"If we are to preserve culture we must continue to create it"

Johan Huizinga's statement, "If we are to preserve culture we must continue to create it", suggests that the act of preserving culture isn't about freezing it in time or merely protecting what already exists. True preservation is a dynamic process, evolving through ongoing creativity and innovation. Culture is not an artifact to be locked away or a set of traditions rigidly upheld without change; it is a living, growing expression of a society's collective identity, values, and imagination.

When culture is only maintained through repetition—imitating past forms, clinging to inherited rituals without reinterpreting them—it risks becoming stagnant, losing relevance to contemporary life, and ultimately fading away. The lifeblood of any culture resides in its capacity to inspire new thought, foster original art, evolve language, and adapt customs to the present context. Creation is both an act of homage to the past and an investment in the future, ensuring that culture remains meaningful and vital for emerging generations.

Huizinga's words challenge the notion that authentic culture exists solely in museums or untouched tradition. He implies that each generation holds responsibility not just to guard what has come before, but to contribute their own voice, perspective, and creativity to the ongoing cultural narrative. Preservation through creation is a continuous, organic cycle: artists, thinkers, and communities reinterpret tradition, invent new practices, and therefore ensure that culture does not wither but thrives.

Ultimately, culture flourishes when it embraces innovation alongside memory, when the new is woven with the old. By creating—whether in literature, art, music, technology, or social customs—we actively participate in the renewal and transmission of cultural identity. Huizinga’s insight encourages societies to resist complacency, viewing preservation not as a passive duty but as an active, creative engagement with both heritage and possibility. Without the courage to create, what we seek to preserve may diminish or disappear; with creativity, culture endures and grows.