How do you perceive 'tradition'?

[VanIsle]

Tradition is a mindless repetition of an event

So things like Christmas don't excite you? You don't look forward to them in any way?
I can understand if you say that such times can be mindless consumerism because that is the way much of Christmas for example can be. However, Thanksgiving is simply a time when most of us once again have the big turkey dinner and families actually sit down to the table together. Busy lives have taken that tradition away from us. I mean sitting down to dinner at the same time, as a family. I think families for the most part are a lost "tradition". People have become so involved with just their own lives that many don't even want children cluttering it up anymore. We live in a very sad world.

 

[JLM]

"We live in a very sad world."- BUT it's a much better world today V.I. than it was back in '59.........................LOL LOL LOL

 

[TenPenny]

Tradition is a mindless repetition of an event

Quite so. For many, voting Liberal is a tradition, carried on from the day when they had a leader with sex appeal.

 

[Machjo]

Quite so. For many, voting Liberal is a tradition, carried on from the day when they had a leader with sex appeal.

I'd actually met people who'd proudly told me that they voted party X because papa and grand-papa voted party X! Now I can only be thankful that I have not met many such people, but they are out there. Scary, really.

 

[L Gilbert]

But then here's the oxymoron: is it possible to start a tradition? I'd say that a tradition doesn't really start but merely appears once its original reason for being is forgotten.

People make traditions all the time. EG Someone starts an activity and it catches on. More and more people start doing this activity. Then gov't bases laws on it, religions base tenets on it, etc. and people just do this activity customarily regardless of whether there is anything better around or whether they can remember why it was done in the first place.

 

[L Gilbert]

Tradition is a mindless repetition of an event

No, that is rote, or ritual. Not quite the same thing.

 

[SirJosephPorter]

I'd actually met people who'd proudly told me that they voted party X because papa and grand-papa voted party X! Now I can only be thankful that I have not met many such people, but they are out there. Scary, really.

That is how many people vote. Their parents voted that way, or they themselves have been voting that way, is the reason they continue voting the same way. There are only a few people who switch back and forth between the parties.

Thus both Liberals and Conservatives can count on 30% each. Who wins the election depends upon what happens with the next 5 or 6 %.

 

[SirJosephPorter]

"We live in a very sad world."- BUT it's a much better world today V.I. than it was back in '59.........................LOL LOL LOL

You are finally catching on JLM, there may be hope for you yet.

 

[SirJosephPorter]

I think families for the most part are a lost "tradition". People have become so involved with just their own lives that many don't even want children cluttering it up anymore. We live in a very sad world.

Families are not a lost tradition, family has evolved, it is not the same family that our fathers and grandfathers knew.

Society was fairly homogeneous in the old days; the family mostly consisted of husband (the head of the family, the boss, the master), wife and children with husband working outside home and wife a housewife.

Such family is becoming rare these days. The woman may go out to work; sometimes she is the main breadwinner. Then of course there are single parents, gay couples, gay couples with children etc. This is not the family that was prevalent in old days.

So family is evolving once again, that is its strength. Family (and marriage) has survived over thousands of years precisely because it changes with times.

 

[SirJosephPorter]

Quite so. For many, voting Liberal is a tradition, carried on from the day when they had a leader with sex appeal.

Likewise for many voting Conservative is a tradition.

 

[JLM]

You are finally catching on JLM, there may be hope for you yet.

Oooooooooh we're not too sharp today, you missed the "laughing out louds" at the end. I'm sure V.I. got the message.

 

[SirJosephPorter]

Oooooooooh we're not too sharp today, you missed the "laughing out louds" at the end. I'm sure V.I. got the message.

Not sharp today? You flatter me. I thought I was never sharp, according to you. You really should choose your words carefully when you are badmouthing somebody. Badmouthing somebody is an art, not everybody can do it successfully.

 

[taxslave]

Traditions are for people that are too lazy to try anything new.

 

[AnnaG]

Traditions are for people that are too lazy to try anything new.

... or too scared. It's the unknown, you know, definitely a frightening concept. lol Sounds pretty boring to me.

 

[JLM]

... or too scared. It's the unknown, you know, definitely a frightening concept. lol Sounds pretty boring to me.

Weird- I was just going to reply to Taxslave, that we old codgers are pretty leary about trying new stuff, when your reply popped up. Better just to stick with what we know works and not go venturing onto any slopes where there might be banana peels.

 

[talloola]

the equality for women in this country definitely changed
traditions for home life.
Women have the same choices now as everyone, so have your
children, and organize your life with your partner, and
go for it.
It has changed life for the better, as now the little girls
will look up to their mother and father as equals, and
make their choices for their lives, any way they want, and
not think that they 'should' stay home, and be the mother
that their mother was.
I was a stay at home mom, and all of my daughters worked
throughout their child bearing years, and have just as
much love and time for their kids as I did, they just have
to work 'more', together, to get things done at home.
Some traditions are fine, some have to giveway to change,
nothing wrong with that.

 

[AnnaG]

Weird- I was just going to reply to Taxslave, that we old codgers are pretty leary about trying new stuff, when your reply popped up. Better just to stick with what we know works and not go venturing onto any slopes where there might be banana peels.

lol

 

[VanIsle]

Families are not a lost tradition, family has evolved, it is not the same family that our fathers and grandfathers knew.

Society was fairly homogeneous in the old days; the family mostly consisted of husband (the head of the family, the boss, the master), wife and children with husband working outside home and wife a housewife.

Such family is becoming rare these days. The woman may go out to work; sometimes she is the main breadwinner. Then of course there are single parents, gay couples, gay couples with children etc. This is not the family that was prevalent in old days.

So family is evolving once again, that is its strength. Family (and marriage) has survived over thousands of years precisely because it changes with times.

I completely disagree with your last statement in particular. Divorce is much more common than marriage these days. Your only true statement is "this is not the family that was prevalent in old days". The family of old days did more together, talked more together and they sat down to dinner together. Everyone goes their own way now.

 

[VanIsle]

"We live in a very sad world."- BUT it's a much better world today V.I. than it was back in '59.........................LOL LOL LOL

I think you and I "got it" JLM. I'm not so sure about everyone getting it. I'll take 59/69/79 and even 89. After that it starts to get dicey.

 

[Bar Sinister]

Do you really believe that is still true? Christmas is not the tradition it once was. Instead of looking forward to it as a happy family time (and in our life time that was what it always used to be) no one seems to know how to handle this "tradition" anymore. Tradition to me is - celebrating all the holidays that I grew up with as a born in Canada Canadian. I don't want to say things like "Happy Holidays" because someone deceided it was the PC thing to do. Tradition to me is also the foods we serve during those certain holidays in each of our homes. Stores prepare for those by having turkey, cranberry's, yams, stuffing etc. etc. in abundance to sell because those are the traditional foods for times like Christmas and Thanksgiving. Some people have turkey again at Easter but most eat Ham. Those are traditions. The ten commandments are a way of life. Not a tradition. I get up, shower, dress and have my coffee everyday. That's a way of life - not tradition.
Christmas may be celebrated many ways but - how? If you are going to celebrate Christmas you either celebrate it via being very religious about it along with the tree, gifts and family & friends and the big meal or you leave out the religion and do all the rest. It is our traditional Christmas. What other way would be or could be a traditional Canadian Christmas? (or even a traditional USA Christmas). The only thing different would be the foods that some people equate with Christmas. We seem to add in things that may be of German descent more frequently than other nations. I don't know why other than it may seem to some people as being close to what we ourselves are used to or have become used to.

My point was that traditions are being created all of the time. Originally Christmas was just an important religious service - and not even the most important, Easter was by far the more important religious event. In any case Christmas was primarily a religious event. However, as time went on and various different peoples were converted to Christianity a number of traditions associated with other religions were incorporated. For example mistletoe was brought in from Germany as was the Xmas tree. So too was the yule log and the custom of celebrating Xmas with feasting. The turkey became the bird of choice when the new world was discovered - at least in England and the US and Canada. Gift giving came in with the 19th century (at least in its modern form). This clearly indicates that what are now traditions did not exist before. On a more modern note "tailgate parties" associated with sporting events have become traditions in certain parts of the US. Such an event is very new amd many would argue that it is not a tradition yet. But 30 years from now it could be firmly established as a tradition.