This weekend seemed to be a reminder that only one week remains before Thanksgiving. I plan on detailing the story of the pilgrims to my students this week. I'm interested to see if they know anything about the voyage to plymouth rock. At this point the story of Thanksgiving seems like a fairy tale. I guess it always has been. When you think about the possible reality of the situation and the eventual reprocussions of the event it's hard not to desentimentalize the holiday. The Native Americans were victimized and exploited while the puritans set the stage for the paradox of sin and virtue that envelops the modern day state of our country. I don't want to deconstruct the poweful tradition that has developed over time: time spent with the family eating our turkey dinner, watching professional football, giving thanks. However the nuclear family has become a thing of the past and holidays, including Thanksgiving become a more ambiguous celebration. These thoughts come to me with the passing of my Grandfather over the past summer. This will seem a bit of a lonely event. I will be breaking bread with my mother, step-father and sister. I may travel over to my Aunt's house to be with my father's family for dessert, but his recent altercations with her and my Uncle regarding Starr will make things complicated. Don't get me wrong, I treasure the time I spend with my family, but traditions are fragile and where do we begin creating new ones. I always thought that these occasions would continue on as each matriarch or patriarch of the family takes up the reigns of him or her before them, but the world is growing bigger and the distance between loved ones grows. I know that if I had a significant other, I would have no qualms accompanying her and her family traditions, but there would remain a great deal of sadness in abandoning my own. But soon there will be nothing less to abandon and that affords affectations of sadness in itself. The point I'm trying to make is, can a spark be forced to establish new traditions or does it need to be born out of spontaneity? Either way, when does it establish significance and is that significance genuine? If I feel sadness in the loss of a tradition, then I guess the genuity speaks for itself. There must be a tie between the act and emotion. Nostalgia plays a large role in the emotion. Psychologists say that repetition and familiarity develop positive feelings . So I'd conclude that the repetition of tradition leads to positive feelings and the loss of those feelings comebined with their memory produce nostalgia. Noastalgia has then a intersecting quality of the positive remembered feelings and the sadness of the loss of those feelings. Nostalgia then can be a catalyst for creating similar feelings to those that were lost but existed and must be regained. My resolve is to strengthen the tradition of Thanksgiving with my family this year, but also to add to it. Go out and start a tradition today, you'll be rewarded ten fold in nostalgia.
