Tradition:
The handing down of statements, beliefs, legends, customs, information, etc., from generation to generation, especially
by word of mouth or by practice.
Most families have traditions that
have been passed down through the years. Some are familiar and shared by other
families, as well. Others are specific to a given family, and would most likely
be considered odd or unusual by others.
The thing about traditions is that
they’re not typically right or wrong. They just are. Things we do because…well, that’s the way it’s always been
done. Mom (or Dad) did it, and her mom (or his Dad) did it, and so on down
through the generations.
Remember the story about the bride
whose husband caught her cutting off the ends of the roast before putting it in
the pan? “Why are you cutting off the ends?” he questioned. “That’s good meat.”
But my mother always cut it off,”
she said. “And nobody makes a roast like Mama.”
The husband rolled his eyes, but
didn’t push the matter until the next time his mother-in-law came calling.
During their visit, he encouraged his wife to question her mother as to what secret
lay behind discarding the ends of a roast. The young woman presented the
question, to which her mother replied, “I don’t really know. I do it because
that’s the way my mother fixed a
roast.”
By now, the young husband was beside
himself, and insisted on placing a call to his wife’s grandmother. Upon hearing
the question, an amused Grandma laughingly admits, “Why, it was the only way to
make it fit in my little roasting pan!”
Sounds hilarious, but it’s only one
of many such examples. Various stories have made the rounds: turning canned
goods upside down and opening from the bottom (tops were dusty when Great
Grandmother brought them up from the cellar); cutting two inches off the top of
a new broom (Grandma’s broom closet was short); fastening cotton balls onto a
new screen door to keep out the flies (Mom stuffed cotton balls into holes in
her worn out screen door).
It’s so easy to just roll with the
flow. Do things a certain way because it’s the way they’ve always been done,
and never question why.
My mother always added a “dollop” of
mayonnaise to her mashed potatoes (and they were yummy, I tell you!). I watched
her do it all my life. When I got married and started cooking, I automatically
added a “dollop” of mayo to my mashed potatoes. It never even occurred to me
that not everybody made mashed potatoes with mayonnaise until visitor after
visitor commented on it while watching me cook. (By the way, both of my
daughter’s now make their mashed potatoes with mayonnaise.)
I also traditionally make potato yeast
rolls on holidays, and have been asked many, many times for the recipe, which I’m
always happy to provide. My youngest daughter makes them now, as well. Here’s
the thing, though. Everyone I give the recipe to later insists that I’m
withholding something, because their rolls never turn out quite the same. I
have no idea why that is, because I certainly do not withhold anything. My
daughter, whose rolls always turn out perfectly, just like mine, says it’s
because…drumroll, please! The recipe calls for a cup of lukewarm mashed
potatoes, and no one else puts mayonnaise in their potatoes. Ergo, the missing
ingredient in those poor ladies’ flat, heavy yeast rolls is that their mashed
potato recipe did not include mayonnaise.
I love family traditions like that.
Those are the little things that define a family, don’t you think? If all
families did everything the same way, it would make for a pretty monotonous
world.
What traditions have been passed down
through generations in your family?
