Ah, yes. I used to be a Glassfordian, but I feel they are in grave error regarding the Doctrine of Sublime Indifference, so 15 seconds ago I branched off with the Reformed and Reorganized Glassfordian Tradition.
Seriously, I suspect that many Wiccans are a bit nervous about the fact that modern Wicca started fifty years ago, and would like to forstall critics who might try to poke holes in their belief.
I believe a case can be made for the use of "family traditions" or "family traditional," referring to those practices that HAVE been passed down generation to generation, and which now are called "famtrad" by others in the Craft. I know personally two Rom (gypsies) and one practitioner of Strega (traditional northern Italian Craft). All are powerful witches; all learned the Craft as children. I also know two witches from England who began in the Craft as children during WWII, thus predating Gardner's publication; I don't know much about their community, but would imagine it is famtrad, British style.
I think it's important to recognize, though, that evem among famtrads, it's tough to identify GENUINE traditions that date back more than a century or so. Calling the four quarters is common to the magical practice of many, many peoples and goes back a long way . . . but we can't be sure that that wasn't one of the things Gardner borrowed from Crowley, who in turn probably adopted it from the Watchtowers of Enochian Magic.
Nowadays, it's common for Gardnerians to refer to themselves as "traditional" in order to distinguish them from eclectics and other Johnny-come-latelies. The emphasis is not so much on the length of the tradition as on the practice. Gardnerians have a very specific set of ritual and ceremonial--well--traditions which they don't share with others. I think they want others to know that, if they say they're Third Degree Gardnerian, it means something, including a lot of study and hard work. Too often, though, it becomes simply cause for bragging rights, or the mark of membership in an exclusive club.
I think it is important to distinguish between "traditional" and "tradition." As Bruce so delightfully suggested, a "tradition" can be something I made up last week; if I do it all the time, I can certainly validly claim it is MY tradition. An example: when calling the Goddess in-circle, and when dismissing her, we bend down and touch the earth. That tradition I learned from my teacher in the Craft; I'm pretty sure she and the original founders of her coven made that up, though it's possible they read about it somewhere and incorporated it into their rituals. But it's cool, it was passed on to me as a tradition, and when I'm teaching baby witchlets, I pass it on to them. My wife and I wrote a singing call which we use often when casting. I learned the other day that one of my students has taught it to members of his circle . . . so we may have a tradition in the making, there.
Traditions have to start somewhere. I'm thinking of foot-washing and communion, beginning at the Last Supper--"This do in rememberance of me." I wonder if the Christians of 80 A.D. were nervous because their "traditions" were only fifty years old.
Where we get into trouble with the word is using "traditional" as a kind of badge of righteousness or of authority: "My understanding of the Craft is traditional and goes back umteen million generations, so MY religion is better than YOUR religion." Bah, humbug! No thanks!
