By María Eugenia Lopez

According to Webster's Dictionary, the word "tradition" means "the passing down of a culture from generation to generation." Although that's a very prim and proper definition, I like to think of tradition as glue -- a particular type of glue -- the glue of humanity. It's what keeps us together. That's its most important job. It's what defines us. It's what makes us do what we do, why we go to church on Sunday, why we try our best to be home for the holidays, why we feast on turkey the last Thursday in November, and why we must put up the Christmas tree the first Sunday following that Thursday in November. As Tevye shouted loud and clear from the rooftop -- TRADITION!
And thank Heaven, for without tradition, we wouldn't be preparing for the loveliest tradition of all -- Christmas. I purposely used the word "loveliest" because Christmas is a time of love and loving, and although many countries celebrate a variety of different holidays which are as diverse as their cultures and races, making them totally foreign to us, over 100 countries celebrate Christmas.
For example, in Iraq, in Christian homes on Christmas Eve, one of the children reads the story of the Nativity from an Arabic Bible. After, a bonfire is lit in the courtyard and, according to tradition, the way the fire burns determines the future of the house for the coming year.
In Bethlehem, site of the Church of the Nativity, on Christmas Eve, there is an annual procession with galloping horsemen and police mounted on Arabian horses. A solitary horseman, carrying a cross sitting astride a coal-black steed, follows. The procession enters the church, placing an ancient effigy of the Holy Child in the Church.
In the traditional Russian Christmas, on Christmas Eve, hay is spread on the floors and tables to encourage horse feed to grow in the coming year. Instead of Santa Claus, their traditional Christmas figure is Babushka, meaning "grandmother." The legend is told that she declined to go with the Wise Men to see Jesus because of the cold weather. However, she regretted not going and set off to try and catch up, filling her basket with presents. She never found Jesus and that is why she visits each house leaving toys for good children.
In England, according to an article by Maria Georgiou, folks celebrate Christmas like any other Western country. They decorate their homes, display a tree complete with decorations, take part in the giving and receiving of gifts, which they do as a sign of friendship and goodwill toward others; however, a great majority of the different cultures in England don't actually believe in what the holiday represents. On Christmas Eve, instead of leaving milk and cookies for Santa, the children leave a glass of brandy and mince pie for Father Christmas and a carrot and a bowl of water for the reindeer. Interestingly, the English keep alive a tradition quite similar to one of our Hispanic ones. They prepare a pudding, dropping in a coin before it is cooked. This is said to bring wealth, health, and happiness to whomever is lucky enough to find it when the pudding is cut. We make a bread instead and put in an effigy of Baby Jesus, and whomever is lucky enough to get it when the bread is cut, hosts a party.
In Quebec, Canadians display creches or nativity scenes in their homes much as we do here in the United States. Also, after attending midnight mass, they come home to a meal of tourtiere, or pork pie, while Hispanics on this side of the border, come home to a meal of tamales after their midnight mass.
According to Erin Burnett, because some American traditions have found their way into Mexico, some Mexican children will get a visit from Santa Claus, but there will be other Mexican children who will be visited instead by El Niño Dios, Baby Jesus. Mexico also celebrates January 6 as El Dia de Los Reyes Magos, The Day of the Wisemen, with gift exchanging. Las Posadas, which is a reenactment of the birth of Christ, play an important part in their holidays. This is a religious procession reenacting the search for lodging by Joseph and Mary before the birth of Jesus. During the procession, participants go door to door for nine nights, carrying the images of Mary and Joseph pleading for posada, lodging. At prearranged homes, lodging is offered and everyone then comes in for a party. According to Burnett, the birth of Christ is "very much the central theme of the Mexican Christmas celebration." She further claims that although the Mexican holiday is impressive, lasting almost a month, "people rarely lose sight of the true meaning of Christmas." The traditional flower of the Mexican Christmas season is the beautiful noche buena, which means Christmas Eve and is known throughout the world as the poinsettia.
Here in the United States, a myriad of traditions abound because of the many nationalities that have helped shaped this country. To begin with, Santa Claus came to us via the Dutch in the 17th century as Sintaklaas, the Dutch translation of St. Nicolas. In 1863, he mutated to Santa Claus, acquiring a red suit, pipe, reindeer, and a sleigh.
In Pennsylvania, the Moravians, who settled there, build a landscape called a "putz" under their Christmas tree while the Germans, who also settled there, receive gifts from Belsnickle instead of Santa.
In New Orleans, a huge ox parades around the streets with its horns wrapped up in holly and ribbons at Christmas.
In Arizona, home to many Mexican Americans, Las Posadas are reenacted with families playing out the parts of Mary and Joseph searching for a place to stay. In New Mexico, the sand-filled paper bags with lighted candles in them are a symbolic way of lighting up the way for the Christ Child.
Polish Americans spread hay on their kitchen floor and under the tablecloth as a reminder of a stable and a manger. Two extra plates are set up at the dinner table for Mary and the Christ Child in case they should come.
Laredo, too, has its traditions, and some Laredoans were gracious enough to share these with me, even including some of their favorite Christmas memories, like Mrs. Estela Quintanilla, English teacher at Martin High School, who remembered with a smile how her husband Manuel and her brothers Luis and Roberto Ramirez would be the first ones to play with son David's electronic toys on Christmas morning. Little David would just sit there and watch them and wait for a chance to play! She also remembers her grandmother, Mrs. Eva García Ramirez, hanging up as her Christmas stocking one of those long, beige, cotton stockings so popular with female senior citizens. A few days before Christmas she would begin badmouthing Santa Claus, saying , "¡No, ese viejo feo no me va a traer nada a mi!" Well, come Christmas Day, her stocking would be full of rocks and ugly old potatoes, courtesy of her husband, whom she would involve in this ruse in order to teach Estela and her siblings to be good children.
Sylvia Garza, senior English teacher at Martin, recalls coming home one evening with her husband Roy and then-six-year-old daughter Nadia and three-year-old Roy, Jr., and spotting a Santa Claus going into someone's house. The kids were ecstatic and worried that they wouldn't be home in time to bathe and get to sleep in time for Santa to come to their house.
No problem getting them to bed that night!
Mrs. Hortense Offerle, Tuesday Music and Literature Club president, remembers the lovely tradition her parents, Mr. and Mrs. George and Johnnie Reuthinger, had of not putting up the tree or presents until Horty and her siblings had gone to bed Christmas Eve. She recalls the excitement of waking up and seeing the tree and the presents for the first time on Christmas Day. She still marvels at how her parents were able to do this.
Ms. Melinda Hein Rodriguez remembered a tradition she was part of as a student at Ursuline Academy called the Christ Child Feast. The entire student body would get together and prepare a party for a group of needy children whose names had been supplied by a priest. There was food and drinks, entertainment and gifts. The gist of this event was that the money needed for all this had to be raised by the students themselves. They had to start saving money at the beginning of Advent, four Sundays before Christmas. Melinda muses, "I'll never forget what a wonderful feeling it was to share with others."
Mrs. Graciela Diaz shared a memory concerning her son Marco Antonio Diaz, now of Hialeah, Florida, and her daughter Marizel Diaz, now a professor at LCC, when they were around six and seven. Graciela and her husband had gone to a dance and left her sister babysitting the children. Upon their return, they found the Christmas tree, a seven-footer, on the floor. When asked about it, neither one of the children would say anything. They never told on each other, even to this day.
Mrs. Adela Gutierrez, Spanish Master Teacher at Martin High, warmly remembers the first Christmas she and husband Luis spent with the two daughters they had just adopted, Rosa, five, and Lupita, three. Luis dressed up as Santa and surprised the girls. Adela says it was just a magical night seeing the expressions on the girls' faces. Their son Reynaldo was 15 at the time and even he got excited over "Santa."
Raquel Senties, local playwright, lived in Vera Cruz when her children were growing up and recalls a lovely tradition celebrated there. The children would band together and using drums, flutes, and horns, toured the neighborhood singing "Naranjas y limones": "limones y naranjas / mas linda la Virgen / que todas las flores."
There were additional stanzas, and the object, of course, was to obtain candy. Her sons Daniel, Juan Manuel, Jorge, Rogelio, and Rodolfo participated in this, with Rogelio playing the flute. Music continues being an important part of Rogelio's life as he is an accomplished pianist to this day.
Hilda Silva Rubio of Silva International recalls with a deep sense of pride and love one of the Christmas traditions in her family, the baking of fruit cakes. Her father, José Silva, founder of the Silva Method, was in charge of bringing home the ingredients and her mother Paulita made them. The cakes were objets d'art in themselves as they were so beautifully crafted. "Glazed and decorated skillfully with the candied red and green cherries, the cakes glistened like jewels in the rays of the sun," writes Hilda in her book, Under The Shadow of A Legend, soon to be published. Her mom would make big cakes for the priests and small ones for the neighbors as Christmas gifts.
In our family, one tradition was that you waited until Christmas Day to open presents except for the ones my sons, Oscar, Guillermo (Memo) and Carlitos would exchange. Those they opened on Christmas Eve, creating two days of gift opening, much to their delight! The main tradition, of course, was the buying of the Christmas tree. This required a great deal of patience, for the complete approval of all three boys was required before purchase was made. Carlitos, being the youngest, kept us going around in circles with his, "But I don't want a skinny tree!"
Yes, traditions really do keep us together, and may this coming season shower you with a multiplicity of opportunities to add to your stockpile of traditions.

(María Eugenia Lopez is a long-time English teacher at Martin High School.)