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A poster once mentioned that he might like to see more posts made about cultural traditions than taxonomy and I can respect that. This would be my admittedly minor contribution to help satisfy this interest. No one knows anyone better than him/ herself and sometimes what we do is so commonplace for us we don't even think of it as being " cultural," but simply what we do by force of habit, without calling it anything but routine. I'm writing in English, the language I was brought up in. My variant ( " accent," if you like) would be considered Southern American English. When I grew up, I went to school during the week and Church and Granny's house on Sundays. Like everybody else, I learned Virginian history in school, but I was so inured to it, I just thought of it as being part of school. I learned in a methodical, analytical way, to seek out credible sources. My family is generally close, with phone calls and occasional visits rare pleasures that are quite enjoyable. When I was growing up, those visits were far more frequent. In truth, the grandmothers on both sides of my family were the matriarchal glue that kept us all close.
With their passing, one might say that the patriarch of my father's side of the family is my great uncle John, Granddad Gooding's younger brother. We certainly defer to him and make sure that any new and important person in our lives gets to meet the family as a whole. The Goodings have taken a far more dominant role in my life now than when I was younger, when I thought of them as rather distant, cool people, very formal indeed. I still go to church, albeit a different one than the one I attended as a child, one far more liturgical, one more geared to formal ceremony and a sacramental character. My daily devotionals include reading the Bible, Concordia, the Book of Lutheran Confessions and reading prayers from the Lutheran Prayer Book. I do this twice a day with a time set aside exclusively for prayer just before I go to bed.
My cultural heritage has bequeathed to me a great love of learning, reading and appreciating literature and an occasional indulgence in a play or two. Seasonal traditions include apple picking in the Fall ( Autumn), driving up and down Skyline Drive to see the mountain vistas and to stop at local restaurants to enjoy their food. Thanksgiving is fairly modest, with a Thanksgiving Turkey, mashed potatoes, green beans, cranberry sauce and bread rolls, with pumpkin pie for dessert. Our family will sometimes come together in the late fall, with my Uncle Joe's house usually being the focal point where we all meet. Every now and then the McDonalds will hold a family reunion that will involve a potluck and a hotel where we all congregate. That reunion is normally held in the old town of the McDonald family, Huntsville, Tennessee. An eight hour drive for three days of eating, touring old cemeteries and visiting distant cousins. Christmas is pretty traditional, with a Church service on Christmas Eve, a Christmas tree with ornaments and lights, stockings hung on the side of the railing and presents placed under the tree, with all the fallen pine needles.
When I get restless, I usually drive out west or down south to the Appalachian mountains, to get some mountain air and see the many sights that are available. My family will occasionally drive out to Middleburg or Berryville for some fine dining and walks downtown. When I was a child, Easter had the traditional Easter Basket and my sister and I would dye Easter eggs and sometimes have a hunt. Today, Easter generally entails going to church and a card for the parents and a nice lunch.
So, that's my cultural deal. There's also a sense of veneration for family history and heritage that exists in all families and very rarely will a family gathering not include at least a little discussion of ancestors and how different things were when the older folks were younger folks.
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