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Customs and Joy

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Submitted By dhowziah
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Rationalize the reasons behind customs
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Joy is the state of happiness and a sense of satisfaction as an individual. We all seek to be happy at all times and in fact humans struggle, come up with inventions, at times are cruel to others in wars, we study, start revolutions and follow certain belief systems all in the quest of finding happiness. Customs are the practices and systems followed by particular people or even a religion. They are also the generally accepted ways of behaving and doing things in a particular society. The customs followed can be a good way of differentiating the affiliation to one group from the other. The customs are so much intertwined with the human quest for joy and happiness. We in fact follow customs that we feel convicted that we are going to get the sense of fulfilment from and be better individuals. We can therefore attribute human actions and believes to their quest for happiness and joy.
For example in religion, most individuals practice it all because of the promise of the joy to come later in life. Among the Christians, the believers are persistent and resilient in life despite the challenges that they go through to remain faithful to the teachings of the Lord God as is prescribed in the Holy Bible that they use as a point of reference. They are able to beat the challenges on earth and even an illustration of Job in the Bible who went through very traumatic experiences as a test from Satan but stood strong by his faith. It is the strong conviction that the world may be cruel but the most high will always reward those who are faithful with eternal happiness. A place where such individuals will no longer have to shed tears no more but live in joy and contentment. The Christians thrive in the promise of Joy in the afterlife and also on earth. It is this that can be used to explain the reason why they behave in certain ways, are forgiving and also strive to do well despite all the evil that surrounds them.
The customs and practices that are in place can also be a key source of joy to individuals. This is because of the sense of belonging, affiliation and also a platform for social comparison that it offers. We all as individuals want to look or feel good and better than others and this can be possible through our cultural interaction. There are some customary practices also that bring in a sense of pride and social status to the people that practice them. For example among the Maasai community of Kenya, for a young man to prove their prowess and that they are men enough to be warriors, they had to kill a lion. Those who succeeded in this grew a sense of pride and achievement that resulted in a higher self-esteem and this consequently reflects to more joy. People can also use their customs to compare and gauge their performance and progress in life and if they are good enough, there is the feeling of contentment and personal pride. Androulla Vassiliou, European Commissioner for Education, Culture, Multilingualism and Youth once stated that "Culture is a source of personal fulfilment, creativity and joy.” It is therefore very important that one has a form of affiliation to certain cultures and custom.
Some customs such as marriage can also be a key way of bringing in joy to individuals. The marriage ceremonies in most customs involve dancing, singing and celebration of the newly wedded. Friends, family and all the community members are brought together in such a celebration and there is general merry. It is customary in most communities to make this day special to both the couples and also to the people that are involved. The music, feeding and other social activities that follow are a major source of joy and happiness to all on that particular day. Getting the opportunity to break from the monotony of the days and instead congregate to celebrate is a great opportunity to lift the spirits of the people.
In most customs, there are laws that govern the people and also that prescribe how individuals and also systems ought to behave, relate and operate. It is these customary laws that ensure that there is social harmony and also order. The laws also protect the people from any external influences or forces that may cause harm to them. For example the laws that protect the right to ownership of property and those that infringe such rights are purnished. This sense of security among the individual culminates to sheer satiety and comfort and this is a key factor in ensuring that such a person is happy. There is joy in personal and also property security.
Most customs also have some festivals that they observe. Some of these may include Halloween that involves people interacting and dressing in costumes of scary creatures. There is so much fun during such festivals since people take a day off from their normal activities and converge together, interact and share a lot. Among the Christians, the most famous ceremony is the Christmas that is characterised by families and friends meeting together. There are family re-unions and merry as they celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ the Son of God and also the Messiah that came to redeem Human kind from their sins. It is not just the religious importance and significance of the day that is key to most individuals but the actual merry and happiness that comes with the activities of the day are a key thing to look forward to. The preparations for Christmas among many begin so early and people travel far and wide to celebrate the day with their relatives, friends and family and this makes them exude joy and comfort in those that they love.
Customs at times may be of severe consequences or may also contradict the moral codes of individuals but the promise of joy may make such individuals uphold them at all cost. For instance, the German dictator Adolf Hitler, convinced his people to join him in the war against the Jews because he convinced them that with the elimination of the Jews, life for the native Germans would be better. He attached the Jews to the suffering of the people and it is this that made the soldiers and also other people join Hitler in the mass killings of the Jews. To them it was the price that had to be paid for them to be happy.
Evidently, the human search for happiness and joy is so much related to the customs that they accept and also develop and encourage. It is like a customs for humans to want to experience joy at times and thus customs and joy go hand in hand. Some customs directly or indirectly lead to the shear happiness and satisfaction of the people while at the same time, customs may be developed as a result of joy that may be assimilated to certain practices and also modes of doing things. Joy therefore is fundamentally exuded from the customs that we practice and at the same time our customs are shaped by their ability to bring joy, pride and contentment or even to avoid a certain cause of pain and suffering to the people.

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