How old is a tradition?

[Alan H]

If I were to show up at work in US Revolutionary War garb; say stuff from around 1775-1780...breeches, leggings, a three-cornered hat and so on, people would want to know why I was wearing an OLD costume. Push that up to 1800 and styles changed, but still and all, people would notice that I was wearing "old" clothing.

I mean, if you wear clothes from the 1860's , say a US Civil War type of costume, well...that's "Old". Heck, if you wear clothes that were popular just 80 years ago, say during the 1920's people would want to know why you're wearing that costume...those old, old clothes in that traditional style.

So........ Since the associations of clans and tartans came to pass say, between 1790 and 1820, isn't that "old enough" to be considered "old" and therefore "traditional?" Is roughly 200 years long enough to create a "tradition", or does it have to be 400 or 600 years? How many years does it take to "validate" a tradition?

I guess I'm trying to say that while I bristle as much as anyone else at someone who says "you can't do/wear/think/drink/eat that because that's my TRADITION and tradition decrees that it must be so-and-so" it seems to me that 200 years, which is about nine to twelve generations, is plenty of time to establish a "tradition". I hesitate to tell someone who claims that tartan/clan is a tradition, that it isn't, because it's only 200 years old. That doesn't make sense to me.

Now, using "tradition" as a hammer to enforce your own views....I don't hold with that so kindly at'tall, but to deny that the tradition exists or to belittle it because it's "only" 200 years old...nope. Alan H no can do that.

BTW, this post is aimed at nobody in particular, eh? It's just a general thought and observation.