Why the role of mothers is pivotal in transmitting culture?
Photo by Phil Hearing on Unsplash
This Mother’s Day is a perfect opportunity to reflect upon the indispensable role mothers play in safeguarding cultural heritage and how the traditions and practices they pass down to their children serve to shape future generations.
Here are just a few areas of culture which depend on mothers around the world for their continuation:
Language
It is no accident that the first language we learn is referred to as our “mother tongue”. Historically, often mothers have been the primary transmitters of language as they cared for their children and taught them how to communicate. This includes the mechanics of language itself, as well as the cultural symbolism built into it.
Culinary practises
© Alex Murrillos
In many traditional societies around the world, numerous recipes and traditional cooking techniques have often been created, mastered and transmitted by mothers or home-makers. Culinary practises and cooking together as a family gives a chance to bring people, memories and different generations together. Certain recipes also bind people together as they create memories.
Folklore and storytelling
Folklore and storytelling have always played an essential role in the spiritual education of children. Many examples of popular folklore and myth- La Llorona and Tata Duende, for instance- have their origins in the guidance and cautionary advice of mothers across the centuries and were often devised to keep children out of harm’s way.
Healing traditions
Every family has their special home remedies. Many of these have been passed down by mothers, grandmothers and great grandmothers. Homemade treatments and healing traditions used by family members represent years of tradition and, in some cases, can be more effective than modern medicine. Sometimes, though, a mother’s touch is the best medicine of all.
Traditional Crafts
We have all witnessed a mother’s joy when we use or wear something made by them. Mothers are, in fact, central to transmitting traditional artisanal techniques. Some of Belize’s most vibrant craft traditions- such as basket weaving and textile production- hinge upon intergenerational transmission between mothers and daughters. The survival of traditional methods in Belize and elsewhere is largely thanks to mothers’ commitment to enculturating and educating future generations.
As primary transmitters of heritage, mothers contribute to cultural survival in many ways. Some of these are easy to identify, while others are more complex and manifest indirectly. What we do know, however, is that mothers play a crucial part in safeguarding both our tangible and intangible cultural memory.
Happy Mother’s Day!
Written by Tia Merotto, Linette Sabido and Ella Békési