Traditions Lost

[ethelzguy]

Our dead are buried above ground because of the water table. The whole family would go to clean and whitewash the tomb.

Ah, the spoils of living in Lou-zee-ann…

Unfortunately, today’s generation couldn’t care less about those who went before them…

 

[Dempsey1919]

Aside from the Christmas and New Year’s traditions, the British celebrate Guy Fawkes Night every year on the 5th of November. It is celebrated in remebrance of the Gun Powder Plot in which a group of Catholics headed by Guy Fawkes plotted to blow up the Houses of Parliament. Everybody celebrates this night, even Catholics, despite this being a traditionally anti-Catholic event.

Guy Fawkes night is more commonly known as Bonfire Night due to the fact that people light fires. Traditionally, an effigy of Guy Fawkes was burned in the large fires. Toffee and toffee apples are eaten on Bonfire Night and a lot of people wrap potatoes in tin foil and cook them in the fires; they then eat them with butter as you would a baked potato.

This is a commonly known poem about Guy Fawkes Night:

Remember, remember the fifth of November
Gunpowder, treason and plot.
I see no reason, why gunpowder treason
Should ever be forgot.

 

[brotherhrolf]

I have seen graves like this in Spain. I have always liked them and I have always wished that I could be buried in this fashion; it seems nicer than being dumped in the cold ground. Unfortunately, I’ve never seen a grave like this in England. Also, I’d be afraid that thugs would vandalise graves like this.

Sorry to hijack the thread…

Nah, it’s tradition too. It’s far more disconcerting to have coffins pop out of the ground during the rainy season.

And Ethelzguy you are dead wrong. Our culture and tradition are very much alive and the kids ARE following the traditions of their elders. There are a few here on CAF that live in my area. You can’t judge the rest of the world through the lens of the DFW metro area.

South Louisiana, warts and all, is still very traditionally Catholic.

 

[belgianwaffles9]

You can get the Advent Calendars still. I found several beautiful ones on ebay. We did have chocolate in ours when I was a girl. My father loves all things British, so perhaps it was just our family. I loved getting my Advent Calendar every year. Our family wasn’t Catholic (though Dad was Anglican) but we did have an Advent Wreath also.

I can find them easily around here during Advent. Sometimes they have BIble verses instead of or in addition to the Chocolate. The first door’s verse is always “The people have seen a great light…”.

As a kid, my sisters and I always had an advent calendar with chocolates in it. We all still do this, even though i’m off in college now. But they can’t bee too difficult to find.

 

[ethelzguy]

And Ethelzguy you are dead wrong. Our culture and tradition are very much alive and the kids ARE following the traditions of their elders. There are a few here on CAF that live in my area. You can’t judge the rest of the world through the lens of the DFW metro area.

South Louisiana, warts and all, is still very traditionally Catholic.

You must live in a part of Louisiana that I haven’t visited. In many trips thru between Texas and Florida, I’ve seen many cemetaries such as those described here. They were/are all in a sad state of affairs.

If anyone thinks that today’s generation cares about history or tradition, try volunteering at a museum for a while…it’s more lonely than being the Maytag repairman!

 

[brotherhrolf]

My mother’s family tomb as well as my father’s were located in high crime areas of New Orleans. In 1992 we had to have seven sherriff’s vehicles escort us to bury my aunt. Before Katrina NOPD set watch upon the gates of the cemetaries and one was given five minutes to drive in and put flowers out for All Saints Day. Things are much better today and it is once again possible to maintain one’s family’s tombs.

The second thing that needs to be taken into account is that we have tombs dating back into the 1700s. Many of the familes have passed out of existence. My cathedral parish spruces up our cemetary with volunteers from the parish and local catholic high schools. Many of those volunteers are high school students. In bayou country, it is even more obvious.

I suspect that what you have seen on your numerous trips to Florida was either the protestant cemetaries in north Louisiana which are well over 150 years old and the families have moved away from Louisiana. Or, your total experience was based upon the cemetaries near the French Quarter which have graves starting in the 1720s.

As for museums, well you have not met my sons who have been to all of the museums in south Louisiana and absolutely adore the WWII museum in New Orleans - inspired by their grandfather and great uncles who served in the Navy in the Pacific and stormed the beaches at Omaha respectively. They are not indifferent about their heritage any more than I suspect those folks down in San Antonio are indifferent to theirs.

 

[ethelzguy]

My mother’s family tomb as well as my father’s were located in high crime areas of New Orleans. In 1992 we had to have seven sherriff’s vehicles escort us to bury my aunt. Before Katrina NOPD set watch upon the gates of the cemetaries and one was given five minutes to drive in and put flowers out for All Saints Day. Things are much better today and it is once again possible to maintain one’s family’s tombs.

The second thing that needs to be taken into account is that we have tombs dating back into the 1700s. Many of the familes have passed out of existence. My cathedral parish spruces up our cemetary with volunteers from the parish and local catholic high schools. Many of those volunteers are high school students. In bayou country, it is even more obvious.

I suspect that what you have seen on your numerous trips to Florida was either the protestant cemetaries in north Louisiana which are well over 150 years old and the families have moved away from Louisiana. Or, your total experience was based upon the cemetaries near the French Quarter which have graves starting in the 1720s.

As for museums, well you have not met my sons who have been to all of the museums in south Louisiana and absolutely adore the WWII museum in New Orleans - inspired by their grandfather and great uncles who served in the Navy in the Pacific and stormed the beaches at Omaha respectively. They are not indifferent about their heritage any more than I suspect those folks down in San Antonio are indifferent to theirs.

You obviously come from a family to be proud of…keep up the good work.

 

[brigid12]

If anyone thinks that today’s generation cares about history or tradition, try volunteering at a museum for a while…it’s more lonely than being the Maytag repairman!

I think loneliness is part of working in museums. I remember my grandmother volunteering in the historical museum near her when I was a young teen (about 40 years ago) and it was very quiet. As soon as this current generation that’s growing up gets to be 30+ years older they’ll be looking for all the traditions that they didn’t take note of before (consciously, that is). From the stories I heard from my great-grandmother about her childhood (eg. her father wouldn’t allow her to wear a bustle as a teenager, so she hid hers in the bushes and put it on whenever she went anywhere that he wouldn’t be) young’uns don’t really change - and from watching me as I get older - neither do the older people.

 

[brotherhrolf]

You obviously come from a family to be proud of…keep up the good work.

Ethelzguy, I wish I could show you the newsclipping from 1962 in which this strawberry blonde, round-faced, pug-nosed son of Ireland was the crucifer for the St. Rosalie procession in Kenner, Lousiana (a suburb of New Orleans) amongst all the Sicilians. The road you will see in this video was shell overlayed with oil back in 1962. The old Sicilian ladies walked the road barefoot in traditional black dresses - one decade of the rosary for every block. At the end of each block, everyone stopped to recite the Gloria and Our Father and there were Sicilian cookies and lemonade. I am really pleased to see that the statue of St. Rosalie is still being used (that’s the same one I remember) and “dressed”. Unfortunately, there are just a few too many Mardi Gras elements introduced. No one would have dared dress in shorts and tee shirts back then much less carry “second line” umbrellas.

So? Is the glass half empty or is it half full? OLPH was my parish church and school through 7th grade. I “googled” this on a whim. The past may have been modified but it has not been forgotten down here. Maybe we are unique here in that our culture has always been Catholic. Some traditions are lost but some are just modified - like the St. Joseph/St. Patrick parade in New Orleans. My godfather was Sicilian. The Sicilians/Italians/Irish/French/Germans always got along well at OLPH. I couldn’t say the same thing when I was stationed in Chicago from 1971 to 1974.

Anyway: enjoy an authentic south Louisiana tradition.

blog.nola.com/kenner/2007/09/109th_annual_saint_rosalie_pro.html

 

[Volodymyr_988]

Here’s what we do:

Before bed on 5 December the kids put their shoes (by the fireplace or the door if you don’t have a fireplace.) We fill their shoes with candy and little presents. The next morning (6 December, the Feast of St. Nicholas) they empty their shoes and we sing the “O kto, kto” song (Oh who loves Nicholas the Saintly…) in English and other religious St. Nicholas songs.

For St. Lucy’s Day (13 December) we have cookies with a single piece of fruit, M&M, or big chocolate chip in the center or a bun with the same arrangement. (Representing her eyes) Once I find them, we will start singing St. Lucy Carols as well. The part with the oldest daughter donning a crown of candles will have to wait until our 5 year old gets a little bigger.

Obviously we celebrate the Feasts of the Immaculate Conception (8 December) and Our Lady of Guadalupe (12 December.) OLG is usually celebrated along with Mexican food!

From 17 December to the 23 we sing the O Antiphons.

24 December is Christmas Eve, we try to do a take on the Slavic Holy Supper. We have 12 dishes in which everyone has to take a bit of each. (The Slavic peoples are Orthodox or Eastern Catholic so they don’t have meat that night, but we do.)

25 December is Christmas. Celebrate with the family.

The Christmas Season doesn’t end until the Baptism of the Lord, so we keep our Christmas stuff up, sing carols, etc… until then.

During Christmas, there is the Feast of the Circumcision (now the Feast of the Mother of God) which the rest of the world celebrates as New Year’s Day, and the Feast of the Epiphany is 6 December or the Sunday closest to it. Then we celebrate Our Lord’s Baptism.

There are plenty of things an American can do. I forgot, the Yule Log, fruitcake and egg nog (yuk ), going Caroling, etc…

 

[Volodymyr_988]

I forgot about the Barbarazweig.:newidea: :christmastree1:

And Glühwein:hypno: :winter:

 

[Rawb]

I forgot about the Barbarazweig

My dad planted a Cherry Tree this spring that I was going to use for this come St. Barbara Day, but it died .

I think my sister has one…

 

[Jennifer_G]

We have similar advent calendars in Britain but they are for children. They get them in December and they have 25 doors, and behind each door there is a little bit of chocolate. The children use them to count the days to Christmas. Do they have these in the USA?

Yes, we have them.

The ones we used to get didn’t have candy or anything like that. But in either case, I haven’t seen one in decades.

Our priest said something about that - I think the Catholic versions have something else (like a nativity story) rather than candy. Candy is the German tradition.

Anyway, a Polish-Lithulanian tradition of my grandmother’s was to have Oplatki around Christmas. Once, my cousin and I spent the night on New Year’s Eve, and my grandmother had an extra one that we ate at new year’s.