Tradition Across Borders

The recognition of things in the past that tell their story should be known and possibly enriched by successive generations. A major resource in the pursuit of this objective is the effort into making traditional customs successful and strong through the sacred dimension of celebration. Important alike is awareness of others. It is a well-known fact that knowing others you come to know yourself better (E.g. Căluşul versus Kagura) or, at least, you understand more easily that the forces of uniformity threaten national cultures leading to anonymous culture. Global culture is a force that is eroding and dissolving tradition entailing loss of cultural identity (E.g. Dragobetele and Tanabata versus Valentine’s Day). But if in a global cultural event we come across at least one mark specifically national, meager though it may be, it could help us recognize part of that cultural identity within the large ocean of global culture (E.g. the Japanese Giri-choko). I am not going to focus upon terminology such as internationalization or globalization, but upon concrete examples of what cultural identity means and how important the conservation of traditional customs through the sacred dimension of celebration is, such as I felt it during my fieldwork trips both in Romania and in Japan. With this aim in view I am approaching the Japanese Hayachine-kagura and the Romanian Căluş – dances that are distinctive marks of national identity