Does anyone know or care why we make noise and have fireworks on New Years?
Why do people, Irish or not, need to get drunk on St. Patrick's day?
Why do we blow up a fortune we can't afford on July 4th? Now, what is July 4th a holiday of again?
Why in the world do we dress children in scary costumes and send them out to beg on Oct 31, when any other day we would not look with favor on that behavior?
What's up with Christmas trees? Why do we cut down a perfectly good (It must be perfect, you know.) evergreen tree and then trash it when it dries up? More incredibly, why do we redo the living space to put up a fake tree, then take it back down?
Blowing out candles on the birthday cake, hmmm?
I am thinking that in some distant past these traditions made sense, and if we only knew why, we might or might not approve of the reasons. I guess I am thinking that it may be time to make fresh, meaningfully new traditions that bind family together in fun AND meaningful ways. Of course, I have no problem with continuing whatever traditions anyone wishes to. I just personally question my doing something that seems so ridiculous today.
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Maybe you'll appreciate this quote from Lew Rockwell found on Facebook on July 3rd.
"As a boy, I loved the annual July 4th fireworks displays in my town. Then I realized they were socialist extravaganzas. Now I see them as expensive government propaganda, fire-setting and terrorizing to pets, not to speak of disturbing to the social peace. Only government could get away with it. In a private property order, no one would be setting off these things near neighborhoods, unless everyone agreed to it."
We went to see the fireworks in out town anyway.
On some days I'd write the same post. On other days, the nostalgic, romantic me would whimsically say pshaw. I have thought about tradtions of the old testament. They were for the purpose of remembering something important - and relating it to generations to come. Maybe therein is the answer. Maybe some of our traditions could still have some powerful use - IF we talked about the reasons we have them. I suppose, too, that some traditions might cease when we open our mouths to explain the "powerful" thing and find that we have nothing to say.
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