Time Honored and True 4/9/2023

By: Jennifer Richardson Holt

I don’t know if it’s because I’m a history nerd but I absolutely adore a good tradition.  It probably also stems from my love of symbolism and anything that has a meaning that lies much deeper than the surface, but a quality long standing tradition that is passed down through the generations is just so up my street that I am not sure that I can put it into words.  And you all know that I am ridiculously wordy so that is making a rather bold statement.  We are in the midst of a time of year that is wrought with traditions of all kinds. Some are serious and sacred, passed down through millennia, and others are possibly best described as silly and trivial and though passed down, for not nearly as long a time. Today I intend to talk a bit about traditions this time of year. Be prepared that I do plan to run the full gamut from outdated and possibly ludicrous to time honored and holy.  I just needed you to know ahead of reading that we’re doing a bit of it all today.

Obviously, this Sunday is Easter Sunday, and we are in the middle of Passover. To call the traditions associated with these two major religious holidays time-honored seems to be a bit of an understatement. To begin with, Passover has literally been celebrated for thousands of years. And I say, any little snippet of history that has survived that long is clearly notable to say the least. And actually, if one gets right down to it, this holiday is inextricably entwined with Easter in its subject matter.  There are foods, prayers, celebrations of deliverance and multiple other practices that have been associated with these days for generations. Now, I feel the need to address something here.  For some folks this may be trite and possibly unnecessary.  For other people this might be something that makes you furrow your brow at the need for me to go off on such a tangent. I understand both sentiments thoroughly.  I feel the need to clarify something. As a Christian, I do understand there is a heavy pagan influence on the origins of Easter. I know that the eggs and the rabbits are all homage to a fertility goddess. I even know the name of the day itself is a variation of the name Ishtar which is the aforementioned fertility goddess. I am a nerd, so such random trivia does not escape me. However, while my child does enjoy an egg hunt, because that is what children do this time of year, it could just as easily be an anything hunt and she would be all for it if it meant she could look for anything and win a prize if she found the most of said things.  Though some of the traditions may be based in the worship of other deities, I can’t particularly say that here in the American South we have great deal of random fertility goddess worship.  In saying as much, I am trying to make the point that I do not particularly feel that any traditional methodology used (even if it isn’t particularly Christ focused), at least in my area, is going to have anyone confused with the faith with which I associate myself. Basically, I feel pretty safe in saying that if a holiday can be Christianized efficiently, then this one would be a prime example.  Are bunnies and eggs pivotal? Certainly not.  But when and if we partake of them, do we, at least around here, let the real significance fall second to them? Absolutely not. I know that was a bit of a rant.  There is a backstory to that but I shan’t bore you with it now.

In reference to an impossibly trivial group of what I feel are possibly very Southern traditions let me change the tone of things. Once we hit Easter, it is then supposedly, by people who follow such traditions, the appropriate time for one to be able to wear white. Now no, I am not sure who made this rule. And also, no I really have no qualms with anyone who breaks it. I have read countless magazine articles, in such beloved magazines as Southern Living and the like, on why it is perfectly reasonable to not follow the old social etiquette rules. I have also read nearly as many articles explaining why it was a good idea to continue to follow these outdated rules. Beyond all that, both the rule followers and the rule breakers have multiple articles discussing how it is excessively stylish to wear winter white in the coldest of winter. Now, what exactly is it that denotes winter white from generic spring/summer white? Am I a bad southern woman for not knowing? I mean I suppose if it is a white fuzzy sweater that makes it winter white?  Is that the guideline?  If it is a winter piece of clothing and white then is it, by default, winter white? I don’t know. I feel like there should be more stringent guidelines than that. And honestly, maybe there are and I am just not privy to the information. 

I will say that for whatever reason, I am abiding by the no white before Easter guideline. I don’t know exactly why. Well, I have worn some white-ish clothing in the winter, but it was a fuzzy sweater, so I don’t feel like that counts. But it just seems right to not wear significant amounts of white until Easter has come and gone.  Wearing white does seem very spring/summer-esque to me. Maybe this is because it feels like at this point hopefully any sneaky dark winter tidbits of weather will be for the most part gone. I say that knowing that the day before this publishes, the weather has become very cold and wet. But such is Southern weather, if nothing else, it is whatever you least expect.

I don’t suppose I really talked all that much about traditions in a very meaningful manner. It seems I have simply glossed over a casual mention of a few.  I certainly can’t come up with any in depth sentiment that I’ve given you today.  Well, actually, in pondering it, perhaps we, or maybe more accurately I, can come away with this.  Traditions are what you make of them.  Dedication to what is truly important in them can translate into deeply personal and impactful moments in your life. However, losing sight of the important aspects can cheapen all that these rituals have been passed down through the years to be.  Maybe that’s the whole point, when given its proper value, a tradition is a beautiful thing. When made trivial or twisted the value is lost and a treasured institution becomes a cheap habit.  Maybe before any of us embrace a custom we should really evaluate what it means to us.  It’s easy enough to let something we’ve always done become just that, something we’ve always done just because we’ve always done it. Tradition without true meaning is just a hollow convention.  And letting a tradition become empty is far worse than any white ensemble in February.