Traditions are important for many reasons. They help you connect with your ancestors, with your family, and with your culture. If you are far away and feeling lonely, observing a family tradition can give you comfort.
Traditions also teach people to respect their elders, because it is those elders who teach them traditions and the reasons for them, so that they can be passed down from one generation to the next. Some traditions came about because they contain wisdom. (It really is a bad idea to walk under a ladder. Go figure.)
You can start new traditions yourself, such as always cooking a certain type of food on a day that you feel is special. You can also adjust traditions over time, as the world changes around you. For example, you may not have access to farm implements to observe harvest time traditions if you live in a big city, but you can symbolically observe the tradition if you wish.
I do love a good tradition. It gives me a sense of place. And traditions can be a lot of fun. But I do chafe at rigid ones. If doing something does not make sense to me, and the only response I get is “because we’ve always done it that way,” I want to scream. There’s nothing wrong with evolving. Otherwise, we’d still use leeches as a cure for all ills.
I’m glad that one of my family traditions is exercising free will. No one tries to force me to wear clothes that look like they came from the 1500’s, and if they did, I’d revolt. In many ways, our modern lives have improved, and that has caused our life expectancies to skyrocket, so, no, I’m not going to live exactly like my relatives in the dark ages did, and I’m sure they wouldn’t hold that against me. There are some traditions, though, that I wish we’d take up again, such as having respect for the earth and all the creatures that live on it, and not holding the accumulation of needless stuff in such high esteem.
Speaking of rigid traditions, a friend of mine in high school never got to decorate a Christmas tree because his mother always insisted on doing it herself. She made sure all the matching, generic ornaments were spaced just so, and their tree always looked like it would have been quite at home in a department store. Very pretty, yes, but utterly devoid of soul.
I always felt sorry for that friend. Part of the fun of the holiday in my family was breaking out the extremely unmatched ornaments, each one with its own story, and all of us decorating the tree together. (Once I became aware of my friend’s tree decorating deprivation, we always invited him to join us.)
Since I only hold with flexible traditions, I quite enjoy putting my own quirky spin on them. For example, ever since I grew up and moved out on my own, I’ve always made a point of having weird Christmas trees, ones that other people might not consider. I am lucky in that I have a husband who is equally quirky, so that particular tradition continues.
For example, this year’s Christmas tree is too tall, but are we going to shorten it? No. I love this tree just the way it is. I’ll also include pictures of a few quirky trees from years past so you can get a sense of how far I’m willing to go. These all illustrate my personal spin on my family Christmas tree tradition. Whenever I look at these photos, they make me smile.
If you’re interested in hearing more about my traditions, including the Annual Humiliation of the Uncooperative Dog, and also a story about how traditions can be both enhanced and diminished by grief, check out my post entitled Keeping Christmas, from December 22, 2017.
Happy holidays, Dear Reader. I hope you are enjoying whatever winter tradition you choose to observe, even if it’s just curling up with a good book. Thanks for being a part of my blog tradition. May your days be merry and bright.
My book would make a great gift. Just sayin’. http://amzn.to/2mlPVh5
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