Building on Tradition

customs and traditions

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Please reply.

Catholicism does not have festivals in the way we normally understand the word to be. Instead we have Feasts or Solemnities, celebrations of major truths of the faith:

Truth of the Faith Celebration Traditional practices

1. Christ is God made flesh Christmas or Feast of 4 weeks of Advent
the Incarnation Midnight Mass

2. Christ died for us 5 Weeks of Lent Ash Wednesday
Good Friday celebration Good Friday Mass
Stations of the Cross
Fasting and Abstinence
3. Christ has Risen Easter/Resurrection Sunday Mass of the Catechumens
(most impt Sunday of the year) Vigil of Easter
Ascension Sunday Singing the Exultet – Announcing
the Resurrection of our Lord
4. Christ will come again 4 weeks of Advent Violet Liturgical color
Feast of Christ the King The last Sunday of the liturgical
Year
5. The Real Presence in the Feast of Corpus Christi Adoration of the Blessed
Eucharist Sacrament
Holy Thursday Commemoration of the Last
Supper
6. The Holy Spirit Feast of Pentecost
7. The Trinity Trinity Sunday
8. role of Mary in Salvation Feast of the Annunciation
history Solemnity of the Immaculate
Conception
9. The communion of saints Various feasts of saints
All Saints Day
All Souls Day

These are just some of our celebrations. The Holy Mass or Holy Eucharist is our most precious traditional practice. Religious customs are usually cultural and vary from place to place. These are not prescribed by the church but are treated as devotional practices of the people, obviously too many to be enumerated here. The life of Christ is also celebrated the whole year round in a series of celebrations included in the liturgical calendar which consists of 5 seasons: Advent, Christmas, Lent, Easter and the ferial season. Scriptural reading during these seasons reflect relevant accounts from the Bible. The ferial season – the daily life or public ministry of our Lord has for scriptural readings the miracles of our Lord, His words as recorded in the gospels and counterpart readings from the Old Testament. Thus, all throughout the year the Catholic Church reflects on life and message of our Lord Jesus Christ, thus, in a way, the Catholic year is a following of Christ’s footsteps.

Hope this leads to better understanding among all Christian bodies.

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The word tradition comes from the Latin traditionem, acc. of traditio which means "handing over, passing on", and is used in a number of ways in the English language:

1. Beliefs or customs taught by one generation to the next, often orally. For example, we can speak of the tradition of sending birth announcements.
2. A set of customs or practices. For example, we can speak of Christmas traditions.
3. A broad religious movement made up of religious denominations or church bodies that have a common history, customs, culture, and, to some extent, body of teachings. For example, one can speak of Islam’s Sufi tradition or Christianity’s Lutheran tradition.

However, on a more basic theoretical level, tradition(s) can be seen as information or composed of information. For that which is brought into the present from the past, in a particular societal context, is information. This is even more fundamental than particular acts or practices even if repeated over a long sequence of time.

A ritual may be performed on specific occasions, or at the discretion of individuals or communities. It may be performed by a single individual, by a group, or by the entire community; in arbitrary places, or in places especially reserved for it; either in public, in private, or before specific people. A ritual may be restricted to a certain subset of the community, and may enable or underscore the passage between religious or social states.

The purposes of rituals are varied; they include compliance with religious obligations or ideals, satisfaction of spiritual or emotional needs of the practitioners, strengthening of social bonds, demonstration of respect or submission, stating one’s affiliation, obtaining social acceptance or approval for some event — or, sometimes, just for the pleasure of the ritual itself.

Rituals of various kinds are a feature of almost all known human societies, past or present. They include not only the various worship rites and sacraments of organized religions and cults, but also the rites of passage of certain societies, oaths of allegiance, coronations, and presidential inaugurations, marriages and funerals, school "rush" traditions and graduations, club meetings, sports events, Halloween parties, veteran parades, Christmas shopping and more. Many activities that are ostensibly performed for concrete purposes, such as jury trials, execution of criminals, and scientific symposia, are loaded with purely symbolic actions prescribed by regulations or tradition, and thus partly ritualistic in nature. Even common actions like hand-shaking and saying hello are rituals.

In any case, an essential feature of a ritual is that the actions and their symbolism are not arbitrarily chosen by the performers, nor dictated by logic or necessity, but either are prescribed and imposed upon the performers by some external source or are inherited unconsciously from social traditions.[citation needed]

customs and traditions

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I’m doing a culture project that’s due tomorrow and I have to find some old traditions from New England. I can’t find any on the internet.

I’m from there but I guess thanksgiving, plymouth rock, etc

If you research the lifestyle of the pilgrims than you will find your answer….

More home work questions sorry pepz. But please help. I don’t know much about france. I live in New zealand, none of my family no anything so I need you help PLEASE.


Most of French customs centre on religious events or major dates in the calendar.
On December the 6th in the northern parts of France they still celebrate St Nicolas , a day when children receive goodies in their shoes. This is what has now been adopted as Santa Claus or Father Christmas in other countries on the 25th.
Naughty children find a piece of coal in their shoe instead of treats and at one time they even found a ‘martinet’, a mini cat of night tails, left by St Nic’s companion, Père Fouéttard. One of my brothers was given one, swore vengeance on St Nicolas, and cut all the leather straps off to make sure this was not used to punish him at a later date!
Christmas is a big event but far less commercial than in English speaking countries: Many people have a Christmas tree and a crib as seasonal decorations. The cribs are particularly interesting as they have many additional characters called Santons, made in Provence, which range from the kings’ retinue to simple figurines representing a dairy maid, a poacher, a fish seller, a mayor etc…These are usually set out on Christmas eve and are often kept throughout January unlike in Anglo-saxon countries where it is considered bad luck to keep Christmas decorations longer than 12th night.
On Christmas eve many people go to midnight mass and afterwards some have a midnight meal called Réveillon and open some presents. On Christmas day numerous relatives gather for a family meal which often consists of an oyster starter, then turkey stuffed with chestnuts with side vegetables and ends with a Yule log cake. Other traditional foods at that time is boudin blanc, a saucage made with white meat, and foie gras.
Incidentally it is not a French tradition to send Christmas cards. In France wishes are sent for the New Year , they can be on plain cards, and be posted any time in January.

New Year’s eve is really big with many parties, champagne drinking, and people coming out of their houses and wishing neighbours a happy New Year at midnight and dancing into the early hours. In larger towns there are big fireworks.

The 6th of January is Epiphany, which is supposed to be the day that the three kings arrived at Bethlehem and on that day people serve a large cake made out of golden puff pastry and filled with marzipan called Galette. In it is hidden a small china figure usually in the shape of a baby and the person who finds it in their portion becomes "king" or "queen" for the evening and can order people to do various things which make everyone laugh.

Pancakes are made on Shrove Tuesday, the last day before Lent. These are wafer thin and quite large and get stuffed with various things savoury or sweet.The original idea was that people used their reserves of fat and flour before the forty days period of Lent before Easter when they fasted .

During Lent the church bells are not rung till Easter morning. Hens’ eggs are decorated and hidden for children to go on an egg hunt in the morning. They also are given chocolate bunnies and tiny chocolate eggs.The bells are supposed to have dropped them "on their way back from Rome" but in other regions it is supposed to be te Easter rabbit. In some towns there is a carnival half way through Lent, with children dressing up in funny costumes.

On April the first children make little paper fish which they try to stick or pin on other people, and it is a traditional day for playing pranks on other people and send them on pointless errands. The media also take advantage of this and make up plausible but rather ludicrous stories.This is known as "Poisson d’avril".

On the first of May it is a tradition to present other people with sprigs of Lily of the Valley for good luck.

In the Summer there are various processions to celebrate the local saint or the feast of Our Lady, and in Brittany these are called "Pardons", an occasion when the women pull out their traditional costumes and lace hats, which are superb, for these celebrations.

The 14th of July is France’s national day. It is the anniverssary of the storming of the Bastille, a fearful prison in Paris, by the populace in 1789. It was the start of the french revolution. It is an official holiday. There is a big military parade in Paris and in other towns dancing in the town squares and great fireworks are held all over France.

Halloween has now been introduced in recent years but is only a children’s thing and insigificant compared to the event in the USA. What the French do on the first of November is go to visit their family graves with pots of chrysantemums, no matter how cold, wet or windy it is (which it always seems to be!).

There are various military parades all over France on Armistice Day and flowers are put at the grave of the unknown soldier under the Arc de Triomphe in Paris.

Weddings, christenings and communions are big events when all the family gathers together. The French are VERY family orientated and love nothing more than a get together over a lengthy meal whilst the kids run around near them. People who have a sword also like to uncork the champagne by slicing the cork off.

There are many more simple customs and traditions , for instance you never go empty handed when you are invited for a meal and take flowers, a gift or chocolates for your hostess. You give small sums of money to children on New Year’s day called "Etrennes". Some girls celebrate Saint Catherine’s day at the end of November especially when they have reached the age of 25 without being married, St Catherine being the saint girls appealled to to find a husband.
The French also wish people a happy day when it happens to be someone’s name day, and not just on their birthday. One always says "Bonjour" when entering a shop or starting a conversation with a shopkeeper and "Merci" "Au revoir" when leaving even if one does not buy anything, and when arriving at someone’s home people always offer you a refreshment of some sort when they invite you in, as a matter of elementary courtesy.

You can take your pick from any of these. Good luck!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sumer
http://ablemedia.com/ctcweb/showcase/dlottmesopotamia4.html
http://www.mnsu.edu/emuseum/prehistory/middle_east/sumer_citizens.html

Have you always wondered why the bible doesn’t say anything about why we decorate an evergreen tree and why doesn’t it say anything about the trappings and customs of Christmas, I thought Christmas was to celebrate the birth of Jesus!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The date of the Christmas celebration is a fusion of Mithras rituals and the Winter Solstice in the Northern Hemisphere. The evergreen tree comes from Germanic practices, the holly and ivy is a "reinvention" of pagan practices by the Victorians in Britain; there is little evidence of holly and ivy in primary sources but such practices would have been completely removed during the British Interregnum after the English Civil War (1640s).

The Yule Log is a Germanic/Norse tradition, the log should be big enough to burn for 12 days and cut from your own land. Those of us that still practice this faith decorate the log with evergreen and feed it honey and mead before lighting it, the kindling should be from the ashes of the last years log.

The 12 days of Christmas is a Heathen tradition to celebrate the Winter Solstice and starts at sunset on the 20th Dec and ends on the 1st Jan; during this time we feast every night and keep the Yule Log burning. On the last day of Yule (1st Jan) we swear oaths for the new year, this has become New Year resolutions.

Heathens have always been keen on hospitality and during the Yule festival we give gifts, this is where the Christmas present came from.

During the Yule period Oðinn changes his name from All-Father to Yule-Father and visits all humans whilst on the Wild Hunt; before Coca-Cola used "Father Christmas" as an advertising campain he was always dressed in green, not the red and white of their company.

first it wasn’t chairman mao that brought down the old chinese customs and values and traditions; it was the nationalist party who wanted to end the millenium domination of the emperor and his rule. during the 1900’s china was being assailed on all sides by foreign countries wanting to do business. the country and its people were poor and living in abject poverty. the people thought the emperor did not care about them anymore and the creation of the nationalist party wanted to end the dominion of the emperor and in its place set the stage for nationalism and popular government. the downfall of the emperor set the stage for revolution as a new government was being put into place.
then came war against japan. when mao came to the scene he was only fanning the flames of a cultural revolution already taking place. the old values and traditions were equated with a centuries old system of emperor worship and religious ideology centered on buddhism.
mao wanted to empower the lowly of the lowly, the working poor who had no power. emboldened, the peasants rose up against the nationalist party. the party was built to protect the working poor however, mao did a fantastic job of creating propoganda that the party was only going to succeed where the emperor could not finish.
in the battle between chiang kai shek and mao tse tung, it became an ideological war between democracy and communism. but to mao it was a war between the aristocratic elite vs, the working poor.
through the centuries the working class never were freed from their serfdom but now through chairman mao they were given the keys to power and influence.

help!

It is not beliefs, customs, traditions, values or culture that results in big family size.

The stark reality is that most of the poor are unemployed, and some of them don’t even have electricity. At night, they go to bed early, and have nothing else to do – - – no TV, no nothing. Get what I mean?