Both cultures and customs are interrelated to each other. But many social groups are considering them as unique and different concepts. Culture is a whole tricky aspect because it includes morals, beliefs, clothing, knowledge, rituals, and it includes custom also. Customs can be defined as the way that a person is behaving or doing something that is according to the traditional values of that specific place. If we are to define custom properly, we can say it represents a culture, and it is a part of it.
What is meant by culture?
Culture is a social aspect that helps to understand the particular society and their beliefs. Culture is a thing that one doesn’t inherit, but they already acquire it. This is because a kid learns from their parents and their habit, they are not explicitly told some things, but they acquire that just by seeing them while growing up in society.
All the people in different nationalities and ethnicities have traits and the cultural values that they learned when they grew up in their surroundings. You can’t define a culture as a concrete concept because the culture also keeps changing by the changing generations. Yes, the core and beliefs in something remain the same, but everything needs some updating for the better development of everyone.
What would define custom?
Custom indeed represents, but it is widely accepted as a person’s behavior that the learned by being in a specific society and according to their traditions or ethics. Each and every society and community have their own different kinds of customs as the culture is different everywhere. Custom is a part of the culture, so all the customs will also be different.
If we are to give an example of wedding customs, every wedding in every nation is totally different. Americans have a simple wedding and reception, and all of it is all done in a day, but if you compare an Indian wedding, they are both different in customs, and that is because of the culture of a nation.
When a particular behavior, act, or gesture gets inherited or continuously practiced, all these things turn into custom. When all the customs are followed and practiced for subsequent years, that gesture or act or the behavior turns into traditions. All the generations get to experience different customs because of the developing nature of nations and people. Sometimes people also get to experience different cultures at the same time because their parents belong to different cultures, so that kid ends up knowing everything about both of them. It helps him get the importance of traditions in lifestyle.
At last, according to many sociologists, custom may seem different to them, but custom is just the same as every other aspect of culture. People wear clothes on festivals according to their traditions and culture of the specific state or community. Different communities have different customs, and that is what leads to diversity. Culture can be represented through concrete elements, and custom is one of them.
