Tradition

All human organizations have traditions whether they are commercial enterprises, nuclear families, nations, religions, or other societal aggregates. Oral traditions are the unwritten laws or binding forces that prescribe or interdict behaviours. Structural traditions are the roles and relationships that are passed on within institutions. Written traditions comprise the laws and ordinances of the land, and its civil, military and ecclesiastical procedures. All together, the practices, customs and beliefs of a people over a long period constitute its cultural tradition. Tradition is not culture at any point of time; it is, rather, the means of cultural continuity. Tradition also may be the obstacle to cultural continuity when adherence to it prevents societal growth and adaptation.