Why Holiday Traditions Matter

Why Holiday Traditions Matter
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Holiday traditions, family traditions, cultural traditions. All of these have meaning and importance beyond what they might appear to have on the surface. You may have a specific way your family does things...and has done for years. To outsiders, they may be incomprehensible or seem a little crazy, like my mom’s Christmas Eve cake or one specific, ugly ornament that always has pride of place on our tree, but these were ways our family was defined.

Traditions define our families, so it’s no surprise that there is also sometimes conflict in a family when someone tries to change those traditions. (Best advice: find a way to incorporate the new with the old.) Our identities are deeply tied to these seemingly small events. Take it from someone who has been around for more than handful of holidays, the memories these traditions foster and the emotions they touch connect us. It’s one of the reasons people invest so much in creating those traditions and in making sure they’re in place year after year. If you think about it dispassionately, you may see, as we did, that our ties to our holiday traditions go back to our childhoods and those formative years when your bonds with your family, and your identity, were established.

That’s one of the reasons we like to see new traditions like The Elf on the Shelf or new narratives like the new Merry Mission Reindeer from Build-A-Bear. These stories and activities around them become part of family celebrations. You don’t need a toy or game, however. You may have a special time to make cookies or a series of movies you like to watch, all of which define your holiday. There may be special things in your community like a tree lighting, or a visit to Santa Claus in which many people participate. These help create our identities within our cultures as well.

Traditions vary widely around the world. The image below from Gift Baskets Overseas gives you just some ideas. Some will seem familiar and some a bit odd, but that’s the way it goes with these. Yet what they all have in common is the power of tradition to shape, share and celebrate our identities. And that’s something to celebrate!

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