The face of Changing Traditions

In these modern times many think that little is being done to preserve traditions and customs of yesteryear!

If indeed this is the case we must ask ourselves firstly, which traditions and customs we would like to keep alive and why they are important if we need to re-kindle them.

The modern way of life is rapidly evolving, new traditions and customs are overtaking older ones and the life of a modern family is vastly different from that of a family say 10 years ago. Some aspects of modern life bring improvements but some believe that those older traditions need to be re-kindled and preserved. Traditions vary from Family to Family and on a cultural platform some are stronger than others.

From personal experience, our Family have a fortnightly tradition whereby we all gather at our Uncle’s house for Sunday lunch.  Unlike usual, the woman-folk relax and unwind whilst the men fumble around in the kitchen attempting to cook something that resembles a decent meal! As the years have progressed my part in this tradition has changed.  During my younger years I enjoyed the comfort of staying with the women.  I basked in the comfort of being fussed over by my aunty and cousins. However, now I am very much on the other side of the spectrum as I endure the pain that is watching my role models - Uncles, Dad and older cousins – conversing, deliberating and cogitating over what the oven temperature should be! Although very amusing for my younger brother and I, we always manage to produce brilliance!

There have been occasions where I have suspected my Aunts, Mum and female cousins over sneaking into the kitchen to salvage the damage inflicted on the poor poultry of choice by my Uncle, Dad, cousins and I. But regardless of all the chaos, it always is a memorable and fun experience with a huge potential to learn and grow into what could be considered a ‘modern man’!
We all reminisce and share our experiences over the meal – its what makes our Family who they are. This is one of our most valuable Family traditions and something we would never want to lose.

Another tradition we wouldn’t want to lose is boys only cricket matches when India are playing. It’s a family male must! We congregate at my Uncles house with food and drinks for all and each stroke of the bat, each ball bowled, its personal! Cricket is a family passion.  Although we gather around the gigantic tv screen to watch our fellow Countrymen win for India, we also treasure the bonding time we have with each other.

We should adopt many aspects of modern family life, however, we should never lose our family traditions, as this would be allowing modern society to capture and alter our unique customs.