The Culture of Christmas Eve

 Hey Friends,

    

        This week I have been thinking about culture. It seems to me that culture is created and tweaked throughout time by family units first and secondly by extended family and friends' families. Take for example Christmas Eve.

     Christmas Eve can be exciting, boring, spiritual, sacred, or many other things. It all

depends on how the parents of the family in question treat it as their children grow and

develop a sense of what is normal and proper behavior on that day. My family, for example,

reads the story of Jesus Christ's birth out of the Bible every Christmas Eve. This is a tradition

that has been passed down from my grandparents to my parents, and now it is up to my future

wife and I whether or not it will continue in my household or not.


     That is a small example of how a single tradition is passed down. Now imagine tradition

after tradition, including ones that we don't even realize we are adopting into our lives as

normal, being passed through so many families that the tradition or expectation of behavior

spreads to a whole group of families that reside in a somewhat distinct geographic area. That

is how I have come to think that culture is developed and perpetuated. It is, of course,

influenced by outside factors such as wars, medical discoveries, and the adoption of differing

religions. It is the traditions that families pass down generation to generation that create and

perpetuate culture.


         It is also for families to decide which bits and pieces of culture help the members of

their particular family and which particular traditions hurt their members. Then they must

decide how to act on their thoughts about each bit or piece. It most often seems that it is not

as simple as just cutting out a tradition here or there or adding a tradition that I wished my

parents had participated in. Culture is the stuff we adhere ourselves to. It is the thing by which

we identify. It is what feels normal and safe, even. It is very hard to change a culture, even the

culture of a singular family unit. There is a fear that, when changing culture, the changing

family or family member will be ostracized or cut out of the group.


         As social creatures, this terrifies humans. I know I certainly am scared of being cut

out of my family if I say something that one side of my family doesn’t like in our upcoming

court battle. An aside, I was listed as a witness unbeknownst to me and I want no part of it. My

family culture is that mom and dad fight each other and their children are expected to take

sides. Well, I’m not taking a side. I will tell the truth, which is a tradition that I want to start

when I have my own children. I have watched my parents lie all my life and they watched their

parents lie; that is a horrible tradition. I will change that, and hopefully shift the whole family

culture a little while I’m at it.


         At this time I invite you all to add in the comments some of the traditions you want to

keep or change in your family and the reasons behind your thinking on each one. Please

keep things civil if there are any disagreements.


 

Tentatively,

-AR






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