'which embraced tradition' The word 'embraced' here means

To 'embrace' tradition figuratively means to accept, adopt, or follow it willingly. In context — 'a life which embraced tradition on one hand and exposure to the world of change on the other' — embraced means followed/adopted. 'Disused' is the opposite. 'Performed' doesn't fit (one doesn't perform tradition in this sense). 'Pleased' makes no grammatical/semantic sense. 'Followed' best captures the meaning of accepting and living by tradition.