Traditions Evolved Or Vanished? Essay

In my own family, many of the traditions we continue to celebrate and do would not have been passed on if it was not for the closeness of our family. My mother can make many native foods from growing up around her grandmother such as traditional Creek Fry bread; things that I know I will one day pass on to my children. I can still remember my great grandmother teaching my sister and I how to do traditional basket weaving, a tradition still taught in classes at the Creek Nation today. "Basket-weaving is one of the oldest known Native American crafts" and shows the diversity of tribes as the different styles of basket-weaving are still present today (Lollman). If families did not pass on our heritage, many of our native songs and dances performed at powwows would not be around to see or reenact today. Ultimately all of the traditions we have today would not be here if it was not for the families passing their knowledge and memories down.

In today’s society, family is often attempted to be organized within a social structure. Within this structure family typically is consisted of mom, dad, daughter, and son. However, many families do not fit into this configuration. These families may include same sex couples, separated or divorced families, extended families, or even blended families. Even though these families may be happy and healthy, to many they are not considered real families. Going along with the topic of imperfect families, both Barbara Kingsolver and Richard Rodriguez try to break down the traditional family structure through their writing. While Kingsolver’s “Stone Soup” and Rodriguez’s “Family Values” explore the ideas of different family structures and traditional American values, “Stone Soup” breaks down what an actual family is like while “Family Values” expresses the value of family in different cultures.

While the children were learning the new ways, the adults were as well. Oona’s father had gone to a lumber camp to work. He went to try and earn enough money to build the kinds of houses that the new settlers had already built for themselves. The Native woman began to learn the household needs, and the English language as well. They made clothes similar to the new settlers, and even friended many of them. The way of life that they were once used to was becoming just a speck in their memories. As the generation passes, Oona always remembered to tell the children of how life used to be, and the traditions that were practiced. She recognized that the children would bring the culture with them in the generations to come, but it would never be as traditional as it once was.

The family life of Native Americans today is defined as a nuclear family. This consists of the mother, father, and offspring. The parents are the leaders of the household and work together in making all major decisions. This leaves both the mother and father equally in charge especially when it comes to their offspring. As the child is growing up the parents take primary responsibility in directing their child’s life. When they become a young adult they are presumed to become independent and are expected to leave home. Overall Native American families are nuclear, with both parents having equal input in decisions as well as with regard to their children.

The diversity of culture is an incredible notion. It is unfathomable how the anatomy of the human race is so similar, yet so different in the behaviors and ideas that take place. The two primary cultures I am focusing on throughout this essay are the differentiation between popular culture, and indigenous culture. I will also make the point of folk culture, and how it has slowly transformed itself from its self sufficiency, to relying more on the ways of popular culture.

It is commonly taught in textbooks or shown in the media that colonial mothers are always taking part in childcare, but in reality the “modern working women” (1) spends more time taking care of their children. During the hours that modern women are not working, they are usually taking care of the children and doing household work to manage the household, in which the “traditional family” seems more fitting in categorizing the modern family, rather than the colonial family. The colonial women did not have to worry about taking care of the children, because they usually gave the task of caring for the children to the servants or older siblings. Moreover, the traditional family are usually perceived as a family where the husband and wife are role models of a loving, caring, and supportive relationship for their children. This leads the children to act in the same positive way with others by observing the relationship between their parents. Interestingly, the “traditional” families in the past were not traditional, as women and children were advised to be obedient to their husbands, otherwise they would be abused and

This shows us how these values and traditions keep us together and in certain line. But that too is a disadvantage because we stop questioning the traditions and values passed by the family or community, for example what if in the family dinner I want to sit in the living room with the men and not cook? To my community it will look bad but today this act is seems normal, that leads us to another problem with this assumption, that maybe our community values more the rules that the people that form the community, given the example on the essay about the Amish people and their traditions.

The most valuable assets of our world are our mothers. The mother means soil. Mothers carry us in their womb for nine months and give their life. Mother, who carries the child in her belly, gives birth like soil, and raises the child in her breast.  Thanks to her, our roots go deep, and our branches go the top. In Native Americans, the tribes are separated from the Northeast, Southeast, and Southwest.  In some tribes, married couples lived near the wife's family and the mother was considered the head of the family. Linage was passed down through the women, and women were seen as equal partners to the men (Native American cultures: Family life, kinship, and gender, 1996b, para. 4). An example of the mother being a strong figure is in the story of the Corn Mother. There was a family that did not have food to eat. The mother decided to sacrifice herself by dragging her body over the fields and burying her bones there. Every year after that, corn and tobacco grew due to her sacrifice and love (The sun and the Moon: Myths from around the world, 2017). In any case, it is still far less demanding for American-Indian women to discover a role to accommodate their families and set up a profession stepping stool than it is for American-Indian

With our modern day technology and ever changing society, it is important to keep folk cultures alive and not allow them to slip away. “Piecing it all Together” by bell hooks describes how she remembers her grandmother patiently and skillfully telling the story of her life through the art of sewing a tedious quilt. Chris Rose in his article “Let the Good Times Roll” depicts the tragedy, perseverance of a community, and the total comment from all to rise up and move on and celebrate their heritage and traditions. Folk cultures are the backbones that shape and mold every individual during their lifetime blending together traditions and skills, foods, beliefs, heritage and shared values that are taught and/or passed down from generation to generation, providing a common identity or direction for people within a family or community.

This week materials are mainly focusing on food. The readings are about how food, especially dinner, has an important role in the family, how the way we live affects the way we eat and the regional of our food. As in Michael Pollan’s book, The Omnivore’s Dilemma, he was explaining how corn is in all of our diets. How it moved from the farm to the feeding lot, to the food lab and into our food. Further analysis of food, and of the sources that describes the food we eat, suggests that it requires a lot of work in the agriculture farm before our ingredients can come together and that mealtime is a great time for a family bonding but the bonding varies with each family due to the different in every families’ culture.

The first statement is to maintain, protect, and nurture our culture and spiritual and historic values. Traditions are the main thing that keep their culture alive. That is why the stories are encouraged to be passed on and the education of the tribe needs

Many cultures have certain traditions that are very important to them. For example, the Hmong culture has a tradition about marriage. When a Hmong man wants to get married and start a family, he has to ask two specific men called “Mekoob”, to go with him to his women’s house and formally ask the parents for their daughter’s hand in marriage. They later talk about the wedding plan and the price for everything. The husband and his family have to pay for all the expenses.

This paper espouses that the current family gathers is a ritual that stabilizes and strengthens the family and provides a platform for building formidable bedrock for future

When most people think of their childhood they remember fond memories of traditions they had with friends and family, such as Christmas Eve or something as simple as a family game night. Many of these traditions are carried down through generations and have a significant role in communities and teaching youth important values. These traditions shape our culture and allow us to generalize a country or area by simply listing off common traditions. However, it seems as though the values these traditions teach, both religious and social, seem to be evolving to fit an ever changing and more connected modern world. The question that remains, however, is if these values are evolving fast enough for a more forward thinking generation. Many would say

Sunny: By definition, tradition is the handing down of customs, convictions, legends, or a long-established virtue or way of acting. For instance, mooncakes are usually consumed in observance of the New Moon holiday in Chinese culture, whereas family feasts with turkeys are traditionally held during Thanksgiving in the American culture. At the same time, traditions behave as the foundation of many lifestyles and even entire civilizations themselves in our world. While this creates a sense of security and belonging, detriments are soon to follow if such customs are too strictly adhered to. Hence, change in a tradition is called upon when one’s virtues must be advanced to suit his or her changing environment.