Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Traditions
With the holidays coming up I began thinking about certain family traditions, such as turkey dinner, opening presents on Christmas morning, you know, those things that made the holidays memorable to us as children. As I grow older and my family grows larger, and apart, I wonder where the traditions go. Do they go away? Do they change? What is the actual importance of them? I guess for me holidays have no real meaning since I don't believe in religious parts of many of the holidays that are out there. All I have are the traditions that go with them, that's where the meaning is for me. But what do traditions mean? They are just sentimentalized actions we place on a certain day. But as you get older and they change, new people come into them, old people leave, and they bring with them compromise and change. Not getting to spend these upcoming holidays with all the people that I love has made me think about when I will again have the same warm fuzzies that I used to get around the holidays. Will it not be until I have a family of my own? How do you get the ones you love to compromise their traditions to join in with yours? How can I give meaning to these holidays if all I have are empty traditions and no one willing to join in on some new ones?
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1 comment:
Well, the current Christian holidays are co-opted Pagan holidays, anyway. The tradition is older than the current religious angle.
The warm fuzzies can be there whether it's Christmas dinner or "Idol night". The family growing up and apart is just part of getting older and is a problem independent of religious significance. You just adapt to the new situation and make new traditions.
Our extended family split a couple of years ago and don't really talk across the split anymore. Before that we had big Thanksgiving and Christmas gatherings. Now it's much smaller but still nice.
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