Costumais

Costumais refers to the set of customs or customary practices observed by a community or society. In Lusophone and other Romance-language contexts, the term encompasses traditions, rituals, social norms, etiquette, and customary rights that shape behavior across everyday life and significant occasions. The concept rests on the idea of patterns of action that are transmitted across generations and become a shared framework for judging what is appropriate or acceptable.

The scope of costumais is broad. It includes how people greet one another, dress for different events, celebrate holidays, resolve disputes, and organize kinship or property use. It also covers traditional crafts, culinary practices, and the transmission of knowledge about land, resources, and seasonal cycles. While costunais describe habitual behavior rather than formal rules, they often influence or constrain what individuals do and can be reinforced by social institutions such as families, religious groups, and communities.

In legal and institutional contexts, costumais can interact with formal law. In some systems, customary practices are recognized as a source of law or as binding norms when not contradicted by statutes. In others, they function as background social expectations that shape rights and obligations or inform interpretive approaches to law. Costumais are dynamic, evolving with social change, contact with other cultures, modernization, and shifts in economic life.

Study of costumais is central to anthropology, sociology, and history, offering insight into how societies regulate behavior, transmit culture, and negotiate identity beyond written codes.