You don’t really need modernity in order to exist totally and fully. You need a mixture of modernity and tradition

Theodore Bikel

A Premise in its entirety, Culture and Tradition has been the binding glue in human relationships, interactions, and perceptions for centuries. Whilst it holds beauty, historical value, festivities, and the stories of the livelihoods of our people, amidst the avid maelstrom of modern society, our perspectives have been put to the test. However, the question remains: Are these changes for better or for worse? 

Project Beyond the Myth, organized by the Rotaract clubs of Achievers Lanka Business School, Central Campus, Colombo East, ICBT, IIT, Ratnapura, SLIIT, and Uwa Wellassa took the initiative to extend their invitation, encouraging us to share our fresh perspectives on the issue – Tradition and Culture: Should we stick to it or discard it entirely?

Starting with an enthusiastic audience of 81 participants, Rotaractors, Ruwangi Wickramaratne, Aashcharya Vidyalankara and Sandalee Ranasinghe commenced the discussion at 7.00 pm via Zoom, as moderators for the evening. 

The moderators would present the audience with a series of questions, welcoming participants to express their opinions and provide their perspectives.

Question 1: What was it like growing up in your ethnic and traditional environment, and how has it influenced your current perspective on your lifestyle?

The first question – a reminiscent one – evoked the experiences of our childhood as the first volunteers took the reins; sharing with the crowd, their childhood experiences and differences in culture and perceptions. 

Question 2: Have people made wrong assumptions about you as a result of the way you’ve been expressing yourself, if so, how has this caused problems?

The addition of the diverse perspectives and experiences of the audience, the discussion had proven to be fruitful and as a result, was continuing to thrive with the renowned vigour and enthusiasm. Nonetheless, given the time constraints, the Moderators presented the audience with a crowd-pleasing question. One that transformed the ambience into an Instagram-worthy moment. 

Question 3: Would you consider dating someone outside of your culture?

A surprise as it was, the question had the audience revving their metaphorical engines. The perfect – almost playful – conclusion to a constructive, ground-breaking discussion. However, is this the ultimate conclusion?

Speakers added to the discussion, sharing their life experiences, and uncovering the double standards that culture held against us through the juxtaposition of the Western and Sri Lankan Cultures. The expression through clothing was one of the fundamental changes that aroused the rupture in the misunderstanding and utilisation of culture.

Beyond the Myth, a month’s planned initiative, successfully concluded its proceedings with the Vote of Thanks by Rotaractor Dewmi Akansha. 

Gathered by the experiences shared and the exposure to such as issue, we have much to learn and keep up with, given the frequent changes that occur worldwide and amidst the raging maelstrom of modern society. We are often presented with a myriad of challenges when it comes to culture and tradition and abiding by its constraints, therefore, we must find a nuance. We must open ourselves to change while embracing our culture and traditions as Sri Lankans. 

සියවස් ගණනාවක් පුරා මානව සබඳතා, අන්තර් ක්‍රියා සහ සිතුම් පැතුම් සංස්කෘතිය හා සම්ප්‍රදායේ අංගයන් විය. ඓතිහාසික වටිනාකම්, විවිධ වූ  උත්සව හා මිනිසුන්ගේ ජීවනෝපායන් පිළිබඳව කතා නූතන සමාජයේ  පරීක්ෂාවට ලක් වෙමින් පවතී. කෙසේ වෙතත් වත්මන් ගැටලුව  වන්නේ මෙම සංස්කෘතික වෙනස්කම් යහපත් ද අයහපත් ද යන්න ය. 

Project Beyond the Myth යනු Achievers Lanka Business School, Central Campus, Colombo East, ICBT, IIT, Ratnapura, SLIIT, හා  Uwa Wellassa යන රොටරැක්ට්  සමාජ එක්ව සංවිධානය කරන  ලද්දා වූ ව්‍යාපෘතියකි.

මෙම ව්‍යාපෘතියේ තේමාව වූයේ අප අපගේ  සම්ප්‍රදාය හා සංස්කෘතියට ඇලී ගැලී සිටිය යුතුද නැතහොත් එය මුළුමනින්ම ඉවත් කළ යුතුද යන්නය. 

මෙම ව්‍යාපෘතිය Rtr. Ruwangi Wickramaratne, Rtr. Aashcharya Vidyalankara හා Rtr.VSandalee Ranasingheගේ මූලිකත්වයෙන් පස්වරු 7 පමණ වන විට Zoom තාක්ෂණය ඔස්සේ ආරම්භ කරන ලදී. මෙහෙයවන්නන් විසින් ප්‍රේක්ෂකාගාරයට විවිධ වූ ප්‍රශ්න ඉදිරිපත් කර ඔවුන්ගේ අදහස් හුවමාරු කර ගන්නා ලදී .

Project Beyond the Myth යනු මසක කාලයක් මුළුල්ලේ ක්‍රියාත්මක වූ ව්‍යාපෘතියක් වූ අතර Rtr. Dewmi Akansha ගේ ස්තුති කතාවත් සමඟ එය සාර්ථකව අවසන් විය. මෙම ව්‍යාපෘතියේ දී හුවමාරු කරගත් අත්දැකීම් හා අප සමාජයේ  නිරන්තරයෙන් සිදු වන්නා වූ වෙනස්කම් සැලකිල්ලට ගනිමින් ඉගෙනීමට ඇති දෑ බොහෝමය. අප ජීවත්වන සමාජ සංස්කෘතිය සහ සම්ප්‍රදාය තුළ විවිධ ගැටළු ඇති විය හැක. නමුදු ශ්‍රී ලාංකිකයන් වශයෙන් අප සංස්කෘතිය හා සම්ප්‍රදායට ගරු කරමින් අපේ වෙනස්වීම් වලට සාර්ථකව මුහුණ දීමට පුරුදු විය යුතුය.

 

முழுமையாக மற்றும் திருப்திகரமான வாழ்க்கை வாழ்வதற்கு நவீனத்துவம் அவசியம் மாறாக நவீனத்துவம் மற்றும் பாரம்பரியம் இரண்டையும் கலந்து வாழ்வதன் மூலம் முழுமைத்துவதை அடையலாம்  – தியோடர் பிகல்

நமது உள்நோக்கங்கள் சோதனைக்கு உட்படுத்தப்பட்டுள்ள, நவீனத்துவம் மீது அதீத ஆற்வம் உள்ள இந்த சமுதாயத்தில் கூட மனித வாழ்க்கையின் அழகு, உன்னத மதிப்பு மற்றும் பிரம்மாண்ட தன்மையின் இருப்பை நிலைநிறுத்தவதற்கு தேவையான மனித உறவுகளின் பிணைப்பு,தொடர்பாடல் மற்றும் உணர்வுகளுக்கு பல நூற்றாண்டுகளாக கலாசாரம் மற்றும் பாரம்பரியம் அடித்தளமாக இருந்து வந்துள்இப் ளது. எனினும் இவ்வாறான மாற்றங்கள் சாதகமானவையா? பாதகமானவையா?

Rotaract clubs of Achievers Lanka Business School, Central Campus, Colombo East, ICBT, IIT, Ratnapura, SLIIT, and Uwa Wellassa வினால் கலாசாரமும் பாரம்பரியமும் – கடைபிடிக்கபட வேண்டியவையா? முற்றாக புறக்கணிக்க படவேண்டியவையா?  என்ற தலைப்பின் கீழ் ஒழுங்கமைக்கப்பட்ட Beyond the Myth, எமது கருத்துக்களை முன்வைப்பதற்கு ஒரு வாய்ப்பை ஏற்படுத்தியுள்ளது.

Rotaractors, Ruwangi Wickramaratne,Aashcharya Vidyalankara மற்றும் Sandalee Ranasinghe நடுநிலையாளர்களாக செயற்பட 81 பங்கேற்பாளர்களுடன், zoom இன் மூலம் இரவு 7 மணிக்கு இந் நிகழ்வு இனிதே ஆரம்பமானது.

நடுவர்கள் முன்வைக்கும் கேள்விகளுக்கு பங்கேற்பாளர்கள் தங்கள் கருத்துக்கள் மற்றும் காணோட்டத்தை  முன்வைக்க ஊக்கப்படுத்தப்பட்டார்கள். அதிக ஈடுபாடான பங்கேற்பாளர்கள் பின்வருமாறு

இப் பிரச்சனையை ஆய்வுக்கு உற்படுத்தியதன் போது பகிரப்பட்ட அனுபவங்கள் மூலம், உலகிலே பல மாற்றங்கள் நிகழ்ந்தாலும்  நவீனத்துவம்மீது அதீத ஆர்வம் உள்ள  சமுதாயம் தோன்றினாலும்   நாம் பல விடயங்களை கற்று கொள்வதுடன்  கடைபிடிக்க வேண்டும்.

கலாச்சாரம் மற்றும் பாரம்பரியம் என்று வரும்போது நாம் அடிக்கடி எண்ணற்ற சவால்கள் மற்றும் கட்டுப்பாடுகளை எதிர்கொள்கிறோம்  ,எனவே, நாம் ஒரு நுணுக்கத்தை கண்டுபிடிக்க வேண்டும்.

நாம் மாற்றங்களுக்கு தயாராகும் அதே நேரத்தில் எமது கோள்சாரத்தையும் பாரம்பரியத்தையும் பாதுகாப்பது இலங்கையர்களான எமது கடமை ஆகும்.

Penned By: Rtr. Bernadette Jayasooriya (Committee Member 2021-22)

Edited, translated and published by: RACSLIIT Editorial Team 2021-22