Tradition dies hard. And sadly the less cause a custom has to exist, the more likely it will continue.

While we must be careful of what traditions we permit as part of our personal practice, meaningless tradition is not always pagan.

Caution is called for and a need to question everything, especially if it’s expected but the original reason for its existence has been lost to time or become eventually irrelevant.

Take for example the peculiar tradition of painters wearing white pants.

It began in the 17th century, originating with British sailors repurposing old white canvas sailcloth into durable trousers, which local craftsmen, including painters, adopted for their hard-wearing and cost-effective qualities.

By the 18th century, painters favored white clothing as it blended with the white dust from materials like lime and whitewash commonly used in painting at the time. The practice became more formalized in the 19th century when painters' unions, such as the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades formed in 1887, standardized white uniforms to signify professionalism and distinguish union members from non-union painters.

Additionally, in the 17th and 18th centuries, white was one of the most common paint colors, particularly for practical applications. White paints, often made from materials like lime (calcium hydroxide) or white lead (lead carbonate), were widely used due to their affordability, availability, and durability. Lime-based whitewash was especially prevalent for coating walls, fences, and buildings, as it was cheap, easy to produce, and had antiseptic properties, making it popular for both interior and exterior surfaces. White lead, though toxic, was valued for its opacity and smooth finish, commonly used in house painting and decorative work.

While other colors like reds, blues, and greens existed, they were often more expensive because of the cost of pigments (e.g., ultramarine from lapis lazuli or vermilion from mercury sulfide) and were typically reserved for wealthier clients or specific artistic purposes.

White, by contrast, was a staple for everyday painting tasks, especially in utilitarian and industrial settings, which aligned with painters adopting white clothing to blend with the dust and splatter from these white materials.

And these were also easiest to clean by simple bleaching which would destroy other pants.

So as is so often the case what once began with a clear purpose has become a meaningless tradition - painters’ pants originally made white for the cheap material, the durability of the cloth, their blending in with the most common stains of the trade and their easy clean up by bleaching: now, worn by painters because it’s expected.

All the original reasons are gone. Yet the tradition continues.

Now apply this to more meaningful matters.

The same process went into this as goes into all leftovers of old customs.

Usually a tradition is begun by well meaning people for practicality and pragmatism but if it lasts long enough, either the need of it no longer exists or something else can serve instead, but either way the custom so often carries on past the cause.

It doesn’t mean we should automatically refuse to follow along if the tradition isn’t evil and its refusal would offend unnecessarily. But it does mean we need to know better. And to use the nonsense we notice as an understanding of the way the rest of the world works as well.

If we see something silly we should search out its purpose. Is it man made? Is it pagan? Is it harmless? Is it necessary?

Question Everything

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