When are Tributes Given?

A tribute is historically an amount of money given to a person or an organization as a sign of respect, or as a payment of submission into a said organization or country. In the same respect, a tributary, historically, is that of a state, colony, or person who pays the amount to the more powerful person, or land.

Currently, tributes are still an amount of money given to an individual; however, tributes are now given during very formal events or ceremonies. Some examples of reasons for giving a tribute are: the inauguration of a president, an important celebration (marriage, graduation, new baby) for a family in rule such as the president or the royal family of England.

A tributary is generally still used as a term for the individual who is paying the amount to the other party. Often the phrase “pay tribute to” is used when giving the tribute to an individual.

However, in some circumstances, this phrase may be used and not tribute may accompany it. In these instances, a person is just showing their honor and respect for the individual.

The idea of tributes can be dated back to the medieval times. Many cultures have adopted the idea of paying tributes such as the Chinese culture, the Islamic culture, and different areas in Western Europe.

Tributes were often used during the medieval time to avoid raiding an area. Opposite sides would offer an agreed upon amount of items, which was then considered a tribute, to have their land and people free of harm.

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