This is another one of the Steader series in how to make institutions last past one generation by creating and sustaining a strong sense of rewarding identity.
It focuses on the family, which is the institution that for most is the shakiest at the moment. Lenin said, ‘Who, Whom,” but increasingly the question of our day is just ‘Who?’ Who is going to have grandchildren in 50 years? Who won’t?
Cultural holidays are wonderful to celebrate as a group because it allows you to use the energy the culture has invested in the holiday for your family. Most of the work of creating a sense of occasion has already been done for you.
Further, holidays reinforce the sense of time and season and ritual.
That is the base level. There are three ways to enhance it.
(The principles here apply to any holiday but the examples will be for the Fourth.)
Be that family
The first is the basic steader concept of doing the something the culture praises but just a little bit better t han the culture usually does it. That reinforces your distinctiveness in a way where the culture is recognizing and valorizing your distinctiveness. If most people on your street don’t fly a flag, fly one. If they fly one, fly two. If everyone goes to the parade, go to the parade dressed out, with extra chairs and water you hand out to the marchers, and yell just a little bit louder.
Gather the family
A brief family gathering where you explain why the holiday matters to you will strongly enhance the sense of ritual and season. It reinforces your authority and the importance of your concepts to them.
Tie the holiday to you family concept
Interlace the cultural holiday energy with your family concepts. Whatever you do that is distinctive, use that for the holiday.
If your family has a great front yard and an inviting frontage, decorate! Do the decorations yourself. For wealthy steaders, hiring a service should only supplement not replace your decorations. Primary production is not just about producing food or clothing. Celebration and ritual and occasion is something that you need to produce, not just consume.
Steader report:
Early this morning my daughter told me if coach asked I had forbidden my girls to go to practice. “Oh?” “Yeah, Dad, because putting out the flags in the morning is tradition!”
If you work wood, do something beautiful out of wood. Here is one steader’s amazing craft. Look at the grain.
If you have a huge hickory in your front yard that your family babies and harvests, with an old fashioned swing, put bunting on the tree and on the swing.
If you are a swim family, go to the pool in red, white, and blue. If you are a boating or kayak family, fly the flag around the lake or down the river.
If you homestead, use your produce and your meat. Try to have your first batch of corn by the Fourth.
Its corny only if you don’t understand the why.
If you do this right, in the future fireworks will make your children think I love my family. I want it to go on.
Extended Family
Holidays are good occasions for get togethers.
Neighborhood steading
Mass decoration brings a neighborhood together like no other. Have the scouts or neighborhood kids go up and down offering to help.
And don’t forget neighborhood barbecues and neighborhood fireworks.
Conclusion
Like Monsieur Jordain in Moliere’s play, who discovered he’d been speaking prose his whole life, perhaps you just discovered that you’ve been holiday steading your whole life. Give yourself a pat on the back!
You have all the ingredients for a fruitful holiday approach, but you still need the capstone. At some point reinforce the implicit experience with an explicit comment. Ask the kids what their favorite part was and how they want to do it when they have families of their own. Tell them your family has great holidays and you look forward to celebrating with them and their children when they are grown.