Tradition, right or wrong - but why?

It's those wretched lepatata that threw me up against the computer to post something on this long neglected soap box. That's another, Tswana, name for the same wretched vuvuzela. I cannot stand the noise they make, can you?

Vuvuzelas were sold to the rest of the world as a 'traditional instrument' before, during and no doubt after the 2010 FIFA World Cup of South Africa. But I discover that the 'tradition' goes back to the mid 1960s, when claims are made for their invention. It doesn't take a university degree to know that animal horns have been used as instruments since prehistory, just a tad earlier than the 1960s. (Wikipedia has the following annotation: Traditionally made and inspired from a kudu horn, the vuvuzela was used to summon distant villagers to attend community gatherings.[4][dubious – discuss] )

But what I want to know is why were these supposedly traditional nuisances allowed to deafen humanity even as filtered through our TV screens. In other words, which South African minister's cousin, brother-in-law, nephew or son got the import license? People returning from Durban tell me that these plastic exasperations are made in China. Surprise, surprise. True, similar 'traditional' 'instruments' used at football stadiums are Made in China and sold to such soccer-crazy countries as Brazil, Argentina and so on. That's no surprise, either.

The Oxford Dictionary (large, heavy, paper, not-online version) defines the word thus: 

Tradition.
    [mass noun] the transmission of customs or beliefs from generation to generation, or the fact of being passed on in this way: e.g. members of different castes have by tradition been associated with specific occupations
    [count noun] a long-established custom or belief that has been passed on from one generation to another: e.g. Japan's unique cultural traditions
    [in singular] an artistic or literary method or style established by an artist, writer, or movement, and subsequently followed by others: e.g. visionary works in the tradition of William Blake

...but particularly interesting is this: "Origin: late Middle English: from Old French tradicion, or from Latin traditio (n-), from tradere 'deliver, betray', from trans- 'across' + dare 'give'." Betray? Hmmm.

But I live in Spain and I write in Spain and about Spain (this is written the day before the World Cup final, by the way), so I will step up to my soap box to denounce (good Spanish word that) tradition. Or its darker side, at any rate.

Bullfighting is often called a tradition. But is it right? Throwing a goat from the top of a church tower was also a tradition. But it was banned as not right (It's okay to throw a turkey instead, on the principle that it can fly - sort of). Pig-sticking, bear baiting and fox hunting are all traditions. But are they right? Some of these have fallen into disuse, possibly for a lack of bears (pigs are plentiful, though), but fox hunting in full pinks was 'traditional' at least in Southern Spain where I live, brought over by regimental haw-haws from Gibraltar. The 'tradition' is now extinct, but I'm not certain if for a lack of haw-haws or of pinks. (For those who don't know about these things, 'pink' is a traditional euphemism for red, the colour of the Master of Foxhound's jacket - another misuse of the word tradition that may or may not have anything to do with public schools, which in itself is another class tradition as well as a misnomer. I could go on...)

As I write, the traditional bull running San Fermin festival is on in Pamplona. Local, village ferias are in full summer swing - many of them holding traditional bull running that can include placing fireworks or fire on the bull's horns; throwing darts (cowardly, from behind safety barriers) at the bull as it passes; taunting bullocks, calves and (not often) full grown bulls; knocking a herd of bulls over with staves from on horseback (this is particularly cowardly as riders and horses enormously outnumber the cattle); 'dancing horses' - very popular with tourists- where the horses are trained to make movements that are absolutely contra natura ('against nature'), especially when they are made to stay up on hind legs for several minutes; and so on. And on.

Tradition in Spain can be a dangerous thing, particularly if you're a clumsy turkey. Or someone's pet dog of the allegedly more vicious breeds (pit bulls, any of the large Alsatian types, etc.) that get stolen regularly in order to train fighting dogs for illegal gambling dens. Come to think of it, cock fighting is traditional, but it's not right, is it? It's also illegal. We are grateful even while knowing full well that it goes on not too many metres from our homes in many places. Otherwise, how do you explain that scrawny looking thing being carefully tendered next door?

But traditions in Spain also include such magnificent things as the annual pilgrimage to El Rocío, the human pyramids -castells- of Catalonia, or the effigies -fallas- of Valencia. None of these involve damage to animals or humans - er ... the fireworks in Valencia can, and do, deafen or blind permanently, a nine year old girl was killed recently when she fell off the top of a castell, and 24 horses died on their way to or from El Rocío this year. (Note: you can read about El Rocío and the Fallas de Valencia on DominGo, a magazine of this stable, OneLinePULSE Publications. A link is available on the sidebar.)

So where do we draw the line about traditions?

Here's an idea: when using the phrase "but it's traditional" remember that that is not necessarily true or right (we all know right from wrong: those who don't are institutionalised by definition). These words can be exchanged for "it's always been done like that" - if we kept on doing the same time and again, we'd still be living in caves and I wouldn't have a soap box to stand on.

(c) Copyright Alexander Bewick 2010

A load of bull

I confess: I used to 'follow the bulls'. A youthful fantasy that I had something, anything, to do with Hemingway. I lived in the US long enough to get pangs of nostalgia about life in Spain. That included being clued up on the 'art' of bullfighting. But something happened shortly after my return to this country almost twenty years ago, after attending a couple of bullfights.

I was sitting in a local bar watching the San Isidro season on TV, a major month-long season in Madrid. All of a sudden I asked myself, "What the hell am I doing here?" I haven't been to a bullfight since that day. Occasionally I have watched something to do with the corrida but always about the breeding of those magnificent animals, or the horses that attend the rejoneo, or bullfighting on horseback. As a former horseman, I am in awe of their riding skills and the training that goes on behind the scenes.

As I write, Cataluña is debating banning the bullfight from the region, and Madrid has just announced that it will declare it a Bien de Interés Cultural. In Andalucía, the President of the Partido Popular, Javier Arenas, has announced that he will seek a parliamentary debate and subsequent 'non-law proposition' to "defend our traditions, our culture and our fiesta nacional (another name for the bullfight)."

Call it political polarization: Cataluña is governed by a centre-left coalition and Madrid by the Partido Popular; Andalucía has been run by the PSOE since the advent of democracy thirty years ago and whom Arenas has been trying to dethrone for at least four elections. But I don't want to get political on the subject of bullfighting: let the politicos do that, it's their job.

No, I want to look at the word 'culture' as it is so often applied to the corrida. In English the word is used as something positive ('a cultured people', for example) but I have always felt that the word cultura in Spain ought to be written 'kultur', in the Soviet fashion. The country is plagued with casas de cultura that are usually no more than places for the local politicians to hold political meetings and the occasional 'cultural' event - ones that espouse only the interests of the local governing party even though the building is a public asset 'owned' by everyone, of any political colour.

Used in the more English sense, and associating it with bullfighting, goes a little deeper. Add 'tradition' and I have a problem.

Is there anything cultural about killing defenceless animals? Is it right just because it's a tradition? Is every tradition the right thing just because it has been done for a long time? Clearly not.

The debate is on, yet nowhere have I read about the possibility of bullfighting without killing the bull onstage, as they do in Portugal and a few other places in the world, though the bull is usually killed outside the ring, and used for meat, unlike the ones in the picture above -by JimenaPulse, to whom thanks- which get cremated.

As I said, the debate is on.

(c) Alexander Bewick 2010