LAST weekend my mum was hosting her annual Burns Night supper – which is basically the same as any other dinner only with a dash of ‘Scottishness’ about it. By that I mean she crumbled a bit of shortbread over a trifle...
Please forgive me if I sound a little cynical but this is quite a new foray as this ‘traditional’ Burns Night dinner was only added to the calendar of family celebrations last year.
There are, I know, a couple of reasons for this sudden interest in Scottish culture. The first is because Mum loves a theme (the tartan will soon be replaced by hearts and roses before the shamrocks appear). The second reason is because she took an Ancestry test a couple of years ago and discovered that her DNA heritage, quite surprisingly, is 43% Scottish.
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This got me thinking about how some family traditions can survive for generations and how comforting it must be to have these special and often unique connections to beloved family members.
My great grandmother (the same one who relied on her trusty barometer rather than any weather forecast) never removed her wedding ring from the day and hour my great grandfather put it on her finger. My mum, in honour of her grandmother, decided to do the same. She has been married for 26 years (to date) and has never fully removed the gold band.
However, I appreciate that in today’s society traditions such as these would be viewed as outdated and unrealistic. As I mentioned in a previous column, there is no longer the same pressure for couples to marry or, indeed, stay together. It is also true that times have changed dramatically and circumstances vary greatly between generations.
Recipes are another example of something often passed down through families. My grandmother always used to make her mother’s traditional recipe for Christmas pudding. My mother, however, does not like Christmas pudding (or baking) and to be honest the list of ingredients, which includes suet, would be quite difficult to source and fairly expensive.
Today it is, of course, much more convenient just to buy a Christmas pudding and there’s such an extensive range on offer. Let’s face it, these days Granny’s old Irish stew recipe is probably not going to appeal to the foodies or the vegans…
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That’s the thing though, many traditions and practices were borne out of necessity. Both my great grandmother and grandmother were skilled dressmakers, they could knit beautiful chunky Aran sweaters and easily run up a pair of curtains. Today this is not necessary because we can peruse a huge selection of clothing, knitwear and homeware online – almost anything you could ever want is only a click away. In this face-paced digital world who even has the time to sew curtains?
It is clear that this generation is the furthest removed from any generation before in terms of advances in technology and because of that many of the customs and behaviours passed down through families are likely to disappear altogether.
This fills me with a certain sense of sadness because I know I am part of the problem - I am not suddenly going to start making Christmas puddings or knitting sweaters, even though, as psychologist Andrea Bonior explains, “There’s almost an existential sense of connectivity to something greater than ourselves, I think, when traditions are perpetuated.”
However, there is some hope I suppose - I do like a man in a kilt so hosting a traditional Burns Night supper many not be completely out of the question…
