Traditions

This time of the year is rich in traditions of the nation, the communities, the families, and even in individuals. I know that growing up Wallace my family certainly had certain traditions carved out from the culture of the area, financial status of the time, social groups, and combinations of ideas of my parents. Being somewhat of a person who thrives on tradition, ok, I love traditions and look forward to each Holiday Season.

So, how do some traditions get started? Here is an example.

A daughter was watching her mom prepare the turkey for their Thanksgiving dinner. The daughter noticed that her mom had cut one of the turkey’s legs off before placing it in the oven…when the daughter examined the turkey leg, it seemingly looked normal. This was something that her mom did every year, and always puzzled the daughter…so this time the daughter asked her mom, “why do you always cut off the turkey leg? is there something wrong with it?”  The mom responded, “Actually, I’m not sure…it was something that my mother always did, and I guess it just stuck with me. Why don’t you ask grandma later tonight”. So that is what the daughter did. When her grandma arrived later that evening she asked her, “Grandma, why do you cut off the turkey leg before placing it in the oven?”, but she got the exact same answer, the grandma did not know why and told her she should ask her great grandma once she got here. So when her great-grandmother arrived she asked her, ”great grandma? why do you cut the turkey leg off of the turkey before placing it in the oven? Both mom and grandma do it too, but they don’t know why…”, the great-grandmother chuckled and said, “honey, I cut it off because our oven was too small to fit the entire turkey inside”.

Now, that is another way traditions get started. This is an old story, first told in Jewish traditions, but very applicable to all walks of life.