SECTION H.-ANTHROPOLOGY. 
WHAT IS TRADITION ? 
ADDRESS BY 
. THE RT. HON. LORD RAGLAN, 
PRESIDENT OF THE SECTION. 
A DICTIONARY definition of tradition is ‘ anything that is handed down 
‘orally from age to age’; that definition I propose to adopt, and shall 
begin by considering what it is that is handed down orally from age to 
age. ‘Tradition then consists of— 
(1) Methods of farming. Traditional methods are in most places 
followed in breeding, feeding, milking and killing animals; in 
ploughing, manuring and sowing the land, and in harvesting and 
storing the crops. 
(2) Methods of craftsmanship. Houses are built; weapons, tools, 
implements, utensils, clothes and ornaments are made, in most 
cases, by traditional methods. 
(3) Methods of eating, drinking, and preparing food. 
(4) Methods of dealing with property. Even in civilised countries 
systems of land tenure, inheritance, and transfer of property are 
usually traditional. 
(5) Marriage customs and ceremonies ; bride-price, divorce, etc. 
(6) Rites and ceremonies at birth, death and initiation. 
(7) Etiquette. There are traditional ways of saluting, and of eating, 
dressing, and behaving in company. 
(8) Superstitions. 
(9) Games, sports, songs and dances. 
(10) Traditional narratives. 
Leaving aside for a moment the traditional narrative, we may then 
regard tradition as a code which, entirely in the case of the savage and very 
largely in the case of the civilised, regulates the conduct and activities 
of mankind throughout life. However much tradition may vary from 
group to group, it always has this in common, that it must be learnt in all 
its aspects by the younger members of the group, whatever the group may 
consist of, before the older members will admit them to the full privileges 
of membership. Whether a tradition is rational or irrational makes not 
the slightest difference; traditions about unlucky days or unlucky 
numbers are enforced as strictly as traditions of honesty and truthfulness. 
The traditions of our best schools and professions contain many absurdi- 
ties, as do those of our courts of justice and of Parliament. 
Tradition, then, is a code of rules, covering every aspect of human life, 
