Last week an Opinion piece from one of our readers suggested that the annual Mayor Making ceremony was not only outdated, but also embarrassing in the 21st century. As a regular writer of this column, I could have told the author that it is never a good thing to mess with Rye’s traditions and that he would receive plenty of opposition to his suggestions.
And, indeed, so it has proved, with more comments to this particular article than have been seen following any other for quite a while.
This is a good thing. One of the objectives of Rye News is not only to report on local goings-on, but to stimulate comment and discussion on matters affecting the town and those of us who live, work or visit here. Traffic, parking, property developments and housing are all matters that can usually be guaranteed to attract controversy. But of all subjects, our traditions, which after all, play such a large part in making the town what it is, are regarded by many as sacrosanct.
Quite apart from sentiment, there is good reason for this. Tradition emphasises continuity, and while change may sometimes be necessary and sometimes even a good thing, continuity brings about stability and stability is not only reassuring but it is what enables the majority of us to live our lives in peace and security. I would argue, for example, that one of the main reasons why this country, for almost 600 years, has remained free of revolution and disaster that we have seen in almost all other European countries and even the United States over that period, can be attributed to the stability of our (unwritten) constitution as demonstrated by the monarchy, parliament and with all the traditions attached to them.
In our little world here in East Sussex, much the same applies. Why does our mayor wear a rather old red coat, to say nothing of a funny hat that went out of fashion over 200 years ago? Why not just be comfortable in jeans and a sweater with a badge saying ‘I’m the boss’. Wouldn’t that be a lot simpler?
Maybe it would. But the mayor is elected each year to be effectively the leader and public face of our community and the chairman of the, also elected, town council and it is surely right that this position should be given both publicity and respect. If it was simply that a group of anonymous people in jeans and sweaters elected one of their number to wear a plastic badge and chair their meetings, would anybody really care who they were and what they did? And if nobody cared, how long before that council ceased to exist and there was no longer any official body to try and influence local and national governments many miles away, and who care little about our small town and those who love it and make their lives here.
Tradition is important – it is so much more than just dressing up in funny clothes. It makes us who we are and what we are. It gives us a central point about which our lives and livelihoods revolve and along the way it also gives us a bit of fun. Goodness knows, in times like these we can all do with something to raise our spirits. And to clear up one point raised in the comments: children are in no danger of being burnt by the hot pennies, they are quite cool by the time they hit the ground. The only danger might be to the fingers of those that throw them from the Council Chamber windows!
If the Mayor Making tradition goes, what of our other traditions? Should we abandon Bonfire night because it was once an anti-Catholic demonstration hundreds of years ago? What about Remembrance Sunday? Should we scrap the parade and wreath-laying in case someone from a country that we fought against might be offended? Let’s forget Christmas in Rye celebration, High Street decorations and the Christmas tree on Strand Quay in case it offends a non-Christian. And as for all those cobbled streets, they could be a danger, we should get rid of them.
Of course we have to adapt as the years move on, and Rye has done that, but removing one tradition is the start of a slippery slope and we need them, they are who we are. Long live tradition! Long live the Rye we know and love!
