{"id":648,"date":"2014-12-23T10:44:08","date_gmt":"2014-12-23T15:44:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/groups.etown.edu\/ot\/?p=648"},"modified":"2014-12-23T10:44:08","modified_gmt":"2014-12-23T15:44:08","slug":"why-traditions-matter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/groups.etown.edu\/ot\/2014\/12\/23\/why-traditions-matter\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Traditions Matter"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/groups.etown.edu\/ot\/files\/2014\/12\/Candle_on_Christmas_tree_3.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright  wp-image-651\" src=\"http:\/\/groups.etown.edu\/ot\/files\/2014\/12\/Candle_on_Christmas_tree_3-215x300.jpg\" alt=\"candle with Christmas tree\" width=\"161\" height=\"221\" \/><\/a>December \u2013 a time of holiday celebrations for many, be it Christmas, Hanukkah, or other important events this month.\u00a0 These holidays are often filled with traditions \u2013 lighting the menorah, decorating a Christmas tree, playing Dreidel, sending Christmas cards, special prayers, special music and favorite songs, the ugly Christmas sweater, and often \u2013 our favorite foods.\u00a0 Traditions provide meaning around an event, be it a birthday, holiday, or even daily bedtime.\u00a0 They are closely related to behaviors, habits and rituals.\u00a0 Traditions also can provide a form of anticipation, certainty or security in their predictability, .e.g. \u201cwe always do this first and then next is\u2026\u201d\u00a0 That sense of certainly can help people understand where they \u2018fit\u201d \u2013 what role they play, what they should do, and how to belong \u2013 to a family, to a group of friends, to a group of co-workers or teams, to a temple\/synagogue\/church, or any other organizations in their local community.\u00a0 Traditions have always played a role in maintaining cultural values, beliefs, and practices.\u00a0 Traditions strengthen our sense of history and belonging.<sup>1 <\/sup><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/groups.etown.edu\/ot\/files\/2014\/12\/Dreidel_001.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-654\" src=\"http:\/\/groups.etown.edu\/ot\/files\/2014\/12\/Dreidel_001-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"wooden dreidel\" width=\"148\" height=\"148\" \/><\/a>Traditions can be rich in their meaning.\u00a0 They can invoke memories.\u00a0 With our patients, do we assume that their traditions are the same as ours?\u00a0 Can we assume that traditions have happy meanings?\u00a0 Maybe.\u00a0 For some, traditions will be helpful to stimulate memory and awareness of the holiday season and help them be present in the world around them.\u00a0 For some, the holidays and traditions may invoke memories of loss, crisis, trauma, or general sadness.\u00a0 Exploring the meaning of tradition will take time, and they may need assistance to create new traditions that reflect new foundations in their lives, the anticipation of moving forward and making positive changes, and making good memories for the future.<\/p>\n<p>What traditions are important to you during this time of year?<\/p>\n<p>How do you integrate traditions and meaning into therapy with your patients\/clients and their families?<\/p>\n<p><strong><em>1.\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.familylife.com\/articles\/topics\/parenting\/essentials\/making-memories\/why-do-traditions-matter#.VJmKfl4Ak\" target=\"_blank\">Treasuring God in Our Traditions<\/a><\/em><\/strong><em>\u00a0<\/em><em>by No\u00ebl Piper, copyright \u00a9 2003<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>December \u2013 a time of holiday celebrations for many, be it Christmas, Hanukkah, or other important events this month.\u00a0 These holidays are often filled with traditions \u2013 lighting the menorah, decorating a Christmas tree, playing Dreidel, sending Christmas cards, special &hellip;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"> <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/groups.etown.edu\/ot\/2014\/12\/23\/why-traditions-matter\/\"> <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Why Traditions Matter<\/span> Read More &raquo;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":62,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-648","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/groups.etown.edu\/ot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/648","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/groups.etown.edu\/ot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/groups.etown.edu\/ot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/groups.etown.edu\/ot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/62"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/groups.etown.edu\/ot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=648"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/groups.etown.edu\/ot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/648\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":661,"href":"https:\/\/groups.etown.edu\/ot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/648\/revisions\/661"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/groups.etown.edu\/ot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=648"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/groups.etown.edu\/ot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=648"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/groups.etown.edu\/ot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=648"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}