Traditions
By Kyleigh Huse and Samantha Tran
What traditions does your family have? My family has many traditions but Christmas has the most for sure. My personal favorite tradition is when we get to eat Christmas dinner with the whole family and open Christmas presents. I would imagine this being a common holiday tradition, as I share this with many people. Personally this tradition is my favorite too. My plans wouldn’t change for Christmas would not change. Where I come from my grandma usually prepares Christmas dinner we all go to her house, drink hot chocolate, and open Christmas presents.
Another tradition we have is baking cakes, cookies, pumpkin roll, honey bun cake, etc. My grandma would ask all the kids what we would want to bake. I think this is yet another common tradition I share. I like this tradition because it gives everyone some bonding time. This tradition would not change due to COVID-19. We also go pumpkin picking in the fall so we can carve them into jack-o’-lanterns for Halloween. We also do a hay ride around with glow in the dark sticks. I like and think this is a really common tradition I share with many people, not only family.
Speaking of Christmas, what’s your favorite holiday? Mine is Halloween! All holidays have their own traditions. Halloween’s most famous tradition is trick or treating. If you don’t know what trick or treating is or you’ve just been living under a rock your whole life, let me tell you! Trick or treating happens October 31 every year, which we also know as Halloween. You dress up as anything you want and go through neighborhoods knocking on people’s doors saying “Trick or treat!!” As you say that, whoever is at the door will give you candy (a treat) along with the “trick” part. Some might pull pranks or put decorations up around their houses to give them a spooky theme for Halloween. Halloween is known as a creative holiday as some make homemade decorations or costumes for this special night.
This tradition however might be canceled in some states due to the global pandemic. Coronavirus, also known as COVID-19, has ruined big events and gatherings due to state quarantine. So why shouldn’t they cancel holidays? COVID-19 is a very contagious virus with no cure yet. Yet, Halloween this year looks as if it won’t be canceled if we follow safety persuasions like wearing masks while trick or treating, staying at least 6 feet away from other families out that night, and sanitizing to prevent spread of the virus. Hopefully coronavirus decides to leave us alone and go away eventually so we can get back to our normal lives and festivities.
Sadly, most of our festivities have already been canceled and not a lot of traveling is allowed. So if you have family outside of your state you might not be able to visit them, and if you do there’s a high chance you will have to quarantine for at least 10 days before going out to celebrate or do anything with family. All we can do is hope and pray COVID-19 goes away.
Traditions
By Makinley Hodges
Traditions to me are things you celebrate with your family every year. Everyone has at least one tradition. If you celebrate a holiday, that’s a tradition, or even a birthday. Christmas is celebrated many ways at many different places. Here in Aiken we celebrate Christmas by putting up a Christmas tree, having a big feast with friends and family, and sharing our beliefs. We also receive and give gifts! There are many ways people celebrate holidays.
Traditions can also be passed down from generations. Some ways people spread generations are from talking to relatives. For instance, my Grandma taught my big sister about this sport named softball. Then my big sister played softball. Then my big sister taught me about softball. Then I played! About half of my close girls who are relatives played softball. Softball is now and will forever be my favorite hobby and sport. I’m so glad I was told about softball!
The sad thing about traditions is that some people don’t even celebrate holidays or birthdays. That’s a loss for them because that’s less time or memories with your family. Traditions are very important to me, so I wonder how they feel. I hope everyone gets a chance to spend time with family. But some people in foster homes and other places may not. I wish I could change that. This world has gotten crazier and crazier. There are ways some people can get Christmas or holiday presents. You can donate to charities with stuff to go to families in need.
Another tradition/generation in my family is art! My family enjoys painting and drawing. My great grandma was an amazing painter! Then my grandma makes jewelry. Now I enjoy painting. I’m not the best but I’m accurate! I like painting in my free time. I also use this app called Procreate. It calms me down and the app is just so easy to use and very helpful with my drawings. Art has a big impact in my family. My big sister does diamond paintings and so does my Grandma. Art is just so soothing, a great way to kill time when you’re bored. I totally recommend you try to do art when you are bored or have nothing to do.
Every 4th of July we eat lots of food and shoot fireworks! If it’s not raining, we also go swimming. Other people may celebrate it a different way but that’s how we do it! When I’m talking about fireworks, I’m talking about a whole fireworks show! We also wear red, white, and blue to represent our country. Also, we sing Happy Birthday to our country. Then we listen to some good ole country music. I really enjoy this time of year!
These are some ways I celebrate some of my traditions. I love spending time with friends and family. I overall love the large amount of food we eat! I like all holidays — these are just a few. It’s really cool to see how other people and other places celebrate holidays. I enjoy my traditions and I hope you do too!
