Folk Culture & Traditional Practices:- Their revival .

 What is culture? 

The term ‘culture’ is a derivative of the combined social practices handed down by tradition. Folk culture is the primary product of the overall thinking of the mass. In common, folk culture alive with the throb of the real people are of two types- first is formally materialist culture e.g. domestic arts whereas the second refers to rather informal and more aesthetically charged crafts including folk literature, song, dance, beliefs, and customs. 

Types of culture: -

Folk culture refers to the lifestyle of a culture. Historically, handed down through oral tradition, it demonstrates the ‘old ways’ over novelty and relates to a sense of community. The word community is often used to refer to a group that is organized around common values and is attributed to social cohesion within a shared geographical location. Folk culture is the kind of living of the rural community who lives according to the traditional way. 

Elite culture is the style and kind of living of the modern urban rich people who live according to modern western culture. 

Popular culture incorporates heterogeneous populations, across identities, and across the world. It is typically urban in character. It experiences quickly changing cultural traits. 

Traditional wisdom or Traditional knowledge is the process of learning and sharing knowledge, which is unique to each indigenous culture lies at every heart of its ‘traditionalism’. It is often passed on to successive generations through oral communication, normally; the knowledge base remains impressive till such time when external forces try to take over the resource base of a community. The traditional wisdom of common people led to efforts in the protection of sacred ponds, sacred mountains, meadows,s, and forests, pools along with river courses, etc. 

A few traditional wisdom: -

A. Bayezid Bostomi Pond:-The best-known example of a sacred pond is the Bayezid Bostomi Pond in the Chittagong district of Bangladesh, which is attached to a Muslim shrine, handed down from a Buddhist shrine. As a result of strict prohibition against any harvest of animals from the water body, the pond remains the last refuge of the black softshell turtle Chelonys. Similarly, the last population of the halfbeak fish is found in the sacred Vembanad Lake in Kerala. 

B. Slash and burn (Jhum):- Traditional shifting cultivation is involved an organized fallow cycle of 20 years or more. The fire employed in slash-and-burn cultivation was deftly controlled and confined to the area selected for cultivation. The fallow cycle was traditionally prolonged in accordance with the extent of damage done to the cultivated patch. The assessment was made by community elders. 

C. Aam Baruni:- The traditional Hindu taboos on the consumption of mango until the Baruni festival and of the berphem (kul) until the Sripanchami (Saraswati puja) festival are indirect restrictions seen to decay harvesting of fruits until they ripen. 

D. Hilsa fish catching: -The prohibition on the capture of the most prized delicacy in Bengal, Hilsa fish or Ilisha, and anadromous fish which spawns in the Ganga during the monsoon was, until the advent of modernization of fishing gear and food habits, coastal fisherfolk traditionally observed an annual recess period of three months during the monsoon. 

Dying wisdom & folk culture: - 

The single most important cause for the death of traditional wisdom and erosion of folk culture may be attributed to the market economy in a changing world. Advanced societies have been known to abandon most of the conservation practices. The traditional knowledge base remained sacred till such time when the wind of modernization and consumerism took over. A recent study reveals that in rural Bengal, young people couples could not identify even the most common of the biological species in village surroundings. (Ghosh,1997) 

Revival of traditional wisdom & folk culture/Human education development: -

It is sufficiently clear that in the ancient period India did accumulate a number of folk cultures and a lot of indigenous wisdom regarding land use planning, water management, and environmental renewal for sustainable growth and development of economy, society, sustainability for Indian condition. The strategies developed in the ancient day may in certain cases be still relevant and hence these should be revived and incorporated into the modern human development system. 

We should take due cognizance of the traditional knowledge and folk culture acquired within India over the centuries and take from the experience gained thereby.