Blessings Throughout the Year

In the Christian religion the star is a sign of Peace On Earth Good Will Towards All. Christmas is a time of celebrating our Lord’s love. Many traditions surround it in our family: baking and decorating cookies, making gifts to give to others, decorating a tree, family gatherings and a midnight candlelight church service on Christmas eve.

Whether your religious beliefs and traditions are similar, different, or non-existent, my wish for each of you is that you experience blessings of love, joy and peace throughout the whole year.

Bonnie Fatio

A Geneva Tradition: Escalade

Traditions are important as a means of bringing people together for a common purpose. We have family traditions that include celebrating holidays, watching the sunset and greeting visiting friends or family at the airport with flowers. There are also community traditions such as how people celebrate the national holiday together in their town.

The city and state of Geneva, Switzerland have a unique tradition of celebrating the Escalade. It is the day that they commemorate the citizens of Geneva fighting off the Savoyards during the night of December 11th 1602, and thus remaining independent and free.

There is much folklore around the festivities. One story tells of La Mère Royaume, a woman who took the cauldron of vegetable soup off the fire and threw it on the enemy soldiers. This has resulted in delicious chocolate cauldrons filled with marzipan vegetables like those you see strewn over the table in the photo above.

These chocolate cauldrons are then smashed by the oldest and youngest person as they hold hands and say, “And thus perishes the enemies of the Republic!” This is to the great delight of all ages since you then eat the chocolate and its candy vegetables.

Bonnie Fatio

Having fun and meeting with people of different generations keeps us up to date on what is happening in the world as seen from other age groups.  It also gives us opportunities to share from our own point of view.

A delightful way to meet with others is through traditions that we share.  The tradition of having an annual family picnic to celebrate the national holiday creates memories for each member of the family.

If you don’t have a family, borrow neighbors and friends to create an intergenerational tradition.  Here are some ideas.

• Organize a treasure hunt mixing ages on each team.  It is a great way to learn to value the qualities of others as you follow clues that demand creativity, logic, technical skills, physical agility…  Different members get to shine at different moments.  You can be certain that it will become a tradition as participants beg to have another.
• Produce a play and perform it for friends and neighbors each summer.  All ages can work together as actors, prompters, ticket sellers…  You can perform outdoors or in a garage.
• Orchestrate a Mad Hatter’s Tea Party.  Each person can arrive with a homemade hat or you can encourage them to bring material, ribbon, paper, flowers and food like string beans with them for everyone to share while they make their hats on the spot.  You can also break them into teams to make one hat among them which is then modeled and judged.  Be sure to have a judge from each age group on the jury.

Ideas are endless.  Fly kites.  Line dance.  Have a day at the beach.  Organize a spelling contest.  You will be surprised how much fun it can be to begin an intergenerational tradition.

Happy Mother’s Day!

Most countries have a special day to celebrate mothers.  Mother’s Day is a wonderful occasion for traditions:  children make little gifts and cards in school; bouquets of flowers are gathered; poems are written; mother’s chores are done by others so she can rest…  There are multiple ways to make a mother feel special.  Why not try one of the following?

• Make a picture album with photos of you and your mother and grandmother.
• Create a book of Memories with Mom.  Fill each page with a special memory.
• Sprinkle her home with notes of love.  Put notes in places where she is sure to find them: refrigerator, medicine cabinet, pillow on her bed,…  On each note write something that you love about her.  This can be fun to do with your children for their grandmother.
• If your mother is no longer alive, adopt a mother for the day.
• Reach out to women who have touched your life and remind them of what they mean to you and that you love them.

Traditions can also be solo.  Sometimes it is fun to begin a meaningful tradition just for yourself.  It can provide a wonderful  means to pamper yourself by repeating something that you especially enjoy.   This will increase your happiness which also enhances your AgeEsteem.

A tradition can be related to a hobby or sport.

• Fishing on the first day of the season no matter what the weather.
• Getting up to watch the sunrise on the first day of summer.
• Making a collage of photos at the end of each year.
• Giving something you own to someone who needs it on your birthday.
• Treating yourself to a special brunch each Sunday.

Of course these solo traditions may become contagious and  include other people as well.

Sharing the sunset

There are numerous places in the world from the U.S. to South Africa and Australia where my husband and I have joined the local tradition of watching the sun go down at the end of the day.   It is like donuts and champagne or balloons and dancing on New Year’s eve or a picnic on the first day of summer.  As soon as we repeat the event, it becomes tradition.  We expect it and look forward to repeating it yet again.

Traditions are  healthy for our age-esteem.

• They give us occasion to celebrate.
• We look forward and plan for these events, whether as organizer or participant.
• Traditions are social events that bring us together with others.
• Traditions are often inter-generational, offering an opportunity for all ages to have fun together.
• They create memories and images to savor and to share.
• They do not need to cost anything, like sharing the sunset.