Talkin' Tradition

I tend to think of stuff like this Cherokee (NC) war dance as more cultural/traditional than anything in my life

Have you ever had people ask what your region is famous for or to tell them about your culture and drawn a blank? I have.  Well, I could maybe figure out a food* that is well-liked in this area, and perhaps tell you North Carolina grows a lot of tobacco, but I can't always find something that seems "traditional" and "cultural" that distinguishes my area from others.   Likely I'm just blind to those things or assume most people do that so how can that be cultural/traditional if it's normal?  Should I even be using those terms together like that?  Let me look them up ...

This was in South Horr, Kenya when Andrew went December 2011 - time for a wedding

OK, here is culture as defined by Dictionary.com

1.the quality in a person or society that arises from a concern for what is regarded as excellent in arts, letters, manners, scholarly pursuits, etc.

2.that which is excellent in the arts, manners, etc.

3.a particular form or stage of civilization, as that of a certain nation or period: Greek culture.

4.development or improvement of the mind by education or training.

5.the behaviors and beliefs characteristic of a particular social, ethnic, or age group: the youth culture; the drug culture.

and tradition

1.the handing down of statements, beliefs, legends, customs, information, etc., from generation to generation, especially by word of mouth or by practice: a story that has come down to us by popular tradition.

2.something that is handed down: the traditions of the Eskimos.

3. a long-established or inherited way of thinking or acting: The rebellious students wanted to break with tradition.

4. a continuing pattern of culture beliefs or practices.

5. a customary or characteristic method or manner: The winner took a victory lap in the usual track tradition.

So I guess tradition is more the things that influence or make up culture? I don't know.  

Anyway, I read this in From Plato to NATO by David Gress, and wanted to see what you thought about the West not losing, but rejecting tradition.

"What Eliot saw was that the West was becoming a world, an outlook, and a culture that no longer wanted or needed tradition***.  The West by 1920 was not a civilization that had lost its traditional moorings, which one could perhaps restore or at least rediscover or describe. It was a civilization that rejected moorings of any sort. The essence of the modern West was that it had no essence, no heritage, no tradition. Tradition had become not the missing center of culture, but something that the culture increasingly regarded as its enemy."  (pg. 163)

***For Eliot this apparently meant "Western civilization needed both the church and the literary tradition of antiquity" and "the West was dying because it had forgotten its own tradition, one of myth and the hidden traces of the sacred." 
 
 

 Do you agree with Eliot's thoughts on the West's view of tradition?  Do you consider tradition as an enemy?  How could it be?  And how would you answer someone wanting to know about the cultural and/or traditional aspects of your area of the world?  What is it famous for? What do y'all do that distinguishes you from others?

*  We were asked this while in Syria and Andrew told them our region was (locally anyway) famous for its barbeque.  Yes, that's BBQ as a noun and it means THIS although, thankfully, I mostly only see it on sandwiches or plates.   That's better. Well, maybe not for a Muslim. Alas, we are neither Muslim nor Jew nor vegetarian.  And although the one asking never treated us any differently in the slightest, I was a little embarrassed/shy that Andrew said this in a culture that considers pork unclean.  Makes me feel like a dirty Christian ...