Challenged Traditions

The world is full of tradition, holidays, family events, food, communication, beliefs, and celebrations. Some traditions effect people on a daily basis and others only come around once a year. There are traditions for the children and traditions for the adults in the world; no one is left out when it comes to traditions. In order to really understand traditions you need to know what a tradition is, the definition of a tradition is; “The passing down of elements of a culture from generation to generation.”
One tradition that seems to stick out to me is Christmas. This is a tradition that has many different meanings to the many people who celebrate it. The most common reason for people to celebrate Christmas is their religious beliefs. It is said that Christmas is the celebration of the birth of Christ. Then there are the people who are not very religious or not religious at all who celebrate Christmas because it is a chance to get together with their family and exchange gifts. Then there are also people who do not celebrate the holiday at all because it is against their beliefs. Due to the fact that there are so many different reasons people celebrate Christmas sometimes confrontation and disagreements arise around Christmas time.
Christmas may have started out as a reason to celebrate the birth of Christ, but it has become an excuse to shower our loved ones with presents. Many other changes have also been made. A new part of the tradition is to decorate your house with colorful lights and to bring a tree into your home and decorate it with lights and ornaments. Another change that had been added to this holiday is the sales on the malls and stores across the nation. Business have learned that because of the vast number of people out buying gifts for their loved ones, that if they have great sales going on they will make a pretty penny. This shows that instead of being celebrated for the original purpose Christmas in now being celebrated as a reason to spend and make money as well as to shower the ones we love with gifts.
These changes have caused some controversy in the religious communities. Some people are upset by the way that Christmas is now being celebrated. They believe that many boundaries have been broken. The definition of Christmas is, “A Christian feast commemorating the birth of Jesus.” This is not how the majorities of the people in the nation celebrate it. They still have a large meal with their families, but the topic of the evening is not normal the birth of Christ. The dinner of discussion is all about work, school, gifts, money, pretty much anything but the birth of Christ. Sometimes this can cause people to be very offended and hurt by the way that their holiday is celebrated because they feel it is part of their identity.
So in conclusion there are many different traditions in the world, many of them are celebrated across the nation. Others are traditions that are celebrated only with in a family or group of friends. The definition of a tradition is, “The passing down of elements of a culture from generation to generation.” So anything that is past down from one generation to the next can be considered a tradition. Christmas is one of the most celebrated and most changed traditions celebrated by people acroos the nation. Many aspects of the holiday have been changed to make it more appealing to children and to make it more profitable.