Newswise — Asking Santa for a
happy family holiday season? Then start with tradition, says a
Purdue University cultural anthropologist.
"Tradition is very important
because we rely on it to define ourselves and our values," says
Andrew Buckser, associate professor of anthropology, who researches
the relationship of ritual, culture and religion, and specializing
on Judaism in Europe. "It's how we tell our story. Holiday rituals
are really a kind of play, and everyone is always rewriting the
script. Each of us is our own character, and we each have something
we want to say."
Many people think rituals are only
associated with so-called primitive societies or religious
activities, but everyone, even non-religious people in the Western
world, participates in rituals, he says. Holiday rituals are
especially important for us because they represent the few times we
really connect our personal pasts to our lives today.
"Holidays, such as Christmas and
Hanukkah, include large family gatherings, and these reunions are
how we create symbolism about what we are as a family," Buckser
says.
People are not always aware of
what that symbolism means. Why, for example, do most Americans eat
cranberry sauce at Thanksgiving, when they do not really like it and
would not eat it any other time of the year? Foods like that often
say things about who we are as a nation and a culture, Buckser says.
If tradition must be broken, find
ways for people to engage in something new, Buckser recommends. For
example, if grandma is not able to prepare latkes for Hanukkah this
season, still find something for her to do or ask her to share her
recipes with the new cooks.
"Hosts make the mistake of not
including relatives in the holiday meal preparations, but preparing
food is one of the most important ways that people participate in
traditions," Buckser says.
For many families, decorating the
Christmas tree is the most symbolic ritual they participate in.
"Decorating a tree is like
assembling your past," Buckser says.
Some families decorate with
homemade ornaments, and others use ornaments that have been received
as gifts or inherited from family members.
"Remember that there's a
difference between history and tradition," Buckser says. "History is
ideally about an accurate record, but tradition is what we think of
the past. It's our own folklore, a way we can say what we want about
ourselves. This also is why traditions are always changing."
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