Have you ever wondered how families from different cultures celebrate the holidays? Families all over have traditions, some as small as reading a book together or something as big as massive family reunions. There are different holidays celebrated throughout December by different cultures. No matter what your culture or religious background may be, we each have traditions that make December an amazing month. One of the most popular ways to celebrate a holiday is with your family traditions. Holiday traditions are incredibly fun and you get to spend time with your family.
In my family, we travel to Pennsylvania to spend the holidays with my grandparents on my father’s side. My Grandmother makes cookies, and has the house decorated for Christmas. We also attend a large family reunion where I get to see all of my distant relatives. If I’m really lucky it snows.
There are many different traditions that people have. To get a bigger picture, I interviewed 4 people to get their stories.
The first interview was with my friend and a fellow student of Rio Norte. He said “On Christmas Eve, my family and I open up one small Christmas gift before the morning”.
My second interview was with my Grandma on my Mother’s side, “We always had one Christmas tree, a big dinner on Christmas day with ham and scalloped potatoes, green beans and pies.” She came from an Amish/Mennonite background, so food was very important and was considered a love thing and at church we always got an orange.”
I next interviewed my Father. He said that when he was a kid they always had a tree with a ball. He said that meant that it was a live tree that still had it’s roots wrapped in burlap. He said that they could only have it in the house for one week, and that one of their traditions was that it needed to be planted by New Year’s Eve. “On Christmas Eve, we’d sit in front of the fireplace and read ‘A Night Before Christmas.” Each person would read one page and pass it to the next person to continue reading”.
I also interviewed my Mother, she said they were each allowed to open one present and had lasagna and seafood soup on Christmas Eve. Late on Christmas Eve they’d visit their church for a service. On Christmas day they had a nice dinner together as a family.
Over the years traditions have evolved over time from things like just eating a big dinner to nowadays traveling to another state or country.
It seems like the things that unite everyone in their traditions for the holidays are food and family. No matter where you live, or what you believe, eating food and spending time together is one of the best ways to celebrate the season.