Why traditions are so important (especially during the holidays)

If we even just whisper that we can have a Christmas dinner without toast with pâté and cranberry sauce for a year, well, then the family chat explodes.

Traditions are there to be honored, to be continued, to be passed down from generation to generation, and especially not to be broken. Especially in a time when everything is already so changing, everything always has to be so quick and fast, everyone lives in a hurry and has little time for family, those quaint same things are nice. That recognition. Your entire childhood suddenly comes to mind.

Since I was a baby, there has been a little Rudolph hanging on the stairs at my parents‘ house when it's December. We watch ’The Sound of Music‘ on Boxing Day. We always play the same cheesy Christmas CD. We always dance to the same Christmas song that is always too loud, causing my mother to always yell that it ’can be a bit softer‘, to which my father always turns the speakers just a bit louder. ’I wanna wish you a meeerrrrry Christmas, from the bottom of my heaaaart'. That is Christmas for me. Every family has its moments. Everyone has traditions. That makes it something special. Others don't understand that, but you do.

It's easy to explain from psychology why we hold on to traditions. Precisely because you and your family are the only ones who understand your traditions, it creates a better bond. It strengthens the sense of community. As humans, we are always looking for a group, for belonging, for social validation. Especially as the year ends and we become a bit melancholic. Because, well, simply, another year has passed.

That creates a somewhat wistful mood. Time flies, we notice. We are a bit older and hopefully wiser than the year before. We stand there, with that champagne in our claws looking at that scary fireworks that secretly is quite beautiful. Goodbye old year, on to the new year. It's saying goodbye to everything that happened in 2018. Certainly not easy for everyone. That's why we like to hold on to that pâté with toasted bread. With cranberry sauce of course.