Re-Living Christmas: Cherished moments and memories #7

Got me thinking …

How are traditions made and transmitted?

If you think this is an idle question…please spare me a minute…

You see…everything I know about Christmas

I’ve learnt it from my Mama,

Who, I believe, learnt it from the missionaries.

I’m not sure what motivated them,

But my maternal grandparents

Were very quick to adopt Christianity.

And as luck would have it,

Mama benefited most

By receiving a good education

From some of the best missionary schools

At the time.

We all marvel at the things she can do -

She can design, cut and sew her own clothes,

She can read patterns and knit virtually anything under the sun,

She can read recipes and bake the nicest cakes I know –

She was and still is a Wonder Woman.

Most of this knowledge and skills

Has evaporated from our curriculum today.

But this is not about her.

It’s about culture and how it’s transmitted.

I suspect that the missionaries

Avoided transmitting the tradition of Halloween

Because of its references to paganism, the dark arts and witchcraft

Which they were trying to get rid of ‘us’.

With their teaching and encouragement,

We readily embraced the Christmas tree,

The snowman

And Father Christmas;

But have shied away from Halloween

Despite knowing about it,

And observing it celebrated elsewhere.

Why?

Apparently, observing something isn’t sufficient.

Teaching is required for assimilation to take place.

Culture evolves because knowledge and skills

Are deliberately passed through the social system

To the next generation.

That’s what the missionaries did.

And that’s what we must do

If we hope to move the needle even an inch.

The converse is also true –

What is not taught

Ultimately get’s lost!

What traditions are you teaching?

What are you transmitting?

* You can read more about this here

** Follow us in the next two months, in this “Re-living Christmas’ series, to catch a glimpse of cherished moments and memories of our time.