I have once read that culture is a memory. I recollect this statement now, when thinking about the large number of family traditions now forgotten and neglected. Just as culture is partially made up of customs preserved since older days, each family’s culture is represented by the rites and ceremonies carried out in a family circle among the people united by blood relation. There is something undeniably special and valuable in each little custom kept safe in each family member’s memory. However, contemporary perception of life as it is often denies the significance of family culture.

Family evenings, sharing a meal with ones’ relatives, personal contacts among all family members, differences in age and personalities being smoothed by the inborn respect and honor, are all phenomena becoming the thing of the past. And that is exactly what I think we should prevent from happening. The tradition of family unity and mutual support is now in danger of being forgotten, as well as each family is in danger of losing its most precious qualities, which we should not allow to happen. Since what is a person without knowing one’s roots, realizing one’s origin, and bearing connections that cannot be broken by anything in the whole world?

Every Sunday evening my family gathers around the mahogany dining table to pray and to share a meal that my aunt prepares. Eating Sunday dinner together has become a nice tradition of ours that I believe to be conductive to the good relationships in the family. This ritual was given start to by my grandmother, who carried it out regularly all her life. It was eventually taken up by my aunt. Grandmother’s original goal was to bring us together in order to bring religious inspiration into our lives. She believed that love begins with give and take, and everyone can become involved in this loving transaction by praying, offering and accepting food. I recollect each such meeting with joy and sweet melancholy. I never feel as happy as when being surrounded by my loved ones. We usually talk a lot, yet not about general facts or current events. We communicate our deepest thoughts and feelings to each other, sharing our emotional experiences, talking about our inner conflicts and anxieties. When the dinner is over we usually have a rest, reading or watching TV all together.

My favorite part of the evening is when we all pray. Uttering the words of faith, hope and gratitude that we address to the Lord, each one asking to never abandon us and to help us move in the right directions, – the whole process is something truly amazing. There is something mysteriously powerful in how we all stop and pray, all overfilled with the common sense of reverence and peace. These are the moments when we share our love not only with each other, but with the whole universe. The common upsurge of emotions that we go through unites us in an exceptionally wonderful way. When the whole family is praying in the common religious inspiration, I start to realize that our unity is something not solely about the blood relation; it is also about spiritual harmony that we revive each Sunday while saying the words of prayer.

Sunday meetings are the happiest moments of my life, that I wait for impatiently through the whole of the week. I regard myself as a modern and advanced person, but I believe our family traditions to be an inalienable part of my life, that have always had a great deal of influence on the formation of my personality. I do not understand why some people regard contemporaneity and adherence to traditions as two absolutely incompatible phenomena. I believe that ignorance of the traditions and neglectful attitude to the cultural values result in overall lack of culture in the modern society. If culture is a memory indeed, than how can there be any culture at all if we intentionally strive to forget the history of our origins? Traditions were not created for nothing, they were worked out to bring particular benefit to the society. I believe that our family tradition of having common Sunday dinners has strengthened our family ties and has become fundamental to our emotional and spiritual health. Due to the following of family traditions I was taught to realize the importance of warm and trusting relationship between people. I believe our gatherings to help me realize the true values and to teach me to follow my true believes.