The Role of Family Traditions – Sociology Essay

The Role of Family Traditions – Sociology Essay
Traditions are one of the most continues concepts that humans like to do often. That’s why the role of traditions in my family has been growing from generation through generation. These traditions are growing because of

various aspects that makes them very important for us.

Traditional naming is one of the most casual traditions in Jewish families. In most cases the father’s and mother’s sons, have the name of his grandfather. The same thing happens with women. They take their grandmother’s name. For example: my name is Salomon Jacobo Cohen. Salomon is my grandfather’s name and Jacobo, which is my middle initial, is my father’s name. That’s why my fathers name is Jacobo Salomon Cohen. This naming tradition comes from long time ago. If you read the bible, you can notice that in most cases they mention the persons name and then all his older parents follow this name. At this point, you can notice the naming tradition from biblical references. There are other kinds of traditions in my family.

Making mistakes is an inevitable part of life. That’s why we have the tradition to do “Teshuva” (repentance) which is the Jewish response to deal with those mistakes that sometimes we do. We have an especial year period for the Teshuva. We do it during Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. This period is called “Slijot”. The word Slijot means forgiveness. That’s why we do it on this period, which is forty days long. In my family, parents have the tradition to teach their children the four steps of the Teshuva. First of all, you have to realize that you have done something wrong, then you have to feel bad about what you did and take some steps to correct the mistake you have made. Finally, you have to ask to the other person for forgiveness and then pray to God and ask him for forgiveness. Teshuva is very important for my family. That’s why we have this family custom to discuss and tech our kids about it. We also have the Shabbat. That’s were we eat our traditional foods.

Jewish people call Shabbat the day that God rested while he was making this beautiful earth. That’s why we celebrate Shabbat every Friday. God started building this earth on a Sunday and he rested on the 6th day, which is Friday. Shabbat is the most important and significant Jewish holiday. It is more important than Yom Kippur. On Shabbat we say the Kiddush and the Hamotzi, which are two blessing for God before eating the food. Then we eat our traditional food. I love Shabbat because of the traditional foods that my grandmother cooks. Especially the “Kibehamda” which is a lemon soup with meatballs, potatoes, carrots and other things that makes a very especial taste to it. We also have the “Yavrah”. Yavrah is tomatoes filled inside with rice and meat and they taste delicious. Actually, we have a lot more of traditional recipes but I will never stop writing if I mention all of them. Something that I couldn’t forget to mention is the tradition of lighting the candles on Fridays before Shabbat starts. Parents bless their children. The biblical blessing for the boys is: “ God make you like Ephraim and Menasseh”. For girls, we replace Ephraim and Menasseh for the foremothers Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel and Leah.
Finally, family traditions are growing because of various aspects that makes them very important for each member of the family. That’s why my family is trying to practice and teach this traditions to our younger generations so the can transit them from generation to generation. That’s the only way to keep family traditions.