Why Is It Important To Be Together On The Fourth Of July

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.

What does your family want from you in terms of traditions that you are expected to uphold on account of your ethnic background?

I adore all of my aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandparents so it’s important to me that I get to see them over the week of July fourth. Even if we all separate and go on our own journeys, we all know we have the same roots and we can all come back to West Virginia to be reunited with our precious family. Everyone in the family makes it a rule to come during July fourth no matter what obligations we have because we never want to grow apart from each other. The idea of “family” and “unification” is what keeps our whole family together because we understand that we only see each other one time a year and if we don't get to bond for a couple weeks, we won't bond at all and we won't be much of a family. When my family makes the ten hour drive in the hot summer weather we always know that it is worth every scary rest stop because we get to experience the same traditions with our family and friends in the wonderful state of West Virginia. West Virginia pulls my family together in a way that is specific and unique to only my

Just like Mama and Maggie, my family and I understand how important it is to maintain our ancestors’ way of life. Being of an old southern family, I have many morals and traditions that have been instilled in my brain. One large example of this is my religion. My grandmother grew up in church, my mother grew up in church, and I grew up in church. All though I do not go as much as my grandmother did when she was my age, I still know my core beliefs. Another value important to my great-grandmother is that everyone should wear an undershirt through the winter. I can still remember begging to take it off when I was little, and my mother would say, “Your Mawmaw Dot says you have to.” Although I didn’t like it, I am sure that I will insist that my children do the same. It might seem minuscule, but cooking is another value that my family continues to observe today. My grandmother even uses the same utensils as her grandmother once did. Using special recipes and canning are things that generations to come will continue to follow. Holiday and birthday parties are my favorite tradition of all. Before my cousins and I were born, every event was held at my great grandparents’ home. My great grandmother lived for parties. She even had ceramic name tags for all the family members that she would use to place everyone at the table for dinner. The entire family would come together for every holiday and birthday. Once my generation came along, the parties moved to my aunts’ home, where they continue to this day. I love having such a tight knit family, and I contribute this to our large gatherings at least twice a month. Continuing with family traditions, like Mama and Maggie in Everyday Use, is one of the best ways to be reminded of my

Whoever we are, no matter where we come from, we all have some, if not many, obscure family traditions. For my own, during the formative years of my life, whenever we were in a vehicle, my family played a game called Spud. The goal to spot out different cars before the others, each with their own predetermined number of points, and reach 500 in total. I was a ruthless competitor with absolutely no interest in second place so I made every game my own competition. Spud ignited a competitive fire inside me, gave me an analytic and quick thinking personality, and a sturdy foundation in math, which have all helped me succeed in school my entire life.

My family is skilled in their customs and traditions because of my great grandparents. Everyone before me has a tradition of being a hard worker, supplier for the family, and never giving up on a task and that is what my parents have installed in me. I know this because I watched my mom as I grew working 3 jobs just to put food on our table and keep the roof over our heads when my father left.

My favorite tradition that I drew was the beach, for me that is my favorite tradition because our friend owns a part of the beach and everyone in my family from Aunts and Uncles and grandparents to cousins rent the cabin there. Everyone in my family gets together at the beach and we all hang out for a couple days on the last week of August. Along with that on the Sunday of the last week my great Aunt brings big bins of little chocolate bars and candy for all of the kids to eat. I don't only like this tradition because of the tasty treats, I enjoy this tradition because I have such a big family that I don't see everyone all the time so when we get together sometimes it's been a year since I last saw them. Overall it’s just nice to be close with my family and get to spend time with them at the beach. That is my favorite

Especially Cinco de Mayo we make a whole bunch of Mexican food but we never forget the taco´s . We have a big party and celebrate with everyone from a block . I think that´s why i'm such a good person because of my family always being together .

Many people celebrate various traditions all over the world on holidays, birthdays etc. those traditions can define a race, culture, and nations but there are specific ones that represent your family. My family is set apart by carrying the spirit of Christmas by traveling to New York. We go to see many sights such as the Rockefeller Christmas Tree that marks that Christmas has officially begun. With Red Cross employees in the background with Christmas music ringing bells in hopes of people donating money to aid others in need. As well as going to see the most iconic play of the holiday season and on Broadway being the Nutcracker.

For example, at Christmas we have your normal decorations and then we also have Flick family decorations. This consists of old mini pie tins put into the shape of bells with ribbon around it. My grandparents made these when they were first married because they could afford a tree with a lights but no ornaments. They made these decorations and have kept them ever since. My sister and I love asking about the story of the pie tins. My grandma will share, “It reminds us where we came from and how far we’ve come as a family.” Pie tin christmas ornaments will forever be one of my favorite traditions. In addition to holiday traditions, my brothers and I always have cake wars during our birthday parties when we’re all together. Our birthdays all go June, July, August, and two in September. This means that we are usually lucky enough to celebrate outside. Ever since we were little, it wouldn’t be uncommon for whoever’s birthday it was to end up with their face in the cake. As we got older, we learned to “fight back” and everyone usually ended up with cake in their hair and on their

For my family, we use these holidays and traditions to help keep the family together. We have these specific holidays because they are what my both my parents grew up with along with the rest of their family from previous generations. Our annual pig roast on the first Saturday of August on the other hand,was started by my father and is used to bring all our family and friends together before the kids in our family and neighborhood have to go back to school and let them have a fun time for both children and adults.

I often wonder why I do the things I do in life. However, when it comes to family traditions, I know exactly why I do them. I come from a very large family, with 6 sisters and 2 brothers the house was always busy. With so many people in and out of our home, the people that come and go and help to shape your lives, I believe it was my mother, Janis Branam, that had the most effect on my life. One of the biggest influences she had on me was the holiday traditions. This may not seem important to most, but looking back on my childhood, that is something that has changed me and made me who I am today. My mother was a stay at home mom, and raising 9 children on one income is not easy to say the least, but she did a great job. The holidays though,

At home, my family practiced fairly mundane traditions, at least from my perspective. Every Friday night, my dad, my sister, and I would drive over to my uncle’s house to have “Shabbat”, or, “the day of rest”. Here, I would spend time listening to anecdotes shared over the dinner table or listen to my grandpa give cliché life lessons I could learn from the game of chess. He would tell me phrases such as to “never give up” and “you control your future.” Cliché as they were, these lessons did help me get through tough barriers I faced in school.

Describe one of your favorite family traditions and why it is meaningful to you. 500 words.

#*Family traditions go beyond culture and religion. Your spouse’s family may also have special traditions like Sunday brunch together or a Christmas Eve feast.