Tradition and Ceremony

These are two things that have been on my mind. I see tradition and ceremony as closely related; I think that sometimes they can coincide but they are not mutually exclusive. When I say "ceremony" in this context I am not referring to weddings or religious events, rather the idea of rituals performed in important or sacred ways. I believe that ceremonies can be small things that we do in our lives on other days besides holidays. In my mind ceremonies indicate the intent with which an action is performed, not just the action itself.

Every culture, religion and family has its own traditions, some of which are done ceremoniously. As I grow and learn, I find myself creating both ceremonies, traditions and ceremonious traditions as part of my life. For example, I often walk through the woods alone, silently. As I walk I look up and simultaneously communicate with both God and birds. As I walk I thank the Lord for the beauty that surrounds me and I tell the birds that I am there, I am there friend, I respect them and wish to see them. Not a word escapes my lips during this time, instead I feel that I radiate these thoughts and feelings outwardly through my heart and mind. Like when you think something so strongly and loudly that you're sure someone else must have heard.

I also consider our future family and the traditions we may develop. There are traditions from both Ricky and my childhoods that we will keep, but there are others that we talk about adding to our lives as well. We usually recieved new pajamas Christmas eve that we wore that night, this is a tradition I love and will keep for my children. I feel like traditions help unite families, regardless of whether or not the tradition is a religious one.

I tend to be an extremely romantic person in that I romanticize events, words, art, everything I come in contact with really. I am drawn toward what is beautiful, what is sublime, what fills me to the brim with emotion--I am filled readily. Tonight we watched the opening ceremony of the 30th Olympic games in London (as I hope most of you did as well). The Olympics are an event that I look forward to every two years and the opening ceremony is my most favorite part. I love the lights, music, dancing, amazing effects and dazzling performances, but most of all I love the (romanticized) sense that while the games go on there is a halt to war and a feeling of peace and unity throughout the world. I know it isn't true, but I still feel encouraged that the games (Olympics, not Hunger) go on and that citizens from almost every country participate and work together. Despite the lengthiness of the whole event and the often irritating commentary by NBC, I watch from start to finish. Even when I am tempted to tune out during the Parade of Nations I don't because I feel like my attention is a salute to those small but no less important nations.

Tonight's opening ceremony did not disappoint. I'll tell you my favorite parts. Obviously, I loved the bit with the queen and James Bond. I love the queen, she's so cute and old! I adored the opening during the agrarian section with the children singing Oh Danny Boy and other songs--I was teary. I loved the bit with J.K. Rowling because she is one of my heroes and it was awesome that voldemort was there. The bit with all the floating Mary Poppins' with their umbrellas was lovely too. Rowin Atkinson couldn't have been funnier in his part with the LSO. I liked the part with the bicycle doves as they rode around the outside, wings flapping. I enjoyed the symbolism used throughout the ceremony and found myself laughing or in (happy) tears on more than one occasion. Hey Jude with Sir Paul McCartney at the end was very unifying--he's still awesome even though he's getting old. Oh, and I think Denmark had the best outfits.

Overall I thought the ceremony was beautiful and well done. I may still have enjoyed Vancouver 2010 a bit more, but I think the added humor in tonight's ceremony was a great change of pace.

One tradition that our family will certainly keep is to watch the Olympic opening ceremony together every year. The kids will stay up and watch until they fall asleep and Ricky and I will watch until the end, feeling that connection that spans accross the world, or at least accross my heartstrings.