Who can change nations' traditions ?

Answer 1

Interesting question!

I suggest IMMIGRANTS for one. There is an Oktoberfest in Brian Head, Utah (in September!) because of German immigrants there. There is a carnival in London on the last weekend of August because West Indian immigrants started it, and it has become a tradition.

GOVERNMENTS for another, if they're crafty about it. They can shift the focus of festivals to make them more PC, for example. Guy Fawkes Day (Bonfire Night) on Nov 5th was created in England partly in order to suppress the keeping of Hallow'een (considered unChristian).

EMIGRANTS too, because tradition depends on people wanting to keep it. Traditions die out when too few people want to keep them up.

RELIGIOUS ORGANISATIONS change traditions too. When a new religion gains hegemony in a society, traditons associated with the old one fade away or die out or are suppressed. The bardic tradition, for example, was largely lost from the courts of Celtic Britain when their kings converted to Christianity. Similarly, in modern times, the disappearance of religion from the mainstream of Western public life (everywhere except America) means that traditions associated with Christianity have dies out in those countries.

I'd think THE MEDIA can do it too, nowadays, by showing up a tradition as immoral or a sham.

Answer 2

A war or some other traumatic event can greatly change a country's traditions. WW2 totally changed Japan.

Answer 3

Nation itself or let me say time changes everything. It is TIME. We forget some ,we ignore some other till it vanishes or almost vanishes.