Traditional Culture vs. Modern Culture: Which One Do You Mostly Identify with?

        

      

        I love the fact that my city is having an increasing openness to other cultures, and especially now, as summer has arrived, a broad range of events from various countries are available to the wide public. Every year I attend the Night of the Cultural Institutes, when several European countries put their cultural heritage and their creativity into play, by organizing representative cultural events throughout the entire evening. 

           

      Last year we spoke about the challenges of making such an event attractive, and this year there was something else which caught my attention. Each of these institutes is doing their best in order to offer variety. However, for each segment of the public, some of these diverse events will be undoubtedly more interesting than others. Something that I notice is the fact that in many cases traditional culture (handmade artefacts, flokloric music and dance performances, traditional cuisine) is presented alternatively with modern culture (graphic design, animation, alternative music, modern cinema). The former represent a very "colourful" part of a nation's culture, the point of curiosity for most foreigners, but may not be seen as representative of everyday life, just like people don't normally dress in traditional costumes. On the other hand, the latter would only be addressed to a niche audience, and perhaps not everyone would enjoy it. 

           

         Tradition represents the basic part of any culture, and if we're interested in learning about other countries, that is where we should start from. Besides, that could even be combined with something useful in everyday life, such as trying some beginner language workshops, or learning to cook some national dishes. And afterwards, one could move to bigger "missions", traditional or modern, depending on personal taste and interests. Last night, my attention was mainly caught by Turkish and Hungarian art, Austrian and British sweets, but also contemporary theatre performances at the French and Hungarian institutes. Other than that, there have been many more manifestations to choose from.

         

        The final point is that all cultures offer a mix of old and new, and most surely everyone would find something interesting for themselves. But none of these parts should be neglected. If you were to organize such an event dedicated to the culture of your own country, region, or city, what would you do? Which part of your culture do you feel is most representative, and worth identifying with?