It’s a very interesting subject and I’m sure alot of websites are dedicated to it. But I couldn’t find a single usefull website. All the sites I found contained tirivia in a one-line form.
Can you help me find some usefull websites?
I think you need to narrow down the subject a bit, EverLearner. “Customs and traditions” is a huge category of human behavior, so of course you’re unlikely to find any resources about them in general that aren’t pretty superficial and unsystematic.
What types of customs are you particularly interested in?
Also, “strange” is a very subjective term…
Well, let me first change the word “strange”. The appropriate word is “different”.
What I’m looking for isn’t necessarily a tradition, it may be a law (a general one) like the single-child law in China. I want to know how people around the world are different from each other. I want to travel the world from my laptop. I want to know the things that a tourist learns about different societies.
“Different” is also subjective: one would need to know your location and cultural background.
Here’s a little one for you anyway: the Child of Prague.
In Ireland, the night before a wedding, it is a tradition of involved parties (usually parents of the bride) to put a statue of the Child of Prague (a copy of a 14th century Czech statue of Jesus) in the garden. It is the superstition that this will prevent rain. Often, the statue is deemed to be more effective if it’s broken.
You might want to start with e-books; this is a list of books whose text is available online on the subject of customs (Library of Congress catalogue numbers beginning with GT). You might also want to check out GR, folklore, or GV, games and pastimes.
“Strange”, eh? Well, I hear that in some parts of the world, they have special foods for breakfast. Yes, that’s right, one meal a day is made up of foods devised solely for that meal! Astonishing, isn’t it?
Well, I was suprised the first time I was handed curry for breakfast.
You know, I never thought that that was strange until you just pointed it out. We are pretty weird!
Here’s one that might be a bit closer to home, since I know that some Americans (I assume you’re American) do it: cooking and eating the placenta after a woman gives birth.
Only the insane ones. I’d lived in the USA as an American citizen for 40 years without ever hearing of this “custom”.
Some of us write to total strangers for amusement and enlightenment.
I was told by our family historian that my great-grandfather was a farmer, and he had meat at every meal. If there wasn’t any meat for breakfast, he would butcher a hog before lunch.
When my younger sister was born did this (ate the placenta). Neither I nor my parents are insane. Yes, it’s strange and bit uncommon (to say the least) but perfectly normal people do it along with the total wackjobs.
I’m glad I got all these replies. But I didn’t find what I’m looking for. Every one started to get off the main topic.
Please send some useful urls if you know any.
Dear EverLearner, before you criticise, please acknowledge that you have yet to define “the main topic”.
Eating placenta and the Child of Prague both seem “strange” to me, given my Judaeo-Christian European upbringing. The weirdness of breakfast is an interesting observation, highlighting one small thing we in the west do that others may find peculiar. I think these are three legitimate responses.
Please be more explicit about what you’re looking for.
Does not compute.
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Off to MPSIMS.
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Might you be looking for something more like this in topic, if not content?