Holiday Traditions

Collar_N_Cuffs

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What are yours?

There are lots of holidays coming up! I know Canadian Thanksgiving is already over, but we have US Thanksgiving coming up. And then of course the myriad holidays that come with December and January. So...

I think traditions add to a sense of comfort and familiarity. They are all the more special because most of them we only get to do once a year! I thought we might share some of our traditions here so that perhaps we can add new ones to our own celebrations. Food, custom, decorations, songs, sayings, kisses, or whatever it may be, let us know how you celebrate!!
 
Oooohhh! Great idea! Me first? :p

One tradition we just passed by was for Halloween. Up north we would go Tick Tacking. This is a custom of throwing hard corn at people's windows and houses (off the cob, of course! :eek:), creating a tick tack noise on the glass. It adds to the spookiness for little kids inside the house if you tell them that the noise is from spirits trying to get in to eat all the candy :p

This tradition does not seem to exist in Texas. I can't tell if it's because I am now urban, or if it's just a regional thing. I rather miss it...
 
Oooohhh! Great idea! Me first? :p

One tradition we just passed by was for Halloween. Up north we would go Tick Tacking. This is a custom of throwing hard corn at people's windows and houses (off the cob, of course! :eek:), creating a tick tack noise on the glass. It adds to the spookiness for little kids inside the house if you tell them that the noise is from spirits trying to get in to eat all the candy :p

This tradition does not seem to exist in Texas. I can't tell if it's because I am now urban, or if it's just a regional thing. I rather miss it...

That is kinda scary, all for kids to think spirits are trying to eat their souls er i mean candy
 
That is kinda scary, all for kids to think spirits are trying to eat their souls er i mean candy

Well, yeah. I don't really say anything so innocuous as that they are trying to come in and eat candy, but any little kid that knows me knows what to expect from my stories...
 
Well, yeah. I don't really say anything so innocuous as that they are trying to come in and eat candy, but any little kid that knows me knows what to expect from my stories...

the unexpected? heh
My family tradition for holidays at Christmas time was always on Christmas Eve was to go out and look at all the house in the town (well atleast a good 20) and how they were light up and judge them between family members.
 
the unexpected? heh
My family tradition for holidays at Christmas time was always on Christmas Eve was to go out and look at all the house in the town (well atleast a good 20) and how they were light up and judge them between family members.

Looking at Christmas lights is a good one! I always try and squeeze it in somewhere, so I like the idea of doing it specifically on Christmas Eve...
 
Christmas Eve is the main event here. There are all kinds of traditions, of course, and traditional foods, but I don't care for most of them and usually J and I are just the two of us.

The breakfast on Christmas Eve is rice pudding with cinnamon and sugar, with one whole almond hidden in it. Who gets the almond has good luck for the whole year. It's a bit silly thing to do when it's just the two of us, but hey, that's a piece of tradition I actually like.

After breakfast we open gifts we've gotten each other. When it gets dark we walk to the cemetery, because it's pretty there with lots of candles and (hopefully) snow. On our way back home we usually stop in a pub.

The cat gets shrimp for Christmas dinner. Our dinner varies, we don't do the traditional Christmas dinner with ham and stuff. On St. Stephen's Day we always make pizza.

That's about all Christmas traditions we have, I think. Not very Christmassy.
 
Okay, well this is odd, but you did ask....

I think I've mentioned coming from a "mixed" family, part christian, part pagan. And yeah, it's about as terrible as it sounds! :D

My aunt was/is big on Halloween. I've have spent more than one Halloween dancing and participating in ritual - don't ask :rolleyes: - out in the country. Not sex mind! :eek: For most of these events I was a child! Though what they got up to when us kids were spending Halloween elsewhere I couldn't say. Well, actually I probably could, but I'd rather not go there mentally. Ewww. :(

Ritual, and dance, depended on what was happening with the moon, cycle and constellation placement. Don't even get me started on what actually constitutes a full moon. :rolleyes:

It it was exceptionally cold we'd get a campfire. So, freezing one's butt off, naked, on Halloween might be a little weird - okay a lot weird - but it's still a family tradition.

I'll even admit to having participated in this once or twice as an adult. :p

Still no sex!!!! There are things I could never unsee, and one of those things would be my aunt naked. :eek:

Oddly, Halloween is still my favorite holiday. Go figure.
 
Christmas Eve is the main event here. There are all kinds of traditions, of course, and traditional foods, but I don't care for most of them and usually J and I are just the two of us.

The breakfast on Christmas Eve is rice pudding with cinnamon and sugar, with one whole almond hidden in it. Who gets the almond has good luck for the whole year. It's a bit silly thing to do when it's just the two of us, but hey, that's a piece of tradition I actually like.

After breakfast we open gifts we've gotten each other. When it gets dark we walk to the cemetery, because it's pretty there with lots of candles and (hopefully) snow. On our way back home we usually stop in a pub.

The cat gets shrimp for Christmas dinner. Our dinner varies, we don't do the traditional Christmas dinner with ham and stuff. On St. Stephen's Day we always make pizza.

That's about all Christmas traditions we have, I think. Not very Christmassy.

Well this thread is for all holidays :) So when you have one, I want to hear about it!!

When I was in Spain they would do something similar to your almond "prize". They bake a cake with a little figurine in it, it might be the baby Jesus, or even a donkey. It's called "el premio", and whoever gets the piece with the premio in it has to pay for the cake! :eek: of course I had no idea, and I was so pleased when I found a little prize in my piece of cake! For a moment :D
 
I like to start every day in the holiday season with a cup of coffee from my favorite mug:

 
Okay, well this is odd, but you did ask....

I think I've mentioned coming from a "mixed" family, part christian, part pagan. And yeah, it's about as terrible as it sounds! :D

My aunt was/is big on Halloween. I've have spent more than one Halloween dancing and participating in ritual - don't ask :rolleyes: - out in the country. Not sex mind! :eek: For most of these events I was a child! Though what they got up to when us kids were spending Halloween elsewhere I couldn't say. Well, actually I probably could, but I'd rather not go there mentally. Ewww. :(

Ritual, and dance, depended on what was happening with the moon, cycle and constellation placement. Don't even get me started on what actually constitutes a full moon. :rolleyes:

It it was exceptionally cold we'd get a campfire. So, freezing one's butt off, naked, on Halloween might be a little weird - okay a lot weird - but it's still a family tradition.

I'll even admit to having participated in this once or twice as an adult. :p

Still no sex!!!! There are things I could never unsee, and one of those things would be my aunt naked. :eek:

Oddly, Halloween is still my favorite holiday. Go figure.

I think this is totally awesome! We need more pagan traditions. And more campfires! And dancing. And nudity! What's not to like?!! Look out neighbours! I live rather budged up against the next house, so... Well I hope I get through next Halloween without getting arrested :D

Actually, I've been wondering about the tick tack thing now as well, wondering where the tradition comes from...
 
I think this is totally awesome! We need more pagan traditions. And more campfires! And dancing. And nudity! What's not to like?!! Look out neighbours! I live rather budged up against the next house, so... Well I hope I get through next Halloween without getting arrested :D

Actually, I've been wondering about the tick tack thing now as well, wondering where the tradition comes from...

I...have never even heard of this. No help, sorry. :(
 
Recently, we gather on Thanksgiving and have a nice time around a bonfire. I like to get drunk and just sit there. ^_^ It's wonderful. This is only recent because for the past 10 years or so, I've always had to work the day after so I preferred sleeping to seeing family.

For Christmas, Mister and I hang decorations around the house and put a stuffed animal moose on the top of our tree. We gave him a hammer and we call him Maxwell. Christmas doesn't have a religious meaning for us, just a chance to see family and possibly exchange gifts. This year we've asked that no one give us gifts, and we'll do that same. ;)

With his family, we get together Christmas Eve and make zeppola from his grandmother's old recipe. It takes all day to prepare and cook. It makes a huge mess, and we're all sickly full at the end of the night. ^_^ It's a sweet tradition.

I look forward to New Year's Eve the most. ^_^ I make yummy Japanese foods for the New Year and we always try to be together for midnight so that we can kiss. It's one of my favorite things. I'm a little sad if we can't do it.
 
Oooohhh! Great idea! Me first? :p

One tradition we just passed by was for Halloween. Up north we would go Tick Tacking. This is a custom of throwing hard corn at people's windows and houses (off the cob, of course! :eek:), creating a tick tack noise on the glass. It adds to the spookiness for little kids inside the house if you tell them that the noise is from spirits trying to get in to eat all the candy :p

This tradition does not seem to exist in Texas. I can't tell if it's because I am now urban, or if it's just a regional thing. I rather miss it...

When I lived in Iowa we did the same at Halloween but we called it simply "corning". I've never heard it called Tick Tacking before.
 
Actually, I've been wondering about the tick tack thing now as well, wondering where the tradition comes from...

When I lived in Iowa we did the same at Halloween but we called it simply "corning". I've never heard it called Tick Tacking before.

I did, at least, find it under "corning". It's also called "racking". And I've still never heard of it. :confused:

Maybe it's just not a southern thing? All the articles that came us seemed to reference states (Pennsylvania, Indiana) a little further up.
 
Thanksgiving has always been a day for watching the parades on TV (I was there in person one year, watching from a friend's parent's apartment). Some time during the parade I make a light breakfast, and afterwards my kids help me make our family traditional Penn Dutch filling (a recipe from my great-grandmother) and the rest of whatever couldn't be made ahead. If we have turkey, it's already roasting in the oven, if we have ham it gets started with the filling. About this time the parade is over, so we start up some of our favorite twisted holiday movies, usually leading off with Gremlins and continuing with Nightmare Before Christmas, and whatever else we come up with. (And I still believe that Broadway needs a Gremlins musical!)

This year my daughter is staying in Chicago and doing an "orphan's Thanksgiving" with some of her friends. My son and my "extra son" will be here with Master and I.

Christmas feels very empty to me this year. My Mom was She Who Kept Christmas and, with her only 9 months gone I'm still aching too much to feel terribly festive. My kids will be with their dad, and I'm hoping we can just go away somewhere and have a fun weekend.
 
Recently, we gather on Thanksgiving and have a nice time around a bonfire. I like to get drunk and just sit there. ^_^ It's wonderful. This is only recent because for the past 10 years or so, I've always had to work the day after so I preferred sleeping to seeing family.

For Christmas, Mister and I hang decorations around the house and put a stuffed animal moose on the top of our tree. We gave him a hammer and we call him Maxwell. Christmas doesn't have a religious meaning for us, just a chance to see family and possibly exchange gifts. This year we've asked that no one give us gifts, and we'll do that same. ;)

With his family, we get together Christmas Eve and make zeppola from his grandmother's old recipe. It takes all day to prepare and cook. It makes a huge mess, and we're all sickly full at the end of the night. ^_^ It's a sweet tradition.

I look forward to New Year's Eve the most. ^_^ I make yummy Japanese foods for the New Year and we always try to be together for midnight so that we can kiss. It's one of my favorite things. I'm a little sad if we can't do it.

Hooray bonfire! I'm a total fire bug... I love this tradition! And that you don't have to work the day after :) And Maxwell!! How the heck did you come up with a moose for your tree?! :confused: but I like it :) I will have to look up zeppola... And yes, of course, the traditional New Year's kiss... :kiss:
 
Thanksgiving has always been a day for watching the parades on TV (I was there in person one year, watching from a friend's parent's apartment). Some time during the parade I make a light breakfast, and afterwards my kids help me make our family traditional Penn Dutch filling (a recipe from my great-grandmother) and the rest of whatever couldn't be made ahead. If we have turkey, it's already roasting in the oven, if we have ham it gets started with the filling. About this time the parade is over, so we start up some of our favorite twisted holiday movies, usually leading off with Gremlins and continuing with Nightmare Before Christmas, and whatever else we come up with. (And I still believe that Broadway needs a Gremlins musical!)

This year my daughter is staying in Chicago and doing an "orphan's Thanksgiving" with some of her friends. My son and my "extra son" will be here with Master and I.

Christmas feels very empty to me this year. My Mom was She Who Kept Christmas and, with her only 9 months gone I'm still aching too much to feel terribly festive. My kids will be with their dad, and I'm hoping we can just go away somewhere and have a fun weekend.

The parade is always a highlight for me as well :) It's nice that your daughter had somewhere to go. One of my friends always did a "waifs and strafes" dinner. I always invite strays if I'm doing anything at my house... I'm so sorry about your mom. This will be a tough Christmas for you, but it sounds like she would want you to celibrate and carry on her traditions :rose:

Birdwatching on January 1 to start the new year list.

I was fortunate enough to catch sight of a few rare birds this year down at the coast, I love them! Never heard of this as a tradition, though... but why not? :)
 
Well this thread is for all holidays :) So when you have one, I want to hear about it!!

When I was in Spain they would do something similar to your almond "prize". They bake a cake with a little figurine in it, it might be the baby Jesus, or even a donkey. It's called "el premio", and whoever gets the piece with the premio in it has to pay for the cake! :eek: of course I had no idea, and I was so pleased when I found a little prize in my piece of cake! For a moment :D

I had to google the Spanish thing, because I'd only ever heard the one finding the figurine being symbolically crowned as the king. I found out that there are often two bits to be found - one to be crowned as a king and another who has to pay for the Epiphany day party.

Maybe your friends have toned down the expenses a bit and you only have pay for the bread instead of a whole party. :D Seriously though, these traditions always vary a lot from region to region.

Another Christmas tradition that I kind of like is tying together the legs of the table. It's said that if you do it, then the people who sit around that table will be kept together for the next year, no fighting, no deaths.

And of course the independence day is coming. It's boring serious stuff here. The president has a gala and people watch it on TV and critique the dresses. Some people play bingo while watching: they make a grid of typical mistakes or things that usually happen during the broadcast and once they happen, they get to cross off a box. Things that usually happen are someone tripping on the red carpet, all kinds of dresscode faux pas, horrible hair glitter, man steps on the train of his wife's dress, the guests get asked what independence means to them, the winter war is mentioned etc.

Some people (not me, of course, never...) turn it into a drinking game. Note to self: do not have hair glitter as a double shot box. There will always be lots of grannies who love putting that stuff on their blue or purple hair.
 
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Recently we celebrated All Saints' Day.
Halloween is not really an old tradition here, but it has gained a lot of popularity the last 20 years or so.
We do have a big bowl of candy for visiting kids and as I mentioned somewhere before the kids did go trick or treat this year for the first time.

All Saints' is an old tradition here though and many go visit graves of family and loved ones, put flowers and candles. Some go to church too.
Since we had kids, we have gone out for a long drive visiting those who are buried further from our home, usually bringing sanwiches and having a picnic lunch somewhere on the way.
This year we turned it into a somewhat more spooky adventure by going in the afternoon and night. It got even more adventurous when a heavy fog made the drive slow and difficult.
One relative who died this year was as sailor and was buried at sea, so we put flowers at the beach by an old harbour.
It was really beautiful.
 
All humbugginess aside, we do a few things around the holidays that please me.

For Thanksgiving, I make a traditional New England dish called Indian Pudding. It's made from milk, cornmeal and molasses, and cinnamon and ground cloves. Slow baked in a low oven for three hours. The consistency is a bit like Cream of Wheat, but with color and flavor. This is a dish that my mother has always made for T'giving.

At Christmas we turn to my father's side of the family and make a traditional French Canadian pork pie called Tourtière on Christmas Eve. When the children were little, we would leave a slice of Tourtière our for Santa. Our children still have their original Christmas stockings, which we put out and fill, though now it's not unusual for a tiny bottle of Scotch or a liqueur to show up in one's stocking.

Back to my comfortable humbuggery.
 
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