Quotes About Tradition

If our father had had his way, nobody who did not know how to fish would be allowed to disgrace a fish by catching him.

I didn't have no sure 'nough weddin'. Me and Julie just jumped over de broom in front of Marster and us was married. Dat was all dere was to it. Dat was de way most of de slave folks got married dem days. Us knowed better dan to ask de gal when us wanted to get married. Us just told our Marster and he done de askin'. Den, if it was all right with de gal, Marster called all de

The key to the Jewish calendar is Nature.

Traditional Jews trace history according to the Bible back to Adam and Eve. That gives a date of 3760 bce for the creation of Adam, which is why the 'Jewish year', still used for religious purposes, is that many years ahead of ce (=ad). For instance, 1998 is am 5758, and 2000 is 5760 (am stands for anno mundi, or years of the world since Creation).

The bride and groom stand beneath the Chuppa (bridal canopy), symbolizing their new home, and seven blessings are recited, a cup of wine again being shared. The couple are blessed, and the groom smashes a glass, recalling the destruction of Jerusalem even on his most joyful day.

Serbian history tells that the family is the most important thing and you have to stick with the family.

Sassafras had never wanted to weave, she just couldn't help it. There was something about the feel of raw fleece and finished threads and dainty patterned pieces that was as essential to her as dancing to Carmen De Lavallade, or singing to Aretha Franklin. Her mama had done it, and her mama before that; and making cloth was the only tradition Sassafras inherited that gave her a sense of womanhood that was rich and sensuous, not tired and stingy.

Sean had been one of a group of people who wanted to rescue the Irish language from being a grim thing taught in schools and to reaffirm it in every area of life-in comedy, sex, cursing, drinking, everything. These men started the Brian Merriman School so that, for one week a year, anyone who wanted to could go to Clare to learn and talk and listen and sing and dance, in Irish or English, but anyway in the old Gaelic spirit.

There is one day that is ours. There is one day when all we Americans who are not self-made go back to the old home to eat saleratus biscuits and marvel how much nearer to the porch the old pump looks than it used to. Thanksgiving Day is the one day that is purely American.

We are a race of tradition-lovers in a new land, of king-reverers in a Republic, of hero-worshipers in a society of mundane get-and-spend. It is a Country and a Time where any bank clerk or common laborer can become a famous outlaw, where an outlaw can in a very short time be sainted in song and story into a Robin Hood, where a Frontier Model Excalibur can be drawn from the block at any gunshop for twenty dollars.

some earlier, "simpler" time. Now does not suit him. Religious tolerance does not suit him. The current state of the country does not suit him. He wants to take us all back to some magical time when everyone believed in the same God, worshipped him in the same way, and understood that their safety in the universe depended on completing the same religious rituals and stomping anyone who was different. There was never such a time in this country.

When grandparents enter the door, discipline flies out the window.

Tea began as a medicine and grew into a beverage.

The idea that everyone should have a house of his own is based on an ancient custom of the Japanese race, Shinto superstition ordaining that every dwelling should be evacuated on the death of its chief occupant.

Tea with us became more than an idealization of the form of drinking; it is a religion of the art of life

It is not that we should disregard the creations of the past, but that we should try to assimilate them into our consciousness. Slavish conformity to traditions and formulas fetters the expression of individuality in architecture.

May 11, 12, and 13 are the feast days of Saints Mamertus, Pancras, and Gervais (or Gervatius). These three are known as the Three Chilly Saints not because they were cold during their lifetimes, but because these days are traditionally the coldest of the month.

In Germany, they were called the Icemanner, or Icemen Days, and people believed that it was never safe to plant until the Icemen were gone.

The old method for dealing with bad dreams is to tell them aloud above the toilet bowl, and then flush them away.

In her family they used to say that you always had to sit for a minute before heading off on any kind of trip—an old provincial Polish habit—

Keitin teetä. Mustaa teetä. Saakoon nainen tietää, mitä on Tee.

In fact, no real heresy could ever come about in Polish. By its nature, the Polish language is obedient to every orthodoxy.

Reformed theology is ALWAYS being reformed in each new generation. And reformed theology as it is usually reported today is NOT the whole story.

I love everything that's old: old friends, old times, old manners, old books, old wines.