Creating Holiday Traditions That Bring Joy
When you are unable to find joy in the holidays, it may be because you’re repeating traditions and fulfilling expectations that are not in alignment with you or your BIG Dream. Creating new holiday traditions that bring joy can help you reconnect with what truly matters and find deeper meaning this season.
After years of change, not all traditions remain a fit. Environments change, society changes, and belief systems change.
Reevaluating Holiday Traditions for Joy
If you go back to look at what created the need for any tradition, you will see that the environment, society, and their belief systems were all factors in the decision to do things “that” way.
Take Kosher kitchens for example. When this tradition was implemented, the cleanliness of the environment left something to be desired. There was a need to keep food separated because any kind of cross-contamination could literally kill people.
Also, the food itself could be deadly. Pork and shellfish are forbidden in a Kosher kitchen. This is because, back in the day, there was no way to ensure the safety of these meats. Pigs live in the muck and if you harvest shellfish during the red tide, you will die.
This tradition was implemented to keep people alive and healthy. Today, our societal level of cleanliness and processes to ensure the safety of our food allow us to eat things that our ancestors would NEVER have dreamed of eating before. That doesn’t mean it’s still not a good idea to keep these things separate or forbidden, just not as required as it used to be.
Another tradition that has changed over the years is the way we light our trees during the holidays. Not that long ago, candles were used. My 1st mother-in-law used to tell us of her youthful holidays in Slovakia where they would come home from church on Christmas Eve and light the candles on the tree and in the windows. These would need to be extinguished when the family time was done so the house didn’t burn down.
With the invention of the lightbulb and other innovations, we can now leave lights on 24/7 if we choose…and the house decorations! WOW!
Choosing Traditions That Align with Your Values
Traditions can be fun, and the history that goes with them is nostalgic. But they can also be stifling. Allowing the old to shift can be hard for some.
I think of all the technological changes that have happened over the last 100 years and the reactions to those changes. Cars, phones, CDs, video game consoles, internet, streaming…all these innovations created uproars in their areas with people saying, “What will the youth of tomorrow look like?” and creating stories that they would be zombies, move too fast, and be disconnected.
And here we are! Yes, there may be some who have allowed themselves to be disconnected, but there are also those who have been able to connect to others who understand them. Just look at us right now. You are reading this blog, when a short 25-30 years ago this was impossible.
Crafting Holiday Traditions That Reflect Your Dream
The point is, things change and how we move in the world changes along with it. Traditions are the same. They were implemented and important at the time, but you get to choose if they still work for you or not.
This holiday, take a look around.
What traditions do you enjoy?
What traditions make you cringe?
What traditions wear you out just thinking about them?
What would you like to change or update?
Whether you're celebrating Yule, Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, or any other holiday, I encourage you to pick and choose what works for you. Create your own holiday celebrations and traditions that reflect your personal beliefs and values. Save the current traditions that feed your soul and implement new traditions that better reflect you, your spiritual practice, and where you want to go in life.
Wishing you the most Blessed, Merriest, and Happiest of holidays, whatever you celebrate.