Have you ever looked at a cultural event, or ceremony, from the outside looking in and just wondered why they still do the ceremonies from a world that has passed the need or context for what is going on?

That exact thought is why cultural traditions are still important. Specifically talking about Canada, it is a nation that was built not only on the lives of the people that immigrated to the country, but the sacrifice of the indigenous peoples that lived on the land before.

For people that immigrated here, to live in a foreign country, keeping a cultural tradition alive is not for the purpose of being an inconvenience to the people around you, but instead as a way to keep a connection to where they came from, and their heritage. It’s also a way to teach the younger generations that are born in a new country about their culture, and what happens back in the countries that they left.

It’s a way to keep a connection to who they are, and what they have come from. It’s a way to keep the history alive, and coming together of people from the same community to do these ceremonies and events together.

For the indigenous peoples, I would say that it is even more important that their cultural traditions matter. Starting back in the 1920s, there were movements to kill the entire languages and cultures of the indigenous people of Canada. Taking them to residential schools to “kill the Indian in the child”.

The Totem Pole at Stanley Park, A tradition that would have died out if the original goal was carried out (Credit: Kranich17 via Pixabay)

It was a systematic destruction of ways of life, of ceremonies, of families, of languages and of cultures. In a lot of ways, the population has not been able to recover, and there was a lot that was lost because of the actions of the government towards the people that were here before them.

Keeping those traditions alive, and celebrating them is the best way to keep them alive. Not by writing down how it’s done in a book, or recording an instructional video and being done with it, but instead actually showing the event, showing the culture, and sharing with the younger generations and the world.

It’s important to keep it alive in the younger generations, so in the future they are able to pass it on to their future children. Maybe the ceremonies or events will change over time, as all things do, but to keep them from dying is the most important part and goal of celebrating and practicing these traditions.