Hmm perhaps you did. During the Halloween event Demetri rode a Caravan from the shadowlands over to Menewsha to look for Lise. He was in the Official Hangout a ton! And a pretty cool guy. But if you weren't in the hangout a lot you might have missed him.

I think when it comes to the tradition thing. . . both. I'd personally try and come up with new ones just for fun. -Like the sacred wearing of fish hats and passing of the poots.

It's kinda a fun way of including users in the development process of that character if you think about it. :)