What makes holidays, birthdays and any other significant
day on your calendar different from the other days of the week? Traditions.
 |
| The Christmas tree can be a beautiful tradition, especially when you teach the symbolism behind it and the various decorations. |
This was particularly clear to me when I lived in Korea
for two years. Korea had been a Buddhist dominant culture for many centuries.
Christianity had only become a significant part of their civilization in the
last fifty years or so. To this day, I think only half of the people consider
themselves Christian. So as you can imagine, Christmas was not as big a holiday
as it was here in the US. Easter was the same way.
The Fourth of July, the fourth Thursday in November and
many other holidays were understandably not celebrated because they hold no
significance for the Korean people.
They do have a Chinese New Year, and their own Day of
Harvest celebration, which were big holidays. Each was complete with special
foods prepared just for the occasion. They would have games, songs, and stories
they tell on those days. And best of all, they would spend the day with their
families. Sound familiar?
Why are Traditions
Important?
No matter where you live, traditions play an important
part in our lives. For example:
·
With all the changes a new college student goes
through, their first Thanksgiving or Christmas back is usually really special.
It reminds them of years before and reestablishes a familiar element in their
world of change and often instability.
·
For newlyweds trying to figure out their own
traditions, they can decide together what traditions they will keep. It can be
a union of the best concepts and practices from both families. They can create
their own traditions that are important to them. This is part of establishing
their own identity as a new family.
·
For more established families, traditions offer
an opportunity to teach. Parents can discuss how they observe that holiday and
the reasons behind the traditions. Traditions help teach kids about reverence,
honor and beliefs.
The traditions I remember best were centered around
family. I would run with my dad on Thanksgiving morning. I loved the noisy
conversation around our Thanksgiving feast. I cherished singing Christmas songs
around the piano with my family. I looked forward to playing games through the
night with my family on New Year’s Eve.
These events and many others helped develop strong family
ties that continue to be strong today. I want those ties to be equally strong
for the next generation, so Catie and I are creating or continuing family
centered traditions for our family.
Traditions are a great way to teach our family. When we
take time to discuss why we celebrate Thanksgiving and then discuss what we are
thankful for, we help teach our kids to be grateful. When we focus our Christmas
traditions around Christ, we teach our kids to focus on Christ and not on
Santa. When we focus on Christ at Easter, we teach our kids to hope for
Salvation because the Tomb was empty.
The opposite is true too. If we center all of our
traditions on whimsical ideas, we shouldn’t be surprised when our kids are
disappointed by those traditions in the future. (Just wanted to throw that out
as food for thought.)
Traditions don’t just apply to holidays. Sabbath
observance can be a tradition in a way. In the Ten Commandments, the Lord said
to keep the Sabbath holy. The Jews then created a long list of laws and rules
for the Sabbath. Nowadays, what we do on the Sabbath each week is largely up to
us. For my family growing up, we went to church, spent time together as a
family and mostly kept the TV off. We often wore our “Sunday best” all day to
help us remember what day it was. We also had a tradition of reading the
scriptures and praying together as a family each day. The overriding lesson I
learned through all of this was that God and family are so important we set
aside time each day and then a whole day each week to spend with them.
Now Catie and I are trying to establish our own
traditions. We travel to see family. We tell the story of Pilgrims at
Thanksgiving and count our blessings. We focus on Christ and emphasis that
Santa’s giving is a symbol of the gifts the wise men brought to the Christ
Child. We read the scriptures and pray together every day. We want the
traditions we keep to reflect our values.
What traditions do you remember best from your youth?
What are your favorite traditions now?
Next week: Christ in Christmas
