Family Traditions - Antiquity of Family Traditions

Antiquity of Family Traditions

Family traditions have their roots in distant past, to pre-historic times, when the concept and system of family as a unit of society was crystallized. In all ages and in all civilizations, since the ancient time to the present day, families have taken pride in their traditions. Before nuclear family systems became the order of the day, there used to be joint family system, consisting of all the family members of two or even three generations, living together.

Then, as also now, several families like to identify a particular person as the keeper of the family traditions and assign a particular name to the keeper. Thus, a particular family, residing in the modern United Kingdom may assign a catchy name like “Keeper of the Flame” to the identified family member, entrusted with the responsibility of ensuring observance of that particular family’s family traditions. On the other side of the globe, in a country like India, the society has assigned a common nomenclature for the head of a Hindu Undivided Family (HUF), a form of joint family. Head of such a family is called “Karta” (literal meaning ‘One who does’), and for all practical purposes, “Karta” was entrusted with responsibilities, among other things, to ensure observance of family traditions. Even, modern India's legal system recognizes the concept of “Karta” as the head of a Hindu joint family.