Sharing Traditions

Summary:

This short essay “Sharing Tradition” has been written by an American writer Frank LaPena. This essay is about the importance of our culture and values of our tradition and its preservation. This essay has mainly focused on the controlling idea of sharing tradition from generation to generation through oral mean for the bright future of the world and its people. The task of sharing tradition is quite important where both the elders and the young people play very vital roles to preserve our norms, values, cultures of our tradition. There must be continuous responsibility of generations to maintain our culture and values of tradition. The transmission of information from one generation to another generation through oral means must be authentic. It is very much important to listen to our elders to understand the real value of our tradition. The elders and their ideal positions in society make them the guardian and caretaker of our tradition. After them, their places are quite hard to fill up. The young people have to show their interests towards their tradition and their elders’ words. They have to follow their elders and share the information to the coming generation being responsible to maintain our tradition. In the present time, the task of sharing tradition seems a bit harder than expectations. Various problems are seen in the area of oral tradition which are as follows:

• Difficulty in filling up the niche of elders in the matter of sharing tradition through oral tradition.

• The impacts of modern technology.

• Modern educational system and its impacts.

• Source of information and way of perceiving and sharing it.

Thus, an oral tradition is an art form where elders pass on their concepts related to culture and values to young people through oral means. It is an educational tool of understanding the natural world. The role of the elders and young people is so important in oral tradition. The concepts of elders remain immortal if their concepts are followed and properly transmitted by young people being responsible.

Understanding the text

Answer the following questions.

1. According to LaPena, what is the importance of the oral tradition? To what extent do you agree with his opinions and why?

According to LaPena, the meaning of the oral tradition is to preserve and maintain the culture and values of our tradition from generation to generation by word of mouth, I fully agree with his views, because the culture and values of tradition should be nurtured and protected from generation to generation for the benefit of people and their life. Cultural and traditional values play a very important role in people’s lives.

1. Who preserve and pass on the oral tradition?

An Oral tradition is an art form where information about culture and values is passed down from generation to generation orally. Elders and young people play a vital role in the preservation and transmission of oral tradition. firstly, the task of preserving and transmitting the oral tradition is done by the elders, then the young people have this task, this task is continued from generation to generation, the most important being that the elders and the young must be responsible for this task of preservation and transmission is oral tradition.

1. What is the danger of not passing on information from generation to generation?

The danger of not passing information down from generation to generation is that the culture and values of our tradition will die out. People have to survive meaningless lives without their cultural and traditional values.

1. What is the difference between oral tradition and literary tradition?

An oral tradition is a form of art in which information relating to culture and values are transmitted from generation to generation through oral means. Mistakes in oral tradition can be modified and corrected at any time by oral means. Subsequently, the literary tradition refers to both the written and the printed tradition in which information is transmitted through written means. Here in this literary tradition, mistakes are quite difficult to change and correct.

1. How does LaPena establish a relationship between art and the oral tradition?

LaPena establishes the relationship between art and oral tradition through his views, in which he describes the transmission of oral tradition from generation to generation, says that the task of handing down tradition from generation to generation by word of mouth is a form of art in which speakers (old) and listeners (young imitators) play a very important role. This art form is carried over from generation to generation, successfully sustaining and preserving culture and values. Information related to tradition is communicated quite artistically through oral speech, folk tales, ballads, songs, prose, verses, etc. Oral tradition is a unique art whereby the culture and values of tradition are preserved and upheld in this world.

Reference to the context

1. LaPena states that the oral tradition helps maintain the values of a culture. If you believe that the oral tradition is important, how would you maintain it?

I would maintain oral tradition doing the following activities:

• Try my best to convey information about culture and values by word of mouth.
• Try to make people aware of the importance of oral tradition.
• Organize a team in my community to support our culture and traditions by word of mouth.
• Inform you about the advantages of oral tradition for my people.
• Ask my team members to pass authentic information to everyone orally.

1. “Not everyone is capable of fulfilling the roles of the elders.” Explain this statement with reference to the essay.

Not everyone can fulfill the role of elders, the elderly are the basis of our tradition. Our culture and values are first and foremost preserved and maintained by the elders. Their roles in maintaining and preserving our culture and our traditional values are exceptional. on preserving and maintaining our culture and values of oral tradition from generation to generation. Because of their vital roles, they become able to acquire ideal positions in their life. Their duties and obligations related to their cultural and traditional values as religions, ceremonies, dance, etc. reflect their way of life and knowledge of their tradition which touches many people in the community. After the death of the elders, this niche is quite difficult to fill.

1. What is the controlling idea or thesis of this essay?

The controlling idea or thesis of this essay is about sharing traditions by oral methods and even the correct way of passing it on from generation to generation. This essay has demonstrated the importance of sharing tradition for all readers. The task of orally sharing tradition is a form of art where the elders and youth play a very important role in preserving and preserving the culture and values of tradition. The task of sharing tradition has many problems on its way. The elders and the youth need to be responsible. They need to trust each other and share the right information.

1. How do topic sentences guide the reader through the essay? What would be lost without them?

Topic sentences guide readers to provide them with various ideas regarding the importance of word of mouth sharing traditionally. Topic sentences refer to the sentences that appeared initially in each paragraph. The values of the tradition and how to maintain and preserve them. These themes support word of mouth and how to preserve and preserve the culture and values of tradition. These topics will lose a lot in the essay as follows:

• Correct conceptions of the tradition of sharing.
• Controlling idea of the essay.
• Oral tradition and its importance.
• The role of the elderly and youth.
• Problems in the preservation and conservation of oral traditions.
• Solutions for maintaining oral tradition.

1. What are the four major problems developed by LaPena with regard to maintaining the oral tradition. How are they used to structure the essay?

The four main issues developed by La Pena regarding maintaining oral tradition are:

• Difficulty filling the elders’ niche with the problem of sharing traditions through verbal traditions.
• The influence of modern technology.
• Impacts of the modern education system.
• Information sources and how to recognize and share them.

 Reference beyond the text

1. Write a paragraph or two explaining your attitude toward the oral tradition of passing along information.

I think that oral tradition is one of the effective practices for sustaining and preserving the culture and values of the tradition for all the people of this world. I also accept oral tradition as an art form, where both elderly and young people play their vital roles in preserving and maintaining culture and traditional values by passing on authentic information from generation to generation. For everyone, the practice of oral tradition is very important. We can preserve and keep our cultural and traditional values through oral tradition. We can secure our cultural and traditional identity through the help of oral tradition.

1. Our culture is our identity. Write a few paragraphs explaining how you intend to preserve your culture, values and norms.

Our identity is our culture. In our lives, our culture, values and norms play a very significant role. Our whole life hinges on our culture. Culturally, we are linked to our civilization. We can do good in our lives because of our culture, standards and values. These elements teach us in our lives to choose the right paths, thoughts and decisions. I intend to preserve my culture, values and norms by performing the following activities:

• Celebrating every ceremony linked to my culture.
• Making people aware of the significance of our culture, values and standards.
• Advertising or promoting cultural and traditional events in my society.
• Forming a cultural heritage-related organization.
• Sharing culture-related information and the values of my tradition.