Not to be confused with the “custom”, that is with the old ways of acting or communicating still vital: the “invented traditions” are the set of practices that aim to inculcate certain values and repetitive rules of behavior in which the continuity with the past is implicit.

Every society has accumulated a reserve of apparently ancient materials: to strengthen national bonds, to characterize the physiognomy of parties and social classes. This sort of social and cultural engineering has characterized the emergence of modern nations, which have tried to legitimize their most recent history by looking for roots in the most remote past.