Hello Folks,
I am here again to greet you all with my words which are woven together in a string. I hope you will read my words today.
Our today's topic is about cultural norms. I thought on this topic and considering many cultural norms, practices and traditions which are being followed in my country Pakistan. Then I was thinking that how these cultural practices are varying and being influenced and shaped by others narratives. To understand every concept in depth, we have to dwell into the details of every concept. So let just walk with me in the garden of words.
Sufi and Sufism
Pakistani culture is deeply rooted and entrenched with Sufi culture and practices. Not only Pakistan but neighboring countries like India, Iran and many others. Sufism is the philosophy of Sufis. While reading, I got to know that there are many opinions about the origin of Sufi word! One opinion is that Sufi word has it's origin in Arabic language from the word "Safa" which means purity.
Sufism shows a smooth, cooperating picture of religion. It talks about humanity at the first and then it talks about honesty, fellow feeling, duties and many other concepts like self-realization and beautification of soul through piety and catharsis. In short, if we just talk about the crux of sufism then it's human friendship with God or journey to find God where human fell into mystical thoughts and practices.
I also read about elements of sufism. The one major element of sufism is Tasawwuf which means mystical thoughts and the other element of sufism is Zikar which means meditation.
Sufism culture is popular in Turkey and it has wide recognition in that country. In Pakistan, sufism is also famous and a wide number of people are followers of this particular philosophy but with the passage of time this culture is amalgamated with improper elements which are staining the very branches of sufism.
Folklore and Literature
Culture and cultural practices are incomplete without the literature of particular region. If any language or region doesn't have any literature then their culture will soon diminish and this process has been done in history. There are many regions in the world where culture is removed because people lost their connection to their literature and their language. So, literature is way to guide us about our core values and shape the identity of particular community or society.
Pakistan is multilingual country where many languages are nourishing and being spoken by millions of native speakers. I remember my childhood days when my grandmother used to tell me stories. Now I understand that those stories are folklores which are an important part of culture and literature. Folk means people and lore means body of tradition and knowledge. Folklores are part of oral traditions. This oral literature transcends from one generation to another. These folk lores talks about moral values, codes of the society, standards of society and also depicts the power and power structure of the society in which we live. These folklores are actually knowledge of society that guides us about the merits. How lucky we were that we used to listen these short stories which always provided us moral lessons. Back in those days, we use to sit around grandparents to listen to these short stories.
But, time is changed now and kids have mobile phones in their hands. This mobile phones is not narrating those folklores to them and indeed it is hindering their way to reach to cultural and core values of their society.
Togetherness and Social Practices in Pakistani Society
Togetherness is part of Pakistani culture. Means our social system do not follow the example of isolation. Majority of families are living in joined family system. On the other hand, it western nations we have seen that people live in separate houses, even children after crossing 18 years of their age live separately but it is not culturally acceptable here. We all live together with millions of smile. That's what our lifestyle is!
Joined family system is best in number of ways as we know our cousins and we learn so many things in this inclusive environment. Everyday turns out of an engaging activity. Even in our community we have homes close to each other and we visit to each other home. This cycle of greetings and meetings is constant in our lives.
Here's another problem and that is of recent trend of being isolated and live a private life. Now, many people are limited to their rooms and it's all thanks to modern thinking of being alone.
Conclusion
Global world mixed the culture of this world. Many cultures are being faded away and there are many to come into the whirl of it. Mobile phone, technological advancements and modern thinking of life also influenced the cultural practices of region.
This is my entry to Day 10 of Inleo Writing prompt for May.
See you soon 🌼 💮 🌸
𝕋𝕙𝕒𝕟𝕜 𝕪𝕠𝕦 𝕤𝕠 𝕞𝕦𝕔𝕙 𝕗𝕠𝕣 𝕤𝕥𝕠𝕡𝕡𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕓𝕪.
every picture belongs to me