tradicionais

Tradicionais is a Portuguese adjective used to describe practices, knowledge, objects, and expressions that are transmitted across generations within a community. It refers to traditional elements—traditions, crafts, music, dress, cuisine, and rituals—and is often contrasted with modern or contemporary forms.

Tradicionais emphasize continuity and collective identity, with transmission through family lines, apprenticeship, oral storytelling, and ceremonies. These elements are often rooted in a locality or cultural group, but they may change over time as communities reinterpret them, incorporating new materials or ideas while preserving core features.

In heritage discourse, tradicionais are seen as sources of memory and social cohesion, yet they are also sites of negotiation and contested authenticity, especially when practices are revived for tourism or commodified, or when external authorities seek to codify or regulate them.

Scholarly and policy discussions address preservation versus living culture, and issues of intellectual property, consent, and benefit-sharing for traditional communities.

Examples include traditional crafts such as weaving and pottery, music and dance forms, culinary practices, traditional dress, and rites or festivals transmitted across generations.