Good morning (or afternoon) students of English!
Today I want you to think about traditions and family values. We are going to read "The Lottery" by Shirley Jackson and "Thanksgiving in Polynesia" soon-ish and we will be discussing these issues.
I want you to consider these questions. What are traditions? What do they mean to a family? To a specific society? Are they important? Do we tend to follow them without questioning them? What tends to make us question them? Does your family have any traditions (for holidays, birthdays)? What are they? Do our traditions tend to show our family values? If so, what? If not, why not?
Enjoy!
Mrs. Gaboury
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Traditions are when you do the same thing every year but its important or has a significant meaning to you. Traditions mean to a family that as you get older you still will be doing the same thing with your family. Tradition to a society means that we celebrate things at a acertain time each year. A society also likes to do the same things and they dont like change. Traditions are important because they bring people togethere and i think we do tend to follw traditions without questioning them. some people question traditions because they dont like them or beleive in them they also want to know what the traditions are about. My family does have traditions for certain things. for example at christmas we always go to my grandmas with my aunts, uncles, cousins and have the same yummy food once a year! Our traditions tend to show family values because we usually do traditions with our family.
-kristin bradley
Traditons are when a family our group do things the same way every year. For example, on Christmas Eve my mom and dad and I go to my moms side of the family and on Christmas day we go to my dads side. Sometimes these traditions mean a lot to a family. They sometimes mean that their family has been doing the same thing for a long time and gives them a feeling of unity. It allows them to feel more like a family. I do tend to follow traditions without questioning them. I dont even think about it anymore because it is what I have been doing pretty much my whole life. Traditions do tend to show families value. It shows them the value of family. It brings together people so they share a sense of unity.
Traditions are things that you do every year with your family. TO a family they mean they get to see other family and find out new stuff about each other. To a society they mean they can see everyone and get do usally do something fun. It depends to different people if they are imnportant. Some familys they have to do the same thing every year or month. They are important because they may be far away from each other and that is the one time a year that they get to see each other. At a young age we tend to follow them without question. We do this when where young because we do not know any better because we are just learning about what to do as a person in the society. My family kindaish does for Christmas and Thanksgiving. We usally hang out and eat together and see each other for the first time sense the summer. It tend to show family traits because when your with ytour family you just act yourself because noone is judging you. They show how people intract with thier family without being worried about being judged.
Traditions can be passed down in a family from generation to generation. Some can be very awkward, trust me I know, and some can be very fun. Traditions can be very meaningful to a family, some traditions just cant be broken. Traditions can be important just because some were started so many years back. My family does have a few traditions, mostly for holidays. Some are a little to embarrising to geet into, but others are just fun. My family just likes to have a good time, and when we are all together we get kinda crazy. our traditions can show family values. Depending on traditionsit can show how close a family is and how much they all care about eachother.
i think traditions are a good thing to have and a good way for family's to stay close.
-Noobs
Tradition is very important because it brings your family together. Traditions are something that you do at the same time every year, every week, or every month. Society have traditions but they sometimes change, starting a new tradition can be important to. Sometimes tradition shows your family values, but sometimes they are just for fun. My family has traditions like how we go to Arizona for Thanksgiving to visit my grandparents and we have the family come to my house for Christmas.
Okay well i don't think my family has many traditions. ome that I know of are, we always go to my grandmother's house (like every one on my mom's side does).
Traditions so that no matter what bad things a family goes through they still have some things that aren't affected and you can always no will never change. This can be important for family's who are going through a rough time such as sickness or death. Tradition become a habit and some habits are had to break
Traditions and Family Values
Traditions are like rituals, or something that was done in the past and still takes place possibly to celebrate. In a family, traditions can be very important. Holiday traditions like where you go, what you always eat (my mom's home-made apple pie), and who you see. Sometimes there are traditions that apply to cultures and it depends on how important your culture is to your family whether you take part in these certain traditions. Since there is such diversity in America, out society as a whole has all different traditions for all different people. In New York City, the different sections like Little Italy and China Town show culture and tradition to specific groups. Sometimes people follow traditions without questioning them. A person will question their traditions when they see faults in their family and when they find other families traditions to be easily acceptable and maybe better then their own.
In my family, similar to many families, we have traditions and customs. Traditions are rituals or celebrations that occur annually or at certain times of the year. One of the tradition my family practices is getting together for the holidays. This tradition shows how we value eachothers company, and the idea of family itself. I would not question this tradition because it as no adverse effects. One holiday/tradition
Traditions are customs that are passed down from generation to generation. It could be religions or lifestyles.
Traditions make familys special. If you went into an italians house compared to a mexicans there are some differences in how they live and what they have. Our society is full of different traditions and there are more and more every day. Traditons show how people of the same religons or ethinic background are connected in ways that never change.
At an eairly age, we follow our parents traditons without questioning them. As we age we realize our own ideas and we step out of our parents umbrella. When were a little older we have to choose what traditions we want and what we dont want.
My family has traditons such as praying before dinner and going to church every sunday.
Traditions are things a group of people do on certain occasions. I think that they are important because they bring people together and there fun. One tradition in my family is spraying my dad with silly spray on Christmas morning. We have been doing it for a very long time and we never question it. I think this is because we have been doing it for so long.
I feel that traditions are simply nothing more than something fun a family did once that caught on. To families they are a part of normalcy, they are a way for someone to feel like they belong. Usually people follow these traditions as if they know nothing else and do not question them. Mostly there is nothing wrong with this, however as the world changes, some may become dangerous or idiotic. These do not get questioned until it is too late and something happens. Traditions in my family are pretty tame, like Christmas trees, vacations, etc. Mine do not reflect on my family much but if a family has a lot of traditions it usually means they are very caring and involved as a family.
Traditions are very important to many families. My family has many traditions that we don't even ask if we are doing them. We just do them. I think traditions are very important because even if a family is having a conflict, traditions can bring a family together. We have many traditions in my family. Every thanksgiving we go to my Great aunt and uncle's place to eat. Every christmas Eve we go to the Church. I think traditions do show many family values.
Peace,
Christian
My family has some traditions much like many other families. We celebrate holidays and are Catholic. They mean a lot to us because they can be fun things. They can be important to society because they connect people through their customs. They're important because of this. Many people follow them but question them because without finding answers there is no proof to anything.
My family has traditions on holidays like Christmas and Easter.
They are fun and we enjoy them.
tradition to me is cistoms that re passed threw a specific family. That are imprtant to that family
traditions are important to some familys, differnt familys have difrent tradiins that may mean a lot to a familly bbut they may not mean alot it could just be somthing that they do because thats what they didi there whole life.
differnt cultures have difrent tradition that are important to them.
it depends on how the people fel on a specific tradition if they follopw tham or not..me persolaly dont have alot of traditions. but my family does have some traditons.
if peopel qustiona tridition it would probly be because it might have beeen a very old tradition but now a days it aint acceptable to the socity.
my family has some traditions..every year whemn we decorate are christmas tree we drink eggnog...traditions do show family valuse
Traditions to me are specific things that families do every year on special occasions. To a family it is something that can bring them all together, so they can enjoy some time with each other. When I am at my moms we have many traditions. We always in the summer go camping in Rhode Island, and on Columbus Day weekend we go camping at Skye Farm. Also on Christmas Eve day we go to my granparents house and have dinner there. Then we come back and go to church. Then on Christmas we have coffee cake and grapfuit for breakfast =]. I think that since we choose to follow them every year that it does show our family values. We want to spend time together and so we set time aside for it.
I think traditions are things we do the same every year.Traditions are one of those things that some people care about and never break them and then there a re people who could care less. I think traditions are very important to families especially during the holiday season. Different traditions make each family unique and special. My family has a whole bunch a different traditions that we do every year. For example, we cut down our Christmas tree the day after Thanksgiving. These traditions that we do make the holidays special. Without them Christmas and Thanksgiving wouldn't be the same.
~Chelsea Meissner
I think traditions are special things, and I think it is important that familys do spend time together and make traditions. My family has traditions and I really like them, they give me something to look forward to. Having these tradions are good because it gives time for families to spend time with each other. When you do something the same for a while it does just happen without any questioning. When something changes however some questions do arouse. My family has some traditions. One is we always have thanksgiving dinner at my Grandma's house. Also the day before my sister and I go to her house and make pies and I really can't wait. We have been doing this for soo many years it wouldnt be natural not to. Tradition does show family values and it is a very good thing :]
Traditions are things people do every year. The things they mean to families are limitless. No one can really say what they mean to them. Some people may go to church on Chirstmas, others may just stay home and relax and some people go to cemetaries to honor their families. Most people don't ask about their traditions, they just do them. This is because people have done these things so many times that they just don't know any better. My family does have many family traditions. One is that my whole family goes up to Vermont on Black Friday for the day. It's a really good time; my brother and I make fun of my dad [he makes it easy] and my mom and brother have these insane discussions over pretty much everything. Also on the day after Thanksgiving..Christmas decorating time. I started a new tradtion just for myself. I have a different string of lights for every season pretty much for my room. Spring: multi colored Summer: same as spring Fall: candy corn =] and winter: green and red of course.
Tradtions defanitly show fammily values. It shows the differnt kind of people people are.
Oh my gosh...my family has soooo many traditions.
For Thanksgiving, everyone on my dad's side of the family goes to my uncles house. He has a HUGE house so he invites like....50 people, whether they be friends or family. He has tables set up all around the house for everyone to eat, and we usually have like 3 turkeys. It's soooooo much fun. After, if the night is clear, he takes out a telescope nad we all look at the stars. I don;t really know what stargazong has to do with Thanksgiving, but it's something fun we do.
Another tradition our family has if for Christmas. We actually have a couple for Christmas. Every year, when we are decorating the Christmas treee, we listen to the sountrack from "A Charlie brown Christmas," and the sountrack from the movie "Elf." Then afterwoards, we watch A Christmas Story on tv. It's like, on every channel 24/7. We also invite my nana, poppy, my uncle on my mom's side, and his wife and kids. We have a HUGE Christmas dinner, and it's just a fun time for all of us to get togther and RELAX.
Traditions are a way for a amily to come together. They make families realize how important it is to have good relationships with each other. Our family's traditions are very important. We tend to follow them without questioning them, but if we find new ways to make them even more meaningful, then we add to them. Our traditions definately show our family values. We value family, of course, and just the things that make us happy. we really like being together.
"Mom! Get the gravy spoon and keep it out of Stevens eye sockets!". This is one of the few traditions that we Kellers hold dear to us. Our traditions are special things to us, that make us unique, and are passed down through the generations. Traditions can also be relevent to a larger group of people, like a country. An example of this is the bull race that the spaniards participate in. They generally make us feel good, and are important, but we could live without out them. Sometimes one might question their traditions because they seem obscure to other traditions, or they go against your personal morals. My favorite tradition (that earned me the title of SHOEBOY)is where the children in the family, on the nights of advent put their shoe in the window overnight. Then "santa" (or your parents, gaurdians, illegal immigrants, or ex convicts) put presents in your shoe. I've often wondered whether these goodies were deducted from my haul on christmas day, but whatever, its still fun. I really don't feel that this says anything about my family, except maybe that our shoes don't smell that incredibly bad that we can have them within 10 feet as we sleep. See you in Bolivia!
Love-
Edwardo
Traditions are a great part of our culture. It is often carried out around a holiday. A tradition is an ongoing event, or carrying out of a certain deed, with significant meaning to a group of people. A tradition means a great deal to a family. Escpecially if someone who started the tradition has now passed on. This is the time when it is needed for someone else to carry out the tradition. There are specific tradtitions to each society, but just because you are apart of this society doesn't mean that you follow their customs. I think that once you grow up with a certain tradition it becomes second nature to you to just follow it, with no questions asked. You also feel that you want these to carry on forever even when the ones around you have passed on. My family has many traditions for holidays, and most of them are soo normal, and such a second nature to me that I don't even realize they are even traditions. For my family we often gather at the holidays at the same house, or eat the same foods, or have a schedule that we run exact year after year. I think that a tradition in a family can some what show your family values. In most cases it does, but there are always the exceptions. For instance, you could no longer be a certain type of religion, or have family to carry it out with you, but you still keep the tradition going. Tradition becomes a part of you from the moment you are born.
Family Traditions are mean alot to my family. Well more or less my grandma. She loves seeing everyone get together and have a good time. I think the meaning of traditions are different for everyone. Reading all the other posts that the class before did shows that traditions cqan mean anything from going somepleace every year, to do different things each year. Just as long as the eventa re some what constant than i belive its a tradtion. Tradtions mean alot to my family as said before. My family every year goes to my grandmas house for thanksgiving but this year my grandma is 80 and cant do it anymore so everyones coming to my house. Like i said traditions can soome what be the same but things can vary. I think traditions are important because if you dont have a tradition its almost as if you are left out of the lop, or like.. idk. I just think there important. We as a society tend to follow tradtions without a problem. Its just part of our culture i guess. My family has other tradtions too. Christema we all go to my grandmas house and it will stay that way. We all cook and bring stuff so she doesnt have to do alot of owrk. Your supposed to enjoy the holidays, not dred them. On christmas we normally go to church around 7 sio that my grandma feels better and more religious per say. The holidays are mostly revolved around my grandma. Everyone goes to her house to see her and everything she wants goes. Well shes kind of earned it seeing as though shes 80 years old. Family traditions are important but in the long run i think people would be "lost" without them.
Traditions, to me, are things that families, or places in general, do that has been and will be passed on through the generations. A family or a society can have many traditions that are special to them because in a way it links them to the past. To many people they are very important and to others they're not.
I think alot of people follow traditions without following them because it has become a thing of habit and they come to expect it.
My family has alot of traditions. Like for Thanksgiving, we basically have 2 Thanksgiving dinners. Every year we go to my Aunt's house on Thnksgiving with my dad's side of the family. Then, on the Thanksgiving weekend, we go to my grandpa's house with my mom's side of the family. We have been doing this for as long as I can remember. Another tradition that my family has is for birthdays. On or around our birthdays our grandparents (on my mom's side) take us out. We get to go anywhere we want and get anything we want (shopping spree!). Then we go out for a birthday lunch, almost always at Friendly's. We've also been doing that forever. But I'm not so sure it's gong to go on for us grandkids with my grandma no longer with us. But I'm probably going to keep it going by eventually taking my own grandchildren out for their birthdays.
I think our (our as in my family and other families in the world) traditions show family values because most traditions are about our families. We show that we want to be around our families and that we value them greatly.
To me traditions are customs that are passed down through a family, and they are celebrated yearly. Traditions can mean a lot to a family because it can show things about a family and show who they are and what their heritedge is. A society tends to celebrate the same traditions like different holidays, even if they celebrate them in different ways they are all still celebrating the same holiday. I beleive thast traditions are very important. I look forward to traditions that my family celebrates. I think traditions make certain days and holidays more fun. I think we tend to follow our traditions without thinking. For example if you grow up in a house that celebrates christmas then every year on December 25 you are automatically going to expect to see the same decorations and a tree and presents underneath that tree, because it is what you are used to. My family has a bunch of traditions like when we are decorating for christmas we put on x-mas carols and drink eggnog. I think our traditions show our family values. If you spend holidays with all of your family is shows that you value family.
I think traditions are something that a family celebrates every year no matter what. Traditions mean a lot to a family. They mean getting together and enjoying yourself. It means unity from one to another. To a society, traditions mean that the family is getting along. Also that everyone loves each other so much. I think traditions are very important. If you don't want to participate in your families traditions, then your not uniting with your family. I believe that everyone should honor their family and put them number one before friends. We do tend to follow them without asking questions because we are used to them. Since we were born we have followed the families traditions. I think people never felt the need of explaining the tradition and why we do it every year. My family does have traditions. One tradition is every birthday; the birthday person gets to go out to dinner. Then after we get home we have an ice cream cake. On every Christmas we have to go to our grandmother's house before opening the gifts at home. On every Thanksgiving we put up our Christmas tree. Every Halloween we have Chinese food. Every Easter my family and I have an egg hunt outside. The eggs have money ranging from a penny to ten dollars. Our traditions do tend to show our family values. For example if someone's family celebrates fourth of July or memorial day more than others, you can tell they value America. If someone celebrates St. Patrick's Day more than others, you can tell they value their descent or Ireland.
Traditions are things that a family does every year or night or week or some type of routine. They are also very important to familys. My family traditions are going to my grandmothers for dinner on the holidays thanksgiving and Easter with the rest of the family. But on Christmas we always have dinner at my house. Our traditions show our family values being together. Traditions mean to a family happiness and they have been doing it so long they are used to doing it and it feels normal to do it. We do tend to follow traditions without questioning it because we do them for so long it feels comfortable to do it and it becomes a routine. People tend to question them because they may wonder if there is a better one or if they want to change it or stop celebrating it
To me, traditions are activities or rituals that certain groups of people practice at the same time and place every time they practice said tradition. For example, back when I was homeschooled, every time my brothers or I finished a workbook, my mom would throw marshmallows at us, singing "congratulations" to some kicky tune, and we would try to catch them in baseball mitts. I don't know when we started doing that, but I assume my mom just got the bright idea sometime, and it just stuck. Good times, good times.
Traditions matter more to some families than to others. It all depends on peoples' opinions of them. Praying together before meals might help some families bond; in another family, some people might think the practice was stupid and annoying, and it would drive the family apart.
Traditions can also be present in other groups as well, like ethnic groups, or people who live in the same area. An example that comes to find for the latter would be Japanese families eating food from KFC on Christmas. (I am not making this up.) It's (I am assuming) a fun family activity that comes once a year that they can look forward to, enjoy together, share memories of, et cetera. I think traditions are fairly important. They can be almost identifying for some families or groups -- traditions are things that all the people of one group can share, because of their common feature (place that they live, family, religion, whatever).
I think whether or not traditions are followed blindly really varies from person to person and how they've been raised to see the traditions. If a kid is raised to see going to church on Easter as a chore, they probably won't care about continuing the tradition as they get older. The fact that they have been going on for so long probably causes people to follow them blindly.
My family has several traditions (that I can think of). Well, there was the marshmallow thing, but that stopped when we started going to school. Every Passover, we have a search for the afikomen (my parents hide a piece of matzah in a cloth, and we search for it around the house; whoever finds it gets a little prize). Every Christmas, we visit my aunt and uncle (we celebrate "corporate" Christmas; my aunt and uncle are actually Buddhist).
The nature of different traditions show the nature of different families or groups. If a family has a tradition where they all give gifts to one another, the family at large is probably generous. If the family holds an annual Let's-Not-Talk-To-Each-Other-Because-You-Guys-Irritate-Me Day, they are probably not a very close family. But I doubt anyone actually does that. In general, I think traditions, and how the traditions who are executed, are reflections of the family's values.
The word "traditions" could mean many different thing to many different people. That's what's so cool about them- they're different. On the other hand, some traditions are just everyday things that we don't even think of as traditions- things like eating dinner together, or praying together, playing a game together, or going to church every Sunday: things like that. And then there are rare-er traditions like having strawberries and whipped cream on Mickey Mouse waffles every valentines day for dinner, or making lemonade on the first day of summer, or having campfires all summer long...Many traditions have been passed down from generation to generation, but others are made up as we go along in life. My family has a bunch of traditions (I mentioned some ealier). None of us really know how each tradition got started, but who really cares?Most of them are just small things; things we get used to. I think that some of our traditions show our family values, but most are just random stuff that we enjoy. :).
I enjoyed this blog very much, Mrs. Gaboury- just because you said to. :)
Traditions are the family's/society's/underworld's customs and their way of doing things, everlasting. To have traditions can be both important and damaging to a peoples. It is important because they are valuing the aspects of the past, the things their ancestors have once did. It can be damaging because some cultures stick to their traditions without wavering, and this sometimes means that the ydo not take modern ideas into account.
To a family, traditions are the basis of their day-to-day lives, since traditions can also mean the things that are routine and mundane.
It is not true that we follow traditions without questioning them because most people can poke holes in them and urnravel their basis. You dont see people sacrficing virgins to the fire demons on the sides of volcanoes anywmore? Well, you dont see the poeople worth mentioning doing this.
My family does have several traditions, such as the major holidays. They are mostly just commercial holidays, but we like to give gifts to each other, and we like receiving gifts evenmore. i used to think, when i was around six, that a man gave me gifts after he dropped down my fireplace. This seems quite odd for people to make up a story like this, a story about a fat old demigod that breaks the backs of poor deer on his way to give out presents made by sweatshop elves while dressed up as a commie. Those stupid movies about him are just Russian propaganda. Think about it. He's dressed up in a Russian military uniform, obviously.
Traditions are customs that usually have some personal value. they often display the family's religous beliefs or are a way to remember something from the past. sometimes a country or state will have special holidays, such as our 4th of July or Veterans day. These our to remeber special events and honor people who deserve our respect.
Sadly, sometimes traditions lose there meaning and people take them for granted. Some of our holiday's today are looked at as simply a chance to go shopping for sales or get a day of from school. People don't always think about what they're doing when they do them. some of these holidays are important or should be important to us but we forget there value because we just get used them.
In my family, we have pretty normal traditions - turkey on Thanksgiving, easter egg hunting on Easter. At church, on Good Friday, we right sins down on an index card and nail them to a wooden cross. It's really cool.
Traditions bond people together, perserve memories and are often just fun and silly! You'll find them anywhere in the world where there are people.
Traditions are an important thing for a family to have. Most traditions bring a family together to enjoy something or an activity. My family's traditions mean the world to us. They should mean a lot to other familes too. My family's traditions are pretty normal. For Thanksgiving, we all go to my grandmother's house for the day. Some of us cook, some of us watch football. And most of the time my great grandmother's birthday falls on Thanksgiving, like this year. So my cousin Stephanie usually makes her a cake and we have a little party for her after we eat diner. On Christmas the entire family shows up atmy house. We exchange gifts and just have fun with eachother. New Year's is spent at my Uncle Bobby's. Just a party, nothing big. We're really nothing special, but those things mean everything to me. I love being with my entire family. It's always so warm and friendly. I do think that traditions show what familys value.With my family, our tradtions show that we value family, generousity, kindness, and for most of us, food.
Traditions are customs of a culture or a family that you do together, usually. Traditions can mean alot to a family because it is important to them and that is why the celebrate or do that. I think that traditons are important because it can bring a family or a society together for a celebration, or.. sad stuff. My family doesnt realy have any traditions besides going to my grandmas house for Thanksgiving. And on Christmas we go to our grandparents house for presents and a family get together. I think that traditions to show our families values, sometimes.
Traditions are something that u have done year after year until it becomes a habbit that u have to do it every year at that general time. Traditions to my family mean an excuse to get the whole family togather to have fun. traditions to a specific society mean a way of life. Yes i think traditions are important. most of the time we follo them with out even batting an eye but this is just what we are used to doing. My family has lots of traditions some of the traditions are as simple as always going over to my grampas house for christmas but it is something i can rember from when i was really little. I think family traditions really show my family charctors they show that we love getting togather, we have fun talking with one another and other things.
I want you to consider these questions. What are traditions? What do they mean to a family? To
Daniel Webb
I want you to consider these questions. What are traditions? What do they mean to a family? To a specific society? Are they important? Do we tend to follow them without questioning them? What tends to make us question them? Does your family have any traditions (for holidays, birthdays)? What are they? Do our traditions tend to show our family values? If so, what? If not, why not?
In my family, traditions mean that things or ideams that we repeat year after year and things that are really important. Like for example thanksgiving and Suck well g2g Bye.....
Traditions are something that is passed down from generation to generation. To different families traditions can mean many differnt things. Sometimes traditions can mean something that the whole extended family gets together and does something together on like the same day of every year, or something along those lines hahaha. Other times traditions could mean just your immidate family, could just do something like on the Thanksgiving you sit and watch a football game, and just chill...
Traditions are important to some families becuase they show that you care about your family and that you want to be with your famuily and things like that. Sometimes we question where they started, and why we have them, but most of the time we just do them with out a question. My family does have some traditions, like on thanks giving we go to my grandpa's house and my reletives come up from north carolina, and we all visit. Tylers family doesnt really have any traditions eather.
-Shannon and Tyler
A tradition is something that takes place usually between a group of people at a certain time every time. Traditions are important to many families because usually it involves family bonding and being together doing something that important to you.
Traditions are important to a society because the society sometimes unites together for a common belief. Traditions are deffinately important or else no one would bother to continue doing them. People don't tend to always follow traditions without questioning them because either they don't understand why they are following them or they don't enjoy the tradition. One traditiong my family has done since i was eight is every christmas morning after pressent and breakfast we drive 2 and a half hours downstate to celebrate Christmas with all of my cousins,aunts,uncles and grandparents. Now that i think of it I've never spend the entire christmas day or afternoon or evening at my new house. Well relatively new.. i've lived her for seven years but i still consider it my new house.. i don't know why =)
I'm sure there are little traditions that i follow that i just can't think of right now. I do think traditions show family values because if we have a tradition it shows that we value whatever we are doing and is important to us.
sorry if this is shorter then my other one but when i printed it after trying to post it instead of commenting it, it came out crappy.
=) have a good weekend- melissa
Traditions are an elementary part to a group. Even if they are not religiously performed, traditions exist in every family, group, or society. They can manifest themselves in the form of things like secret handshakes, or can even be as simple as saying grace before dinner.
The importance of tradition is often highly regarded, but then again, if we didn't have people who broke tradition, we would still be in the stone age. If we hadn't questioned the Church, science would not exist. If countries do not break traditions of abstinence from foreign affairs, they are nt part of the world. Many people question tradition, and it is in this way that change is brought about. The breaking of tradition is often critisized, and sometimes rightly so. It is, perhaps, a fear of change that makes us stick to traditions.
My family does not have that many traditions, or none that are apparent anyway. We "go with the flow." I couldn't see it any other way really. Although, we have recently started doing a somewhat traditional trip to Florida every Christmas, perhaps that is a tradtion. We hit Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, and then Florida on our trip. All of the places have relatives.
Unless they are extreme values, traditions are not very revealing of family values. This is because many traditions are done on account of the fact that it worked once, so why not again. Saying grace, though, could indicate a religious family, but going to Florida every Christmas does not reveal such deep values.
In any case, I think we should have done this after we read the book we are going to relate it to, unless there is a reason that couldn't be done.
~Tyler
My Finished Comment
In my family, similar to many families, we have traditions and customs. Traditions are rituals or celebrations that occur annually or at certain times of the year. One of the tradition my family practices is getting together for the holidays. This tradition shows how we value each others company, and the idea of family itself.
One holiday I would question is Thanksgiving. The first Thanksgiving was a celebration between the pilgrims and Native Americans, who had welcomed the pilgrims and helped them survive in America.
The reason I might question this holiday is that we later slaughtered the Native Americans and pushed them to desolate sections of the continent. So what are we celebrating, betrayal, disloyalty? However, one night try to put a good spin on things by saying that we're celebrating the welcoming and helping of the pilgrims by the Native Americans, the general idea of hospitality. This may be even worse than the betrayal, it is hypocrisy. In our government, there are strict laws about immigrants coming to America. If they do manage to get into our country, legally or illegally, they must face stereotypes and often get the most difficult jobs that pay the worst. We are in no way hospitable to immigrants. We completely disregard the compassionate and accepting behavior that the Native Americans showed us pilgrims the first Thanksgiving.
I think that traditions are something that your family does every year on a holiday or anything else. Traditions bring people together and are really imporant to the family we deffinely seem to follow traditions without question because we really don't know better if we followed them ever since we were born.What tends to make us question them is if we get that funny feeling in our stomaches that says we shouldn't
Traditions are something that you do over and over again with your family. To a specific society i think that if you have custom or something in that manner you keep up with it. I think that traditions can be important because some people really enjoy it and then some people really dread it but you can take it however you want. Yes, i belive we do because its been something wev`e been doing for a long time and we dont want to give it up. My family has a tradition on Christmas eve were my entire family goes to my grandmas and we have dinner there and open presents and have a good time. Traditions show family values by seeing how well your family is close to what i think because you have to be committed to do them.
Traditions...hmmm...
A tradition is a mode of thought or behavior followed by a people continuously from generation to generation; a custom.
OK, so I got that from dictionary.com. I think that traditions are simply something that a person or group does repeatedly that means something to them. To a family it is time shared together doing something that is familiar to the elders of the group and maybe taught to the new members of the group. These traditions lead to great memories and sometimes even new traditions. Traditions are important because they are repetitive so that one can enjoy the holiday or occasion instead of planning. For example, we always go to my Grandparent's house in PA for Thanksgiving. That way we can enjoy Thanksgiving instead of having to plan where and when we will get together. Traditions are so natural to everyone involved it is surprising to think that it will not occur. Using the same example, we thought we might not be able to go to PA this year and I don't know what Thanksgiving would have been like I we weren't in PA. Most traditions have been around for a long time, so we don't question them. We don't want to offend the people who like the tradition, or have to start a new tradition. Some could say that it is laziness, but I think it goes back to my earlier comment, the traditions make it easier for everyone to enjoy the occasion.
EVERYONE has traditions whether they realize it or not. A tradition could be simply getting a tree for Christmas. My family has so many and I don't wish to list them all, but here's one:
On Easter, I wake up and have to stare longingly at my Easter basket until after we freeze at the Sunrise service. And although sometimes I hate having to wait and freeze, I look forward to this every year and if I was able to dig into my basket first thing in the morning, I would have nothing to look forward to later in the day. So, traditions make it so that I do not have to argue not being able to open my basket(even though I still do).
Ok, so I'll tell another tradition...
One of my favorite traditions is when my Dad and I read this big, old book of The Night Before Christmas on Christmas Eve. I love this tradition because even though I am 15 I still look forward to reading this book on the couch, after hanging up our stockings, with him.
Sorry, 1 more...
I don't get to see Stephanie much anymore in school, so when we see each other in Social Studies I have started getting into class early and sitting on her desk so that we can talk. This tradition is awesome because it makes me feel better that we don't have a lot of classes together (sorry I stole your idea of putting this in, Steph!)
So, obviously traditions are very important to me and they all mean something to me.
Ah, traditions. The way I see it, traditions are activities that someone randomly started doing at some point in time, for no real reason whatsoever. But here's the catch - the idea stuck, and eventually became something meaningful. Some traditions, like candles on a birthday cake, Christmas trees, and watching football on Thanksgiving spread; while others, like going apple-picking and traveling on certain holidays, remained only in some families, or groups of people. Some traditions mean a lot to families and societies, but some others are just jokes, enjoyable things to do on a certain event. Some we follow without question, but traditions have definitely been questioned. I don't believe I've ever questioned a tradition, but then again, I don't follow very many traditions, and most of the ones I do are more of the casual joke-y type. I think that traditions do tend to show out family values. If traditions mainly involve doing things together as a family, like eating holiday dinners together instead of going to parties, then that family values togetherness. If a certain family goes out and plays with their rifles on Easter, then, well, they're probably not the sort of people that you want as neighbors. I know I follow traditions, but oddly enough, none are really coming to mind. I suppose this proves that we really do tend to follow traditions without questioning them, seeing as I can't even think of any of mine. Does drinking tea every morning count as a tradition?
---Alison S.
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