More on Traditions

Somewhere in the back of my mind, I had this idea of expanding the subject of traditions back in September, but the timing was all off because the holiday season was not yet upon us.  Then something else happened.  I think we call it life and obligations.   Now that time has been kind and the holiday season is or was in full swing.  With the time remaining  I will broach this subject again.   In my first post on traditions I stated that traditions were like a bee hive.  Bee hives, obviously, house bees.  They are a necessary part of our environment.  They provide cross pollination for plants; provide honey and other house hold products.  At least that is what a few web sites said before I stumbled upon (no relation to the app by that name) a vegan site which excoriated bee keepers and animal products.

Once again, no pun intended; on that stinging comment (excoriate…. Stinging… ha ha)

The holidays are prone to endless holiday music, cooking, eating, festivities, drinking, partying and for most the last thing on their mind is church.  I wish to expand on this later as well.  Regardless of what people in our post-modern world say about Christianity, It is because of God (what we would have stated as divine providence a few hundred years ago) that the Western world is what is has become.  Some would state that the church has held back the world from greater heights, but this is just nonsense.  The fall of the Roman Empire would have happened a few hundred years earlier if Constantine had not “embraced” (or should we say tolerated)  Christianity, at least in some form or another, and the world would have degenerated even farther down a black hole in history had it not been for the church and divine providence.

What we tend to forget as a postmodern society living in the early 21^st century is that we all came from somewhere.  Everyone in America originally came from somewhere else!  In my case I can trace a common ancestor back to about 1746 in Opelousas, Louisiana.  He was a busy fellow that had a white wife and about four children, and then an African slave wife who bore him 2 sons.  Thank you Catholic baptismal church records! (Here’s an article about Susan Guillory-Phipps) This is only a portion of where my family came from.  Most of America came from Europe, which was once part of the Roman Empire.  Latin was the universal language of the learned for hundreds of years after Rome’s fall, and many words, tools, mannerisms and yes, traditions can be seen in some way, shape or form in what we do today.  As an example, look at the Catholic Mass.  This liturgy is ancient yet it is an honored tradition that is even seen in fragments by the Anglicans, Methodists, Lutherans and Presbyterians!

We all came from somewhere and bear the marks of our past. The past is serves as  a road map to show were we've been

An 18th century View of the Americas

We continue to live based on how we were raised and live life as we know how to… albeit some don’t do it very well.