Kultur och tradition  kan kännas väl sammansvetsade  – så ett litet klargörande av begreppen kanske är på sin plats.

Kultur kommer från latinets cultura som betyder ungefär ‘bearbetning’, ‘odling’ och ‘bildning’  Begreppet avser idag i vid bemärkelse all mänsklig aktivitet, trots att kultur ändå har främst två betydelser: andlig (konstnärlig) odling eller socialt överförda levnadsmönster.

Kultur har kallats ”levnadssättet hos ett helt samhälle”. Som sådant inkluderar det beteendemönster, seder, klädsel, religion, ritualer, lekar, normer för lagar och moraliska system, liksom trossystem och konstarterna.

Tradition, däremot,  är ett latinskt ord i betydelsen ”överlämnande” och det som lämnas vidare är det kulturella och sociala arvet. Hit räknas förutom invanda seder och bruk, olika synsätt, språk och värderingar. Vi kan också konstatera att vi i modern tid har lagt till en del nya traditioner, en del av politisk betydelse och andra av kulturell betydelse. En del skapade av företagen för att tjäna mer pengar…

Därmed tänkte jag berätta lite om kultur och tradition för vårt midsommarfirande!

The Weekly Challenge from WordPress is Culture. The difference between culture and tradition doesn’t have to be very significant.

Culture (Latin: cultura, lit. ”cultivation”) is a modern concept based on a term first used in classical antiquity. In the mid-19th century, some scientists used the term ”culture” to refer to a universal human capacity, and in the 20th century, ”culture”began to encompass the total range of human phenomena that cannot be attributed to genetic inheritance. According to Wikipedia, Hoebel describes culture as an integrated system of learned behavior patterns which are characteristic of the members of a society and which are not a result of biological inheritance.

A tradition, on the other hand,  is a belief or behavior passed down within a group or society with symbolic meaning or special significance with origins in the past. Common examples include holidays or impractical but socially meaningful clothes (like lawyer wigs ), but the idea has also been applied to social norms such as greetings. Traditions can persist and evolve for thousands of years—the word ”tradition” itself derives from the Latin tradere or traderer literally meaning to transmit, to hand over, to give for safekeeping. While it is commonly assumed that traditions have ancient history, many traditions have been invented on purpose, whether that be political or cultural, over short periods of time.

What all this leads up to is a gallery of Swedish culture from our Midsummer festivities.

Swedish people pick flowers first thing in the morning on Midsummer’s Eve

Some are not put into water

Playing games together is a must in our culture

Eating together

Some more playing – outdoors of course!

Dressing up for the dance – bringing flowers

Old and very young dance around the maypole

No Midsummer without a shower…

Blue skies as it should be!

…and the strawberry cake of course

Towards evening

All Swedes stay outdoors as long as possible

Midsummer’s Day the typical Midsummer flowers, bluebottles and ox-eye daysies, are the first to catch my eye

Midsummer’s Day usually is the first day to try the water…

More games to play

Visiting the nearest town – the highest maypole

Fleemarket time!

In the sun for the rest of Midsummer’s Day