Hey peeps!
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I would be talking about Tradition, fasten your seatbelt because you are going to learn something new it's gonna surprise you. Let's go!
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How well do you know the tradition in your environment or your home town? Or you're among those that doesn't belief in tradition?
From my own understanding, tradition is not bowing down to a deity or performing sacrifices, Incase you are still finding it hard to assimilate what tradition is.
Wikipedia gave a good definition of tradition as a belief or behavior (folk custom) passed down within a group or society with symbolic meaning or special significance with origins in the past.
"It's a belief system or behavior" means showing how things are done in certain ways.
Truth is that, this current era we are now, believes that tradition exist only in the rural areas, but that's a big lie, in as much as most of the traditional acts are being practiced more in the rural areas, the instructions/belief still applies to people in the city. Even when you're in the city, there are some functions that demands your presence at home place.
Example is the burial of someone that had lived his life in the city, tradition demands that his corpse should be brought home for proper burial(I know this is not applicable to every land, it's just an example).
Some people also forbids eating of some foods or animals due to the Belief they got from. I know of a guy that don't goat meat because it's against their tradition at home.
You don't go with tradition, right? How about you visiting your home town just to attend a funeral or marriage? You think it's normal? That's tradition at work. It demands your availability at some points because, if you don't go, People from your home town won't attend yours. It's vice versa. You see it's not just what people take it, it's a belief coupled with a system.
Tradition is very wild as it's applied in divers ways.
Enough of the explanation...
In this part of the, west Africa, especially in Nigeria, we have some funny and scary traditions. Each region, hood, environment have theirs and most times it differs. Sometimes it looks stupid but they must be obeyed because that was what they passed to them. Let me drop some examples;
You would see a Community where the younger sister is not supposed to marry before the elder sister. Yeah, it's still in existence and those people are cool with it.
Another one, in some part of my country, you would see where the money for dowry is large enough to buy a country. Yeah, it's still in existence and they are cool with it. That's tradition and it's continous, you can't maneuver to cut down the dowlry, No! Unless you are looking for the god's trouble.🧐
Let me share the one that pushed me into writing this...
THE BAIAS TRADITION.
The Community I'm currently leaving (not my home town), they have it that a married woman is not supposed to have an affair outside the marriage while the husband is free as air to lay with any lady that comes his way. You got the point, right?
As a married woman, either married with children or not, you are not allowed to have external affairs, otherwise death will come knocking. But for the man, he's free to chase all types of girls, be it young, old, teenage etc.
This got me wondering because have been in the town for quite some years, I have seen and heard a lot of Happenings.
There's a tertiary school in the community and you know what, young ladies are everywhere like sand. It became more or less a legal right for married men to 'eat the food I their land'. It's so rampant, the married men that are faithful to their wives are just 40%. Everyone is aware of the acts of these men and it's normal to the system.
Scenario- A man was indulged in this unglodly act, he didn't hide it from the wife, sometimes he brings these young girls to the house. The wife talked and no positive result was gotten, she decided to balance the equation by meeting another man outside. Just few weeks into the act, sickness came and killed the woman instantly. The sudden death baffled the parents of the lady, they went to a seer to know what killed their daughter and it was made known to them that the lady went outside. What a weird tradition.
My Words
Isn't that a baiased tradition?
Why allow the man and kill the woman?
Well that's one of the bad effect of tradition, and it's better if it's checked and changed.
Just like they say, whatsoever has an advantage must have a disadvantage, tradition is good if it's flexible but when rigidity is the basis, I think it'd bring more harm.
I lacked words to explain this topic well.
Thanks for taking your time to read
28th October 2021
I agree with you, that tradition is biased but that's what others believe, I think we should respect it.