With the holidays wrapping up and the end of the year so close, there has been a lot of talk about traditions. Most of the chatter has been regarding holiday traditions of course. There are different kinds of traditions, for example, family traditions and cultural traditions.
My family has a tradition of going to the movies on each holiday. On Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years, after we have enjoyed all the festivities, you will find us relaxing in a nice, relaxing theater. We have had this tradition for many years and we all look forward to it. Another tradition my family has, that has been a tradition in my family since before I was born, is that we each get to open one gift on Christmas Eve. I know this is a tradition for a lot of families.
I just recently found out that Iceland has a wonderful Christmas Eve tradition of giving books to each other. Everyone opens one gift on Christmas Eve, and it’s a book. What a great tradition and an excellent way to help people fall in love with reading. I’m actually thinking of incorporating this tradition with my family.
There are countless traditions that people take part of and they are not always holiday ones. Traditions are actually very important for many reasons, however I will list three reasons in this post.
- Traditions help people to feel secure and grounded. Something that they can count on to remain steady and unchanged. This is very important in the world we live in today. With everything changing from day to day, it’s nice to know that somethings do not change and they can count on that tradition to be secure. It can take the anxiety away of things that seem unexpected or unpredictable. Everyone needs a sense of security and a feeling of belonging.
- Traditions are a good way to keep in touch with your roots. This is a good time to look up your heritage and discover more about your nationality. It is also a terrific time to look more into your family history and maybe keep some of your ancestors traditions going. Hopefully those traditions will be passed down to their children and on and on for generations. In my family, every Sunday morning my dad would make a big family breakfast. It consisted of eggs, bacon, pancakes, toast, milk, and coffee. We could count on that every week, like clockwork. For my family, we do not have time for a big breakfast on Sunday because we have to be at church early, so we plan our big breakfast on Saturday. Still keeping the tradition, just customizing it a little.
- Keeping traditions alive helps to create some lasting memories. Creating memories is what helps family and friends to bond and grow closer. Traditions do no have to be limited to just family. When I was growing up, most of the people that lived on our small street had lived there for a long time. We all knew each other. Every year on the 4th of July the whole street would have a huge block party. They would bring the BBQs out to the street, bring out big tables, and each house would bring large dishes of food to share with everyone. We would cone off the street, put a volleyball net out, and all the neighbors would join in the fun. This is a great way for neighbors to get to know each other, bond, and make lasting memories for families and friends.
Maybe you don’t really have any traditions. That’s OK. Now would be a great time to start some. Start making new traditions and new memories. I would love to hear about some of your traditions you have. Please leave a comment.
