Culture like it is said is the total way of life of a people in a given area. Culture is dynamic, unique, and it is shared from generation to generation.
Culture differs because of different ethnic groups. It is these things that our parents pass on to us and we will also pass on to our children.
Culture helps us to know our roots, how to behave and how to do things. Culture ranges from foods, clothes, greetings, dance and so many others.
Culture inculcates the norms, beliefs, and customs to members of a given society. These norms, beliefs and customs help an individual to know what to do and what not to do at a given time. Culture can be transferred from generation to generation.
In some places, there are certain cultures that need to be abolished and not passed to the next generation. Like in my place, the Southern part of the country, there are some cultures that personally will not want to pass to my children.
Like the case of masquerade, it is not just the masquerade but certain rituals that will be done which are not Godly. There is a period in my place that the masquerade will come out and if you are not initiated as a male, you will leave the village so that you can have peace. That one in particular affects male children only, so if you are of age and you are not initiated, you will be on the run during that period. This one alone I will not pass it to my children.
Another part of my culture that I will not pass to my children, is the issue of marriage rituals for the first daughters. There are rituals and sacrifices that will be done before you go to your husband's house. They say if you don't perform these rituals, the lady will not have children and so on. I don't like it, because they will collect some items and they use it for the rituals to appease the gods for the marriage to be fruitful.
Such culture I will not pass it to my children. Like the cooking of foods, dressing, greetings, dancing, folktales and songs can be passed to the next generation, instead of the ones that will be tight on us and make us afraid if we don't participate in them.
I believe culture is dynamic, it can be changed. So that the shared norms and customs can fully be actualized. These norms, beliefs and customs were made by our forefathers and the ones we see that are not favourable to us can be changed so that our children will not live in fear of the unknown.
For the question that says how much of my culture should I pass to my children. There are many things like respecting elders, cooking, dressing and how marriages are conducted. That I will pass to them but masquerade and first daughters rituals during marriage, I will not pass to them.
Thank you all for reading.
Images are generated Meta Ai.