Sharing Tradition || Frank La Pena || Compulsory English Grade 11

 

Unit-3, Essays

 

1. Sharing Tradition

Frank LaPena

 

Before Reading

Answer these questions.

a.   Do you share cultural traditions with your friends?

Ans:- Yes I share cultural traditions with my friends. I tell them stories related to different festival, historical events, customs and beliefs. Celebrations of different festivals have their own stories and I tell to my friends the stories I know well.

 

b.  Did your parents tell you stories whey you were a child? If yes, did they have anything to do with your culture or values?

Ans:- Yes my parents would tell me stories when I was a child. My parents would tell me stories related to religious ceremonies, celebration of festivals, and some superstitions too.

 

c.   Should we preserve our cultural values and traditions? Why?

Ans:- Our cultural values and traditions should be preserved because they give us our identity and make us unique and different to those who belong to another cultural groups in the society. They also teach us moral lessons and help us to walk ahead in the path of righteousness.

 

Frank Raymond LaPena

v Was born on 5 October 1937 in San Francisco, California,USA and died in 2019,

v Studied in Federal Indian Boarding School in Steward in Nevada State,

v Received B.A. from California State University, Chico in 1965 and M.A. in Anthropology from California State University, Sacramento, a public university in California

v Lecturer of American Indian Tradition and cultural issues based on California traditions (culture of America as a whole)

v Professor of art and former director of Native American Studies at California State University, Sacramento (Capital of California)

v Painter, sculptor and poet (understanding and love to his native heritage,

v founder of Maidu Dancers and Traditionalist (Maidu- Native Americans of Northern California)

 

Sharing Tradition, an essay is about passing on culture and values from generation to generation through oral tradition listening to elder's stories.

 

Reading:

Some Key Points:-

v The deaths of tradition people have great effects in preserving and maintaining tradition (the transmission of customs and beliefs from one generation to another), oral tradition is important and an art form. Young people have to take responsibility to carry out oral tradition however it is difficult to do.

v Everybody grows old and becomes elder, but some elders acquire special position or 'niche' /nɪtʃ/ in the society acquiring and receiving knowledge of the culture and community responsibilities from their previous generation and influencing everyday activities of other people. The niche they created in society is hard to fill after they pass away.

v Young generations don't pay attention on such things as a result, when the elders pass away, they will regret in the future for not listening to them who were willing to share the tradition.

v The new technologies make the young people different to elders. Development in technology has bad effect in natural resources such as air and water which are tied with tradition. It also creates stress, worry and change in young people and it is hard to maintain tradition in such circumstance as a result the world doesn't seem to be like of previous generations'.

v Oral tradition is the educational tool of understanding the natural world because it teaches us to preserve and respect the natural world which is religiously and culturally important.

v Modern education system hinders to maintain tradition. This forces people do things out of compulsion without interest and passion for the story. Researchers may gather wrong information on oral material and they modify to make sense validating erroneous information and readers mistakenly believe them to be right.

v Experts, researchers, writers, lecturers pass wrong information to the people. Instead passing wrong information, they must recommend to the elders who know correct information. Or before publication of books the information must be corrected with the help of elders who know the answer, such errors are hard to be corrected.

v Oral tradition is different to literary tradition. It can be corrected though it is taken as a fantasy and has no validity. The proper understanding is achieved only after a long period of time. Person belonging to such group can give correct information because it is his life and has a pride to do it.

v Oral tradition has also an impact on artists to visualize the story, character, design, color and atmosphere. True art depicts the traditional information realistically if it is created with the due attention. Art is also a means to pass tradition from one generation to another.

 

Understanding the text

Answer the following questions.

a. According to LaPena, what is the importance of the oral tradition? To what extent do you agree with his opinions and why?

Ans: Oral tradition means passing of religious and cultural beliefs, legends, and myths from one generation to another orally. Such kind of passing of tradition orally is important because it helps to maintain and preserve cultural values and this is also art. I completely agree with his opinion because our cultural values are our identity and way of life and must be passed from one generation to another generation to lead our society ahead preserving own uniqueness.

 

b. Who preserve and pass on the oral tradition?

Ans:- By nature oral tradition flows from previous generation to the next generation as water flows up to down. Such tradition is preserved and passed on by the elders who have knowledge of the culture and the responsibilities they have in their community to the young people who preserve and pass on to their next generation.

 

c. What is the danger of not passing on information from generation to generation?

Ans:- If such information is not passed from one generation to another, there is the danger of extinction of such tradition and culture along with the death of traditional people. Such things exist orally and if there is a gap in one generation, the upcoming generation totally forgets it.

 

d. What is the difference between oral tradition and literary tradition?

Ans:- Oral tradition, though it also an art form, survives for a long time if it is transferred from one generation to another. Literary tradition means transmitting traditional information through writing. Oral tradition permits corrections but literary tradition doesn't permit. Once a book is published it is harder to correct errors.

 

e. How does LaPena establish a relationship between art and the oral tradition?

Ans:- The essay "Sharing Tradition" mainly focuses on the importance of sharing of oral tradition, and says that it is also an art form. The essayist establishes a relationship between art and oral tradition because it helps the artists to visualize the stories, the characters, the design and color of art, the atmosphere and other information.  

 

Reference the Context:

a. LaPena states that the oral tradition helps maintain the values of a culture. If you believe that oral tradition is important, how would you maintain it?

Ans:- Historical memories, incidents, events, culture, myths, legends are recorded either through written scripts or pass on generation to generation orally. Social behaviors, norms, ideas related to a specific group of people or society are called culture. It enhances our quality of life and overall well being of an individual and society. Oral tradition transmits such things in the form of tales, myths, legends, fairytales, songs, poems, proverbs from one generation to another. The values of such things are added while passing from one age to another. It also helps to shape our identity. To maintain our oral tradition, I must learn it from our elders. I can transfer to my children if I know and practice them properly. I participate in all kinds of cultural ceremonies that my society follow, I listen to my elders, ask questions to them. I follow religious norms and values, dig out my ancestral history and so on. Only after receiving all of them properly I can pass them to my children.

 

b. "Not everyone is capable of fulfilling the roles of the elders." Explain this statement with reference to the essay.

Ans:-  The roles of the elders often involve responsibilities that require specialized knowledge, skills or the wisdom that is acquired with experience. Sometimes the elder can mentor a younger person to assume the responsibility. Elders often have leadership roles in a community which will require them to listen, communicate, settle disputes, or offer guidance to solve problems. They must be able to earn the respect of the community. Because of their contribution to their society, they knowledge, their position, the way they preserve culture and tradition, they make a special position in the society. When they die, it is hard to fill up the position the elders created.  

 

c. What is the controlling idea or thesis of this essay?

Ans:- The controlling idea or thesis of this essay is that oral tradition is important in helping maintain the values of culture and it is also an art form. It is as important as literary tradition. The information regarding tradition and culture must be transferred to the succeeding generations by the previous generations for the healthy society. Such things teach the new generation lots of things that teaches them how to live a life. Human life is long and there comes different obstacles and fragmentations and such oral tradition give useful ways to combat obstacles and fragmentations. For this the elders must have respects to the elders and they must listen to their stories.

 

 

d. How to topic sentences guide the reader through this essay? What would be lost without them?

Ans:- Any essay is a piece of writing on a particular subject. Though the writing styles differ, the main objective of any essay is to persuade the readers. To persuade or convince the reader, the writer brings different supporting ideas separately explained in single paragraphs. So paragraphs are distinct sections of a piece of writing. The persuasive quality lies on the construction of each paragraph. Every paragraph, either it forms the introduction, or body or conclusion of an essay contains topic sentence or main point to support the thesis. The topic sentences of each of the paragraphs in this essay help to understand the main idea of the essay that is important of oral tradition for the preservation of culture. They guide the readers to understand the main idea of the essayist. Without them the readers would find them in a puzzle and could never read the main idea clearly. Badly constructed topic sentences lead to the paragraphs out of track. The readers would not know about the importance of oral tradition, problems in maintaining oral traditions and its connection to art.

 

e. What are the four major problems developed by LaPeana with regard to maintaining the oral tradition. How are they used to structure the essay?

Ans:- The major part of the essays is about the four major problems LaPena points out in maintaining oral tradition. The first problem is that the religious obligations for the ceremonies and dance carried out by the elders are hard to fulfill after they pass away if the young people don't pay too much attention to them. Nothing remains except regret after they pass away. The second problem is that the advancement in science and technology and its grip to new generation leading stress, worry and change is making hard to maintain oral tradition. Modern age is quite different to the world of our great grandparents. Present education system is another obstacle for maintain the oral tradition. Researchers may gather wrong information on oral material and they modify to make sense validating erroneous information and readers mistakenly believe them to be right. Hence experts, researchers, writers, lecturers pass wrong information to the people. They don't recommend the elders for correct information. And finally the source of one's information and way of giving it is also a problem to maintain oral tradition. Only after getting a proper understanding, the information must be transferred. These problems are dealt with a due attention. To persuade the readers, the essayist has given examples how these problems are creating obstacles in maintaining oral tradition.

 

Reference beyond the text

a. Write a paragraph or two explaining your attitude toward the oral tradition of passing along information.

Ans:- We are all social beings and we live in our society. There some cultural identities of each society and the members of that society must follow and share. Every society has some underlined values, norms and behaviors which are carried out generation to generation through oral tradition that is also called orality, the first and still most widespread mode of human communication. It refers to a dynamic and highly diverse oral-aural medium for evolving, storing, and transmitting knowledge, art, and ideas. This is also an art form which plays a vital role in preserving our tradition, culture and beliefs. The continuous practice of this tradition from generation to generation helps to make our culture immortal. Different modern things are helping to erode our cultural values, in such a circumstance, oral tradition helps to make it strong and unaffected.

 

b. Our culture is our identity. Write a few paragraphs explaining how you intend to preserve your cultures, values and norms.

Ans:- 

Preserving your culture is important. Your culture is a part of your identity. If we don't preserve our culture, in later generations, they'll completely forget about the beautiful culture of our ancestors. The culture our ancestors followed is precious and unique. I take part in the following activities with aim to preserve my culture, values, and norms.

 

Every culture has its own values and norms so do mine. We have our own religion, traditions, food and clothing customs, and festivals and so on. I take part in every cultural activities take place at my own home or in public places. I share these cultural values to my children, my friends and relatives as well as respecting others'. Several festivals and rituals have their own norms and behaviors to be followed. I celebrate all festivals and carry out all ritual rights. I am sensitive to my culture and respects. I worship all gods and goddesses according to my religion, I observe the elders how they take cultural responsibilities and apply in my life. I manage time to participate in family functions, speak my ancestral language. I eat traditional food according to religious festivals such as Maghe Sankranti, Janai Purnima. I always wear sacred thread according to our custom. There are lots of such things according to our culture and I take part in each and every occasions.