On the value of longstanding traditions

On the value of longstanding traditions

by Jen Davies, nerd

July 22, 2026

This month my spouse and I are making our annual pilgrimmage to Stratford, Ontario for the theatre festival. It was our honeymoon spot - all we could afford was a long weekend. We chose it because I had such fond memories of going in high school, and because he and I both appreciate literature, especially Shakespeare. To the best of my memory we have done it every year, except of course during COVID but we bought access to the online service launched by the Festival at the time so it feels like we attended, and we went to their open air tent production as soon as that was permitted the next year. 

I'm not sentimental. If it were not for other people enjoying traditions, I would probably only recognize birthdays and holidays that have special memories for me like Christmas. I don't like to go to the same place when I travel. I like a weekly routine but it's fine if I don't end up sticking to one, so things like date night have not "stuck" for me. 

But there's value in traditions. There's something fun about looking forward to the annual announcement of their shows, choosing the ones that we want to see, and sometimes coordinating with a mutual friend from ages ago who doesn't live far away in case he wants to see something we're going to. It's really lovely to do something new (so it doesn't feel repetitive) in the same place, and sometimes with the same people. It has become a tradition.

I don't recognize all traditions at face-value because some traditions are problematic. Many things that some people consider traditions are very much not worth keeping due to the self-harm or mysogyny or racism or cultural misappropriation and so on that is embedded in them. As an example, I attended a university whose culture (very nearly officially) valued a work hard/play hard approach to everything, which at the time very unfortunately included extensive alcohol use. Thankfully, the fact that students are significantly younger than they used to be, I hear the attitude involves less alcohol use now (if nothing else, it's a little harder to get), and that's a very good thing - the level of use my tradition encouraged was dangerous. 

Some traditions are political. For example, my spouse and I attend or/and walk in the local Pride parade every year. (Pride is a protest.) For quite a few years in a row we watched the film V for Vendetta on November 5 (the meaning in the film being resonant, rather than the traditional Guy Fawkes Day meaning). Other traditions are fun: for a lot of years my spouse hosted a Halloween night (or close to it) horror RPG, and I think for me he runs Cthulu or Alien (my favourites - when I role play, I lean into it and I'm not afraid to have my character end if it's appropriate - one night I went through three characters at the Halloween game). 

So they're not all bad. But I can't say I value all traditions, and I'm 100% okay with the ones that I have let go. I change, and society changes, so my traditions change, and that's just the way life grows.