description
The invention of tradition is a concept made prominent in the eponymous 1983 book edited by E. J. Hobsbawm and T. O. Ranger.[1] In their Introduction the editors argue that many "traditions" which "appear or claim to be old are often quite recent in origin and sometimes invented."[2] They distinguish the "invention" of traditions in this sense from "starting" or "initiating" a tradition which does not then claim to be old. The phenomenon is particularly clear in the modern development of the nation and of nationalism.[3]