Traditions
Having recently visited Hawaii, I was impressed by the Hawaiin culture and the traditions that have been passed from generation to generation. Many of the Hawaiin people are talented artists, making jewelry with beads, shells and various types of seeds. Some do wood carving, and some people make beautiful quilts and wall hangings.
In many ways the Hawaiin people remind me of my Amish friends, whose culture is based on the traditions and values of their forefathers. The Amish are also talented at their crafts, many of which include woodworking and quilt making.
In my own family, we have certain traditions that have been passed down from our parents and grandparents. It is these traditions that have molded and shaped us into who we are. My husband’s heritage is German, and on my mother’s side, I also have a German heritage. One particular tradition for me is making stuffed cabbage rolls, which my mother called “Galoushka”. Whenever I fix stuffed cabbage rolls I think about all the times my mother made it for our family when I was a girl. I also made sure to teach our daughter how to make the cabbage rolls so she could continue with our family tradition.
What traditions do you have in your family? How have those traditions impacted your life?
My grandmothers gave me such wonderful memories. My maternal German grandmother made “pigs in the blanket” (cabbage rolls), wonderful rye bread and love. My paternal cajun Grandmother always wanted to have LOTS of people at the dinner table. Her Seafood Gumbo and Red Beans and Rice and love still give me memories. I hope my grandchildren will have wonderful memories, too.
My mom loved to bake, so she made cakes all the time and decorated them, birthdays were a big deal to her to make us each a special cake. We always went to her moms for Christmas and for Thanksgiving, untill grandma passed away. I have found memories of my childhood. Today I try to make birthdays a big time for my own children with a cake and special supper.
Blessings
Linda Finn
My mother passed away in September of last year. While attending the Mercy Meal after the Funeral Mass, my oldest niece asked me if I knew how to make “Grammy’s meat pies.” I had never actually made them myself, but had watched this annual tradition every Christmas season since I can’t remember when. Meat Pies were, and are, traditional in the French Canadian culture and though they are made many different ways, my mother always made them in one particular way. My older sister is a Social Work supervisor in a County Drug and Alcohol program and one of the guys she works with, when hearing of my mother’s passing, asked, “did she leave you a recipe for the meat pies?” Michelle always brought one for the office party each year. And so, the tradition has passed to me. There were 3 things my mother always said went into making the meat pies, equal amounts of chuck roast and pork butt and lots of onions, Lawry Seasoning Salt and this all needs to cook in the pressure cooker for 8, yes 8, hours. Having never attempted these on my own, I was hesitant to have a meat pie making lesson for my nieces this year, but I made the pies. They weren’t quite as good as my Mom’s, but we ate them none the less. Michelle hasn’t shared them with her co-workers yet, but she will and since I know where I think I went awry, next year I will hold a Grammy Meat Pie making day, and perhaps add in the making of Grammy’s Penuche Fudge, another treat made only around the Holiday Season, for my nieces! Some traditions just have to be kept up!
I’m originally from Canada, but have lived here in the US for over 40 years. I do remember those meat pies. They were delicious. I miss them because I can not find them here. Whenever I went up home for a visit I would like to feast on meat pie before I came back home.I’m sure what I ate in a restaurant was no where as delicious as your mom’s recipe.
I wish our library would get your book soon.I want to fo;;ow their story.My parents were of the german baptist faith.My uncle and aunt were old order german baptist and drove a horse and buggy.
Reading the blog post and other comments has made me realize that I have some things to learn in the kitchen so that I may preserve some family traditions! My Nana who was Slovak always made a special Slovak Christmas Eve mushroom soup. Now my Father makes it every year. Nana used to make small cookie nut rolls and apricot rolls which I think are called kolachi, but we never called them that. She also made bread balls in milk with poppy seeds at Christmas Eve which I haven’t had since she stopped making it before her death, and she also made egg cheese at Easter. I don’t know if a recipe could be found for that or not! I was the only one in my family who liked it!!
When I lived at home, with my parents, before leaving Canada, I remember my Mom making raisin butter tarts, which were also a tradition in the part of Canada that I’m originally from. Here you can buy tarts with pecans in them, but believe me they are nothing like the raisin butter tarts my mother or Aunt Annie used to make. I’ve tried making them but although some what successful they never were as good as my mom’s were. I can remember making some for a school activity, when my daughter was young, and 2 grown men fighting over the last one. So they must have been okay I guess. I just have trouble making them and the filling seems to boil out over the edge of the tarts while baking. I’m afraid that with the exception of my sister in law that none of my sisters or I have been able to carry on this tradition or pass it on to our daughters.
While I have certain recipes that my mother made and I continue to make and enjoy, it’s the games we played as a family about which I’d like to comment. Mother loved words and encouraged us to develop vocabulary and enjoy words as we played games together. My mother and three sisters would play Boggle and Scrabble and other word games together for entertainment but also as learning opportunities. In addition, we enjoyed the tradition of working a jigsaw puzzle when family gathered for holidays or just visits. It was a great way to improve hand and eye coordination, spatial relationships, noticing details, and so forth as well as to socialize with a small number of people or just entertain oneself individually. To this day, my remaining sister and I work a jigsaw puzzle when we get together. We can visit while we work and can enjoy the physical proximity as well.
One family tradition that I treasure is our family birthdays. My mother has always made our cakes herself and decorated them to match our birthday theme. Even though she was never a professional baker, she made our cakes with love and decorated them to the best of her ability. We always felt loved on our birthdays.
I can’t wait to pass this tradition on.
I realy as you know didn’;t have any to start with so starting with the kids that are 30 and 35 they have traditions that we do such as even though i am here in iowa they are in calif they get together amd eat at my grarndpas usually joseph being the oldest son takes over and brings the food then he also take care of the cake. But our own tradiotion is just taking and calling everyone at any spare moment and whoever can goes and checks on my grandfather mostly my son does it as he lives in a place that is closer to him. I do miss it but when i go there i make sure all is well and noone is off track and all is well. they do things like new years eve they bank the pans like i do and josph still hasnt found a girl that can cook like i did that is his big hang up…But we are trying on our own to have some of a family..