The Marrow of Tradition Essay My Family Tradition Essays My Family Traditions What Does Tradition Mean Our Italian Tradition Essay My Christmas Tradition

1. The Marrow of Tradition Essay
As the United States developed and grew, upward mobility was central to the American dream. It
was the unstated promise that no matter where you started, you had the chance to grow and
proceed beyond your initial starting point. In the years following the Civil War, the promise began
to fade. People of all races strived to gain the representation, acknowledgement and place in this
society. To their great devastation, this hope quickly dwindled. Social rules were set out by the
white folk, and nobody could rise above their social standing unless they were seen fit to be part of
the white race. The social group to be impacted the most by this "social rule" was the African
Americans. Black folk and those who were sympathetic to the idea of...show more content...
This is supported by the idea that race was determined by one's environment, that was in turn
determined by the color of one's mother. (Williams, 2006) Olivia is of a white race, with both
father and mother being white. She is happy and content with a privileged white life. Janet, on the
other hand, is the daughter of a black maid and a white man. When Janet's father died, his will
was taken and hidden secretly by Polly Ochiltree, Olivia's aunt. This meant that Mrs. Polly kicked
the maid Julia and her daughter Janet out of the house. As a result, Janet is pronounced black and
left nameless, with no money or hope looking towards the future. Despite Olivia's opportunity to
have whatever she desires, she is still jealous of Janet in some ways. For example, seeing Janet with
her son, made Olivia fall into a fit of hysterics. As Miss Jane put it, "So ter–day,w'en Mis' Livy wuz
out ridin' an' met dis yer Janet wid her boy, an' w'en Mis' Livy got ter studyin' bout her own
chances, an' how she mought not come thoo safe, she jes' had a fit er hysterics right dere in de
buggy." (Chesnutt pg. 7). Throughout the entire novel, Olivia and Janet play this game of who is
worth more on a personal level. Pre–Civil War, there were many free black men and women. Most
of these women became mistresses to the white Creole men of New Orleans in a system called
plaçage. The men would choose their mistresses at the Quadroon Balls. The Quadroon
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2. My Family Tradition Essays
My Family Tradition
While preparing for this paper, I thought very hard about any specific traditions that my family has or
has had in the past. Although thinking and brainstorming for a long time I could not come up with
one tradition that my family has. I think that the main reason for that is because, almost everyone in
my family has gone through a divorce. Ending a marriage seems to be very popular in our society
today, one statistic states that, "50% of first marriages end in divorce." However common divorce
may be the pain and heartbreak seems meaningless, until it happens to you. The reason why I can't
think of any family traditions is because all of my family traditions have been ripped apart because
of two people's ill...show more content...
Fortunately for my grandparents, each one of their children grew up without hesitating to love
another person.
The eldest of the three children is my Aunt Sue. She and my Uncle were married in 1969 and had
two daughters, Marci and Mica. My Aunt and Uncle are the only fortunate ones to still be in their
first marriage. However, their daughter Marci did not follow in her parents' footsteps. She
thought she found her soul mate and was married in 1999. Less than a year later, they were
divorced. Luckily for her, she remarried in 2001 and is still happily married. My Uncle Les, the
youngest child, and his wife, Lisa, were married for four years when they decided to call it quits.
They also had two children, Kelan and Ashton. However, unimaginable they remarried 8 years
later and surprisingly, everything seemed to be perfect. Some said that they were an example of
true love. However, they were wrong a little over a year later, they filed for divorce, again.
My dysfunctional family never really seemed to bother me until it hit home, very close to home.
Lets start with where it all began. My mother and father met in 1975 and were married in 1977.
Like most, the two were madly in love and wanted to start a family. Five years later, in 1982, they
had their first child, me and my sister Katie was born three years later, in 1985. When I first started
to think about family traditions, I talked to my mother who I
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3. My Family Traditions
My family has a lot of different traditions, but one stands out more than the others. The holiday I am
talking about is Christmas. My family has always celebrated Christmas on Christmas Eve. We start
the celebration by going to our church's Christmas Eve service. During this service, we sing
Christmas songs and watch a video of the first Christmas. After the service, all my family goes to my
grandparents' house to open presents and have supper. The meal is different than most Christmas
meals. All of my family members bring an appetizer instead of bringing a main dish. One of my
cousins is Haitian and one of uncles is Italian, so we have a lot of different cultures represented.
My favorite is my uncle's meatballs. Once we eat we have two different places to sit. One is
called the kids' room and the other is the adult room. You are supposed to sit at the kids' table if
you are not married. Once we have finished eating we all head to the living room to open presents.
Before we open presents, one of my younger cousins reads a Christmas poem. A different cousin
reads the story every year.
When it is finally time to open presents, we always open them one person at a time and always go
from youngest to oldest. We go one at a time because my grandma likes to see what everyone got.
Once everyone has opened their presents, my grandma tries to recruit some people to play bingo.
She likes being the person who calls out the numbers because that's what her mom always did. We
have been doing all of these things for as long as I can remember. My dad says they have been
doing things this way for the last 40 years. My grandma is the main person that has been carrying on
these traditions.
I would say my grandmother is the glue to our family so everyone follows her lead. I think that
my other family members are so used to doing these things that they will continue to do them in
the future. I would say I am a participant in this tradition. I am one of the younger grandchildren,
so I do not say much or try to change anything. If I did offer a new idea, I do think my grandma
would consider it. My whole family takes part in this tradition. I have six aunts and uncles and
twelve cousins, so my family is pretty big. Everyone
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4. What Does Tradition Mean
Tradition means the transmission of customs or beliefs from generation to generation, or the fact
of being passed on in this way. Traditions means a lot to me. Me and my family do things such as
go to the park and have a family reunion on the 4th of July. We do many fun games such as play
basketball and volleyball. We also have competitions as we do as a family.
My cousins and I also have family traditions. Every day of the NCAA championship we play
against each other online. We also pop fireworks the day before the 4th of July. We use to Wrestle
every night the show came on came on at night but we quit because we broke a table in the living
room. Then we listen to song of rappers that have died on there birthdays.
Have my own traditions
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5. Our Italian Tradition Essay
Our Italian Tradition
It was Christmas Eve. I sat, huddled in a ball, behind the armchair in my living room. I was trying
to be as still and patient as I could be. I remember moments where I held my breath thinking if she
heard me breathe, she would leave and I would never get a chance to see her. I could feel myself
drifting off to sleep, but I tried to resist. All I wanted was to see her just once. Usually, I would be
scared at the thought of a witch, but she was different. She was a magical witch who flew on a
broom from house top to house top, visiting children and filling their shoes with candy and
chocolates. Sure enough, I awoke the next morning to find myself still huddled in the same ball; I
had fallen asleep...show more content...
In 1957, her family sailed across the Atlantic Ocean aboard the Christopher Columbus, to the United
States of America. Continuing life as they did in Italy, my mother's family carried on manyItalian
traditions. By growing all of their own fruits and vegetables, they prepared all of their meals from
scratch. Their house contained a cold cellar where my grandfather fermented grapes to create red
wine, and my grandmother hung meats such as sausage, capicola, and sopressata. They canned
vegetables for the winter by preparing them in large vats called vaso di croc where they preserved
the vegetables with vinegar and salt. Along with these daily customs, my mother's family continued
the traditions of Italian holidays, which my family still maintains today. Because of this, I have
grown up being aware of my Italian heritage and its customs.
In Italy, Christmas is not only a holiday centered on gift giving, but the appreciation of family and
Jesus. Many of the Italian traditions during Christmas are focused on religious beliefs, as our
mine. Throughout the month of December, my family prepares for Christmas both in the
American and Italian ways. Not only do we buy a Christmas tree and decorate the house, but we
set up our presepio or nativity scene. This is a special event in Italy that occurs on the first day of
Novena, which is the first day of the nine day of prayers devoted to baby Jesus. This is only
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6. My Christmas Tradition
Christmas is meant for joy and laughter, not injuries and pain. Each year there are hundreds of
injuries that occur on the morning of December 25th. When the holiday approaches Americans love
to get into the Christmas spirit. Each family celebrates Christmas with their own traditions and
rituals that determine their holiday activities. I would have never thought that my family's traditions
for Christmas morning would help me shape my values.
As a child, my family would celebrate every holiday with grandeur, especially Christmas. We have
specific traditions and rituals that we carry out during the season, but the most important of our
traditions is what we do on Christmas morning. Our rituals and traditions reflect our values as well
as my own of family, unity, and tradition. The morning of the holiday mymother has always woken
my brother and I, and then brought us to our dad so we could all walk down to the family room.
As we gather in the family room around our tree and presents, my mom serves us each a piece of
her Christmas casserole, saved for this special morning. Following our video–taped walk down to
our presents, my brother, mother, father, and I open one gift from each other and the first thing in
our stocking. After this ritual, my brother and I would go downstairs to our in–law suite where our
grandmother lived, to wake up our Mimi and pull her upstairs so that we could finish opening
presents and have hot chocolate with our entire family. One Christmas morning
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