Besides the actual meaning of the Holidays, I believe they were created to give people something to look forward to or create traditions. For example, I know that the reason for Christmas is to celebrate Jesus’ birthday, but I think nowadays if you were to ask someone the meaning of Christmas they would say it’s a time to spend with friends and family and give back to your loved ones. Although Christmas is to celebrate the birth of Jesus, I think Santa has become pretty popular when it comes to Christmas. Thanksgiving was created to celebrate the festival of the Pilgrims after we arrived in the new world but now it’s more for giving thanks and appreciating loved one. New Years is to celebrate the start of a new year or chapter and I think people think of it more as a time to start fresh and make a change.
I believe we remember the original meaning of all of these
holidays but as Americans we put our own twist on them. For example on the 4th
of July when they signed the declaration of independence, I don’t think they
were cooking hot dogs but that’s pretty common now. When Easter was created way
back when Jesus was resurrected, I don’t think people were doing Easter egg
hunts and painting them.
My point being that I think we take these traditions and
celebrations and kind of make them our own. Not by of taking the meaning out of
these holidays but more adding our own twist to them such as Santa, giving
gifts, egg hunting, and barbecuing. I think in some way we modernize each
holiday a little bit more every year. Although the real meaning behind each
holiday is important and it’s the reason we have these celebrations in the
first place, I think it’s a good thing we’ve added our own twist and have
formed our own traditions to go along with these celebrations.
-Kenna Watts
