winter season
Am home with a cold today. Ahh...the joys of the winter season.
Another thing about the winter season is that it is linked with a lot of different kinds of holidays and festiviies.
In my family, we do things a bit old school and celebrate the winter solistice. It is an old Chinese tradition. Basically, it means we get together with extended family and have a nice dinner. I'm sure there are traditionally other things associated with it, but we can barely manage to get our act together enough to do dinner.
It is also the season to chop down evergreen needle trees, bring them indoors for the sole purpose of decorating them and putting them on display. My husband, of Eastern European Jewish background, with a rabbi grandfather, has his first ever pagan winter solstice tree (aka Christmas tree in the States and European countries). He seems okay with it. His brother, on the other hand, is very much not okay with it. I can understand his brother's unease with Christmas. I worry a little that I am taking my husband away from his culture. As a second generation Chinese-American, I grew up with Christmas as an American holiday, much like July 4th and Thanksgiving. So to me, it isn't much a religious thing as it is an American thing. Also, it doesn't feel like I am violating my sense of cultural identity by participating in it- it isn't celebrating the birth of some culture that traditionally has done much to destroy my culture.
Another thing about the winter season is that it is linked with a lot of different kinds of holidays and festiviies.
In my family, we do things a bit old school and celebrate the winter solistice. It is an old Chinese tradition. Basically, it means we get together with extended family and have a nice dinner. I'm sure there are traditionally other things associated with it, but we can barely manage to get our act together enough to do dinner.
It is also the season to chop down evergreen needle trees, bring them indoors for the sole purpose of decorating them and putting them on display. My husband, of Eastern European Jewish background, with a rabbi grandfather, has his first ever pagan winter solstice tree (aka Christmas tree in the States and European countries). He seems okay with it. His brother, on the other hand, is very much not okay with it. I can understand his brother's unease with Christmas. I worry a little that I am taking my husband away from his culture. As a second generation Chinese-American, I grew up with Christmas as an American holiday, much like July 4th and Thanksgiving. So to me, it isn't much a religious thing as it is an American thing. Also, it doesn't feel like I am violating my sense of cultural identity by participating in it- it isn't celebrating the birth of some culture that traditionally has done much to destroy my culture.
posted by Matty Lau at
8:40 AM
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