My Traditions (Chapter Three Reflection Question)

After reading about tradition in chapter three I was able to draw upon my own life and that of a group to which I feel connected to; my family. While reading, thoughts of three varieties of tradition that I am able to identify and explain came easily to mind. The three varieties of tradition that are significant to me that I intend to expound upon are: a tradition that seems to be longstanding, but that is perhaps disappearing or changing in some fashion, a tradition that seems to be increasingly central in importance to me and others in my life, and a tradition whose origin I witnessed and participated in.

The first variety of tradition that came to mind was a tradition that is longstanding, not disappearing, but has changed in many ways. That is the tradition of camping over Labor Day weekend and celebrating our family reunion on Sunday. My mother’s side of the family camps, but everyone, extended and beyond, attends the reunion but do not camp. I had to miss this celebration for three years due to relocation, and was spotty many years prior also due to relocation, but was able to attend this year and the year prior. My first year back, 2006, was a surprise. A second cousin married and had a baby, an uncle remarried and her kids came, which makes six new people to welcome, including some people whom I had never seen before, this made for an interesting family reunion. Our family did not meet in the usual spot of past family reunions. We camp at Spring Mill state park and our family reunion is held at the pioneer village at the picnic table area prior to crossing the walk bridge, when just entering the village. Those of you who are familiar with this area, we were on the left, incase you were wondering. Not anymore, we are now by the playground. How easily this confused me when trying to find my own family reunion. We were not in the same location as I had remembered and there were many new faces. I felt a little out of place because there were more strange faces than familiar.

Our family reunion is in fact a longstanding tradition that is held every year, regardless of who attends it is a tradition because we are all a group and are connected through kinship connecting us to past generations that link us and are important to all (74). Of course the time together while camping and at the reunion is spent telling stories of the past, and sharing memories, which are always funny to hear even if they have been told a thousand times. The book points out that “a tradition must continually adapt as groups develop and change” in the case of our family reunion, which is the tradition, has done exactly that, continually adapted through development and change (76). One thing that has been done after eating at the reunion is taking a walk through the creek. My sister, brother, cousins and I all did it when we were young every year, and now the youngest of the family were able to do it this past time; my daughter is on the left.

A tradition that seems to be increasingly central in importance to me and others in my life would be that of decorating the Christmas tree. Christmas is my favorite time of year, the decorating that takes place, cold weather, lots of sweets to eat, and classics Christmas movies. All of this begins the day after Thanksgiving. Many may think of this day as “Black Friday” but I think of it as the day to decorate, the tree being the most important. The first two years I was married we had a real tree, after the pine needle cleaning that followed months after, we splurged for a fake, which looks incredibly real, pine cones included. My husband dreads this day because he knows how into it I get, he calls me Clark Griswold. As minute as some may think this is it has become a central importance to me during this time of year, which brings me to a tradition I invented with my daughter.

A tradition whose origin I witnessed and participated in was one that I invented. The new group that we, my family, created invented a tradition during the weeks prior to my daughters first Christmas. The book explains that “a new group may invent traditions that it assumes will be carried out in its future” (83). The invented tradition is that of making reindeer cookies during Christmas time. My daughter was 11 months old and since I love the time of year so much I wanted to create something that we could do together that she would love and we could continue in the future. This year will be our fourth and we will make our reindeer cookies, wrap some for our neighbors, and eat as many as we like.


This is in response to the chapter three reflection question.





Sims, Martha C., and Martine Stephens. Living Folklore An Introduction to the Study of People and Their Traditions. Logan, Utah: Utah State University Press, 2005.