Beloved traditions get passed down from generation to generation, creating a shared culture and offering a sense of belonging.
Unfortunately, some messed-up things hitch a ride with our heritage, leading to outdated traditions that we should probably retire.
Outdated Traditions that Should End
We don’t have to keep doing stuff just because we’ve always done it. Some traditions achieve a status of reverence solely because they’re so old, but that doesn’t mean we can’t collectively decide to let them go.
These outdated traditions need to end.
Animal Fighting
Dog fighting, bullfighting, cock fighting, and other variations of needless animal fighting should stop.
I don’t care if it’s your culture or heritage. Pitting animals against each other in a cruel battle for no purpose other than entertainment needs to end.
Humans need to rise above the cruelty.
Smashing Cakes
Why do we smash cakes in people’s faces during special occasions? It’s a mean, pointless tradition.
Parents, please stop bashing your baby’s face into their cake on their first birthday. Grooms, please don’t mash cake into your bride’s face after she spent all that time and money to look amazing for your special day.
Hazing
Fraternities around the country think that bullying potential members forges bonds of friendship.
I get that you went through it. But just because you had to suffer, that doesn’t mean everyone else does. Why not forge bonds of friendship through emotional intelligence and supporting each other instead?
Expensive Funerals
I will never understand why we spend tens of thousands of dollars on the dead. They’re gone; they don’t need it.
Yes, we want to honor our relatives who have passed, but there are far better ways to honor someone’s legacy than blowing your life savings on a funeral.
Create a charity that honors them. Spend a day cherishing your memories. Teach the next generation about them so that they’ll be remembered.
We need to develop new traditions to honor the dead and let go of expensive funerals.
Forced Marriage
In this day and age, no one should be forced to marry against their will. However, forced marriages are too common in many parts of the world and occur in the US more than you want to believe.
The outdated tradition lingers from a time when women were property, and we need to move past it.
Extravagant Weddings
Dream wedding marketing tricks blissful couples into forking out ridiculous amounts of cash for a single party.
But it’s not just the cost. The facts that people choose who stands next to them based on aesthetics, obsess over the smallest details, and become “bridezillas” all tell me that this outdated tradition needs to end.
Not that you shouldn’t have a wonderful wedding, but why not focus on celebrating your relationship with the people you love rather than how it looks?
Family Vloggers
New traditions can be just as awful as ancient ones.
Case in point: family vloggers, a tradition where new parents come to YouTube to share their trials and tribulations.
It’s not just the YouTubers, though; it’s the entire culture of sharing your kid’s most embarrassing moments online for all the world to see. I’m so glad my childhood photos were safely in family photo albums where they belong.
Underage Brides
In ancient times, tribal leaders married young girls to ensure fertility and create alliances. You’d think modern society would have done away with child marriage decades ago, but nope.
Marrying minors is still legal worldwide, and even in many US states. Politicians have blocked numerous attempts to raise the legal marriage age.
It’s a tradition rooted in misogyny that needs to end.
Grass Lawns
Green grass looks great, but it’s a water hog and takes a ton of upkeep. Why did it become the standard for lawns across the country?
Instead, we should lean into natural landscaping. Dry areas should use rock and sand to preserve water. Fertile areas can use lawns to grow food for the community.
We’re wasting precious space by insisting on grass lawns.
Celebrity Worship
In the Middle Ages, people would fawn over their queens, kings, and the royal court. We may think that tradition ended long ago (unless you look at how obsessed the UK is with the royal family), but it hasn’t ended; it just morphed.
Celebrities are the new royalty. People stalk their Instagrams, follow the tabloids, and obsess about every aspect of celebrity lives.
Is it a cultural tradition to form a para-social relationship with people you deem superior, or is it part of human nature?
Tipping
In the United States, tipping culture has gotten out of hand. A lot of people would love to see it disappear, unless they’re a server working for tips.
Most people don’t know that tipping has a racist history, at least in America. When the Civil War ended, business owners didn’t want to pay black workers fair wages, so instead, they forced customers to subsidize the wage with tips.
Though it’s now more of a class issue than a race issue, the outdated tradition where business owners refuse to pay workers a living wage needs to go.
Black Friday Shopping
The tradition of trampling each other to save money on TVs after a night of thanks is a distinctly American one that needs to disappear.
Black Friday shopping isn’t even good anymore. Stores raise prices the month before so they can “slash” them on Black Friday, offer only two televisions at bargain prices (that are specifically made with worse features for the sale), and refuse to pay their employees enough money to deal with the stampede.
Maybe all traditions based on heavy consumerism need to end.
Getting Married and Having Kids
antoniodiaz via Shutterstock.com.
There’s nothing wrong with getting married and having kids if that’s what you want to do. But the truth is, a lot of us don’t want to do it. We only do it because society tells us we have to.
It’s tradition. It’s peer pressure from dead relatives.
Let go of tradition and live life on your terms.
Find out how the life script keeps us trapped and miserable.
Celebrating Work Above All Else
America’s obsession with work hurts everyone. America’s Toxic Work Culture makes us think that all of our problems would be solved if we just worked longer hours.
The tradition of living to work needs to go. We need to look to our European friends and learn how to work to live instead.
Rugged Individualism
Rugged individualism celebrates the individual over the collective. While it’s great in theory, Americans take it to an extreme. We pretend we’re “self-made” while ignoring a society that gave us immense privilege. We selfishly hoard wealth at the expense of the common good.
America’s tradition of rugged individualism was never really true. Its propaganda designed to prevent us from working collectively to achieve a common goal.
We need to find more balance between the individual and society.
Gender Roles
Traditional gender roles force people into lives they might not want. Not all women want to nurture a house and home. Not all men want to provide.
Some men would be fantastic full-time fathers, while women have proven they can excel in nearly any career.
We need to thrust off traditional gender roles (for everyone) and let people live the life that fits them.
Genital Mutilation
In some countries, female children undergo a horrifying and painful procedure to prevent them from enjoying sex as adults.
We love to think that these terrible things only happen elsewhere, but Americans also mutilate children’s genitals. Over a million baby boys are subjected to circumcision every year.
Although male circumcision isn’t as painful or life-altering as the female version, there’s no reason anyone should be doing anything with a child’s body. He should be able to decide for himself when he turns 18.
What Other American Traditions Need to End?
America has a lot of outdated traditions because the country is a melting pot of different cultures. We took the good with the bad, and some of the messed-up practices stuck.
But some of them were homegrown. The Black Friday frenzy, glamorous weddings, and expensive funerals are all mostly American things.
What other cultural practices in the US would you like to see end? Share your thoughts in the comments!