Growing up Catholic is riddled with traditions of all sorts. As lent closes and the Easter Triduum falls upon us, we get to participate in some of these traditions. Some of these traditions may be annoying, and some we just want to hold onto. This is what it’s like when you’re a 20-something returning from college and just not really into the whole practicing Catholicism thing anymore.
- Watching the Passion of the Christ on Good Friday.
This is a tradition I’m interested in keeping. Not for the purpose of learning the story because I’ve watched the movie every year, but for the purpose of watching a great film.
- Attending Easter Vigil Mass.
This tradition causes a fight every year in my house. Some of my family members want to go to the Saturday night mass, so that they don’t have to wake up early. The others (including me) do not want to be at mass that late on a Saturday night.
- Attending Easter Sunday Mass.
Once the debate is over and we decide we are not going to the Easter Vigil mass, the dreadful moment comes on Sunday morning to get up and attend Mass. I, for one, am not a fan of getting up early, or of Mass in general. So while everyone else is getting ready, I continue to sleep. The moment finally comes when someone realizes I am not ready. It is then decided that they will go to Mass without me, which is a win-win situation for everyone. I can continue to sleep and they don’t have to deal with me being miserable at Mass.
- My favorite tradition, the food.
Because I didn’t attend Mass, I will normally help in the kitchen. My siblings like to make comments about how me not attending Mass is me being a bad Catholic, but God teaches us to love everyone and never said we had to go to a specified building to pray, so I take their judgment without really caring. My family is a mixture of many nationalities, so we have food from every culture. We make kielbasa and sauerkraut, pierogies, German potato salad (my grandmom’s recipe is the best), ham, deviled eggs and so many other foods. For dessert, we typically have cupcakes and other sweets, but my favorite is the babka (a sweet yeast cake).
There are other traditions that we grew out of seeing as the youngest in my family is 18. Overall, Easter is a great holiday and many families have different traditions. Some of these traditions are good and some we tend to grow out of, but no one can argue that the food is the best part of any holiday.
