Traditions

I've been thinking about traditions lately. I guess we all have our own connotations of tradition. Some people assume the word is talking about something good -- they envision a warm family scene perhaps. Others assume the word is bad, referring to attitudes and actions that are boring at best, and archaic or harmful at worst.

I went to a college that enjoyed its traditions. I was a bellringer, and we rang the bells every evening before dinner, as well as for special events (such as the first snowfall of the year). We loved sharing the traditions that had been handed down, such as afternoon tea with the professors, and the annual basketball game between the freshmen and the sophomores. Some of those traditions will probably change in the next year or two, since the college has just started admitting men, who may start their own traditions, or modify some of the existing ones. I can't really see them dancing around the sycamore tree, or kissing Minerva's toe (don't ask).

But somehow it seems that it takes a shorter period of time nowadays to create a tradition. In fact, it apparently only takes once! For example, a friend of mine noted that her husband was taken aback to find that their vacation flight was not booked on JetBlue. "We always fly JetBlue." May I note that he had only flown JetBlue once in his life.

Another incidence of an instant tradition arose at work. Last year I baked a cake, and brought it in to share with anyone who came in to work on the Friday after Thanksgiving. This year, one of my Indian co-workers felt on solid ground in her understanding of what happens on the American holiday of Thanksgiving -- Ann bakes a cake. When she reminded me of this, I felt that I really should do so again. And I inadvertently repeated a sub-tradition, when I left out one of the ingredients. Last year I left out the oil. This year I left out the lemon rind. Ironically, both times it turned out fine!