Many families have any number of cultural traditions they follow faithfully. No matter where your family comes from, there will be traditions you will follow. Some are specific to a particular area or nationality, some are religious, others are created within families and handed down.
Traditions govern much of our daily existence whether we’re aware of them or not. For example, we begin our mornings with some sort of ritual that gets us ready for the day, usually ending with (or involving) breakfast. Millions of people worldwide perform the sacred ritual of preparing coffee, without which, for me, life simply cannot exist. And many holidays are secretly devoted to surviving beloved family traditions so as not to disappoint 'the Family'.
I have previously blogged about Christmas, when my family always observed a traditional gathering. For me today, Christmas means putting the tree up and decorating the house, cooking turkey and roasting veggies, mince pies and Christmas cake laid on. Brightly wrapped presents are tucked under the Christmas tree to be opened (one by one with everyone present watching, to prolong the Christmas morning fun). Some of my Christmas traditions have changed over time. Tinsel does not feature in my decorations any more after the year my tinsel-obsessed cat caused a rather expensive Christmas day visit to the family vet. The same cat has also resulted in the rule that my Christmas Tree is put up undecorated for a week until he has lost interest in it.
Halloween in Australia is a rapidly growing tradition, with a growing number of houses in my area decorating and being visited by neighborhood children. Back when I was younger it was much less popular, and I never went 'trick or treating' as a child back then.
With no young children in my close family, the traditional Easter Egg Hunt no longer features in my life - although I will admit the odd chocolate egg still finds its way into my shopping trolley each year. Watching the Royal Children's Hospital Good Friday Appeal remains a feature of my Easter holiday.
Why do we continue to observe these traditions? Why do I still cook a hot Christmas dinner in the often 40 degree heat of an Australian summer? But that’s the beauty of tradition. It doesn’t need to be logical or make sense. It just needs to be done. In an increasingly unpredictable world, tradition offers a sense of stability. Tradition.
