Traditions

They connect our present to our past. They encourage constancy for our future. We pass them down through the generations, irregardless of our awareness, hoping the next will remember the prior. Depending on the context, the word can take on an air of staunch futility or a feeling of warm remembrance. This time of year often lends itself to the later.

Last evening my family began our Advent. Now, the traditional mimicking of ancient longing and waiting for Salvation to enter the world through a messiah begins four Sundays prior to Christmas day, however, at our house we take a more secular approach and begin on the first of December. This practice allows us to pop a quick chocolate each night as we await the coming of Santa Claus. The kids love it and I do too.

My grandmother on my dad’s side had my sister and I an Advent calendar every December. The anticipation was often too much and we'd eat the chocolate days in advance. But Nanny didn't mind, she probably even related a bit to this desire. Participating in the practice my grandmother passed on her traditions as we continue to do so now; passing her tradition to the next generation. The modern practice of the Advent has its origins with German Lutherans. This makes a connection since Nanny was a native to Munich, Germany and attended Lutheran Mass in her childhood.

Last night, we also put up trees in our children’s rooms. Now there’s an odd tradition. This practice has been linked to ancient pagans - ranging from Roman Saturnalia to British Druids; Norse mythology to earlier Christianity. But the constant here is that we continue to put them up, decorate them, sit around them sipping cocoa - remembering years past while hoping for years to come. We love this tradition and accept it as if we originated its oddity.

For this I am thankful.

I am thankful that my generation is linked to generations from millennia past. I am thankful that regardless of my efforts my children will take on tradition. Good ones, bad ones, odd ones, fun ones; they too will be linked to this broad communion of all the peoples of the world; not only within their time but encompassing all time; from Lutherans of a few hundred years back to Druids thousands of years ago.

We are a collective of our past as we hope for our future.

The waiting for the Christ is over, yet we continue to long for his return. We are connected. Thousands of years cannot separate. For this mystery, I am thankful. I am also thankful for the smiles on my children’s face as they eat their Advent chocolate by the light of the Christmas Tree.