For My Ancestors

Writing Traditions and Rituals That Elevate Your World

Traditions. From celebration, to mourning, to how to pour a Drink. These things hold whole communities, and even nations together, especially in their darkest moments.
Religious and government organizations are chockful of traditions and rituals, whether it be the baptism of the Christian Church, or the Tacking-on of Rank in the Military. Deep seated in human history, though, are more esoteric traditions of ethnicity, of species. Traditions around the manufacture of goods and weapons, around the design of buildings. Getting to the heart of these can help lift any grouping of characters higher in the concious understanding of your world.

Types and Forms

When creating Traditions, there are several key factors to keep in mind the first two of which are the Traditions Type, and Form.

The main Types of Traditions and Rituals are Species, Ethnicity, and Organizational Types. These affect where the basis of the Tradition is pulled from. The why or general how. When working on any two Traditions that share Types, one should be able to see similarities and common themes. All Dwarven Traditions may involve drinking, Starfleet Traditions may rely on exact rules and regulations, and the difference between a Dragon and Human Traditions may be on exactly how fire is used. This allows for Traditions to feel real and grounded in their beginnings and connect any set of of shared groupings.

Example

Many human Traditions in the real world revolve around Gift Giving or the presenting of goods from one or several parties to another party.

Form relies more on what the Traditon surrounds. Is it clothing or weapons? The Type will affect how the Form is structured. Is it more of an event such as a celebration or rite? Then the Type informs how the Form should progress.
Do Promotions within a specific Organization require a loud celebration, or is it a formal and subdued honoring? The specifics of Type can help with crafting the Tradition into a more informative storytelling piece of worldbuilding.

Example

Many Christian Events begin with a word of prayer, usually led by a single leader or authority or shared by the group. This dictates more of how an Organization works and what they deem important.

Crafting Rituals with Flair

A common misconception around Traditions or Rituals is that they must be grand events with flashy bits to be worth discussing. But truly, the best Traditions for Worldbuilding are the ones that subtly tell your reader how to percieve the group that performs the Tradition. A loud celebration can either be par for the course in some societies, or only reserved for very specific events in others. Ceremonial Weapon making could be the key difference between the armies of one group and its enemies, but whether they are done by a few or by many can shape the perception of how the culture works.

Building Blocks

Looking for inspiration? Check out this month's Building Blocks, which will be gathered in June for easy finding. This are written with my Patrons and other financial supporters. As such, these are kept secret, but I always give a hint as to their contents!
If your world focuses on a group, what do individuals do on their downtime?
If your world focus on a single individual, what do they do to appear to belong among others?