorship.
Cheese Rolling, UK
Every year, during Spring, the South West England Gloucester region hosts the annual cheese-rolling event where people from far and wide travel to watch competitors launch themselves down a hill in pursuit of a round of cheese. If you want to know what is cheese rolling, it’s actually pretty self-explanatory. There is a nine-pound round of Double Gloucester cheese which is rolled from the very top of the hill. The competitors chase the cheese down to the bottom. With the cheese as their prize, they crowned the first person across the finish line, the winner. The aim was to catch the cheese, with its one-second head start and how quickly it gains speed. This becomes pretty difficult and dangerous. In the past, the rolling cheese has injured the spectators, and in 2013 they actually replaced the cheese with a foam replica for safety reasons.
The cheese-rolling event takes place on Cooper’s Hill, in the parish of Brock worth, Gloucester. The major competitors of this competition are locals from the village. There are also people who come from all over the world to take part in the unusual sport. There’s even a pub in the neighboring village of Sherrington, which is named after the event called The Cheese Rollers. The contestants visit this place for a bit of Dutch courage before the event, and to celebrate after it.
A brief history of this event is that there are a couple of theories about how the sport came about. They have estimated it to be in the 15th century. The first explanation is that they used it for maintaining grazing rights in the commons. The second explanation is that the event is of pagan origin, where people would throw bundles of burning brushwood down the hill representing the New Year after winter ends. This belief is why the Masters of the Ceremony scatter buns, biscuits, and sweets at the top of the hill to encourage ‘the fruits of the harvest.
While they have lost the origins of the event to history, we know they have celebrated locally for well over 200 years. However, in recent years, the annual event has grown and attracted an international audience, with winners hailing from as far afield as Nepal, New Zealand, and the USA.
La Tomatina, Spain
Once a year, in the Valencian town of Buñol, Spaniards gather to throw tomatoes at each other. La Tomatina is Spain’s tomato throwing festival that takes place annually on the last Wednesday in August in the town of Buñol. The origins of the festival are largely unknown, though a popular story tells of a group of teenagers who engaged in a food fight after a summertime religious celebration in the 1940s. Tomato throwing in Buñol was banned by city officials until the townspeople held a ceremonial tomato burial to express their discontent. The ban was lifted in 1959, and since then, La Tomatina has been recognized in Spain as an official Fiesta of International Tourist Interest. Since 2012, permitted entrance to La Tomatina has been capped at 20,000 people, and the city of Buñol imports more than 319,000 pounds of tomatoes for the hour-long event. It is the world’s largest tomato fight, La Tomatina now attracts participants from around the world.
Battaglia delle Arance, Italy
Like La Tomatina is Spain’s known festival, Orange-throwing is the historical Carnival of Ivrea is the city’s most important festival. During this festival, the Ivrea community celebrates its right to decide for itself by commemorating an incident that is said to date back to medieval times, when the starving townspeople were freed from the tyranny of an evil baron. This event of Orange-throwing originated around the middle of the 19th century but before then, in the Middle Ages, they waged the battle using beans.
Nowadays over 4000 throwers are on foot with nine teams which are (Picche, Morte, Tuchini, Scacchi, Arduini, Pantere, Diavoli, Mercenari, and Credendari) take part in the battle, as well as over 50 horse-drawn carts (carts and pairs with 10 throwers aboard and carts and fours with 12 throwers aboard), making about 5000 people involved.
Besides being an extraordinary lesson in civic-mindedness, the carnival is really a large-scale role play. There are thousands of people that peacefully throng the squares to celebrate a festival of freedom in a combative atmosphere like that of the Orange Battle. They are respecting unwritten rules and are a fine example of civility that the city can proudly boast.
The symbol of the Ivrea festival is the battle is, without doubt, the most spectacular part of the carnival highlighting the fight for freedom. Along with all the other historical events that are part of the carnival, the orange battle makes up an incredible cultural patrimony, which makes Ivrea one of the leading carnivals on both the national and international scene. Orange-throwing is also the time with the highest collective participation. Everybody can take part by enrolling in one of the nine teams on foot or by manning the carts.
Cultural Traditions and Localization Services
These traditions are some of the examples of different cultures around the world. These cultural practices may well seem strange to those unfamiliar with their meaning or origins. However, each tradition is part of a unique culture that has developed over many generations.
Therefore, localization services are so important during translation–as each culture is unique, only those who understand it natively and instinctively can ensure that documents are perfectly suited to those who will read them.
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