Traditions And Such

(Long essay #1!)

We all have rituals and traditions--things that we do because we've always done them. Whether these rituals are brushing your teeth before breakfast or spending the 4th of July at a huge family picnic, our rituals and traditions are the things that ground us. Myself, I have noticed the presence of many rituals and traditions in my own life (rituals being something that is done on a daily basis, while traditions are things done on separate occasions).

I'm a little bit funny in the mornings. Instead of having a cup of coffee or doing a couple sun salutations right after I wake up, I get on the internet and check my mail and read webcomics. Yeah, that's right, webcomics. It sounds unbearably nerdy, but it's actually kind of nice. I wake up and I read funny things--it starts my day off with humor.

To be honest, except for the morning webcomics, the only rituals in my life are things like taking a shower or brushing my teeth. But, I suppose that these are true rituals in that, if I don't do them, I feel pretty awful. For good reason, sure, since forgetting to shower or brush one's teeth is gross.

While I may not have that many rituals in my life, my family and I have enough traditions to start our own religion. An excellent (and calendar-appropriate) example is Christmas. It is a holiday steeped, nay, DROWNED in tradition. The official Christmas holiday starts on Christmas Eve, when my grandfather picks out one gift for my sister and I to open. Then, according to tradition, we're all in bed before midnight. When the big morning comes, before anyone can so much as pull a bow off of a box, we all have to eat a cinnamon roll and drink a glass of orange juice. Only then are we allowed to be as chaotic as we please.

Most traditions spring from a specific purpose, and my family's Christmas traditions are no different. The Christmas Eve gift-opening sprang from my grandparents' desire to keep my sister and I from getting too antsy about opening presents, and the mandatory juice and roll came from their desire to keep us girls from getting cranky from low blood sugar. While these traditions come from very practical reasoning, other traditions in my life come from far more arbitrary reasons. Since sophomore year of high school, I have worn black on Valentine's Day. The official reason for this is that I'm protesting an overly commercialized holiday that really has nothing to do with love or romance, and everything to do with materialism and pressure on couples to buy things. However, the real reason that I wear black on Valentine's Day is just because 1.) I'm usually single and bitter, and 2.) I just like being contrary.

I suppose that I have to say that traditions and rituals play a large role in my life. Traditions like the Christmas and rituals like my morning webcomic reading ground me and help impose some order on my life, while other traditions, like wearing black on Valentine's Day, serve to make my life more exciting and silly. Rituals and traditions help me determine my own identity and the characteristics that make up that identity.