The Influence of Holiday Traditions on us

Childhood Memories

How many memories do you have from your childhood that have to do with your holiday traditions? Are they mostly good, memories, or more boring? Are they funny and warm or do they bring back bad feelings of times that were not so great? Are your holiday traditions centered around religious themes or connected mainly to what your family does and always has done? What makes one of your memories more outstanding than another? Do the things you remember still influence your life to this day, and if yes, in which ways? At this time of the year, when we are flowing with the seasons, it is interesting to look at the different kind of memories we hold on to – those which are personally ours, and those we share with the community that we grew up in.

As Pantarei practitioners, we often deal with memories people have from their childhood – memories that they have carried through their life to this day, and therefore their impact is in the here and now. It might be the happy or sad childhood of a client, the moments they cherish and love, or the moments they would rather had never happened. It might be a one-time traumatic event, or an event that spanned years, where someone had to face injustice. It might be the safe feeling they experienced within their family, or the talent they have had from a young age. It can be connected to the client’s family, their school, the community they were a part of; it can even be connected clearly to events that they had no control over, or to a process that took a long time to develop. Whatever it is, our past is part of who we are and by owning it, respecting it and giving it space, we can find great wisdom to support us through our current struggles and challenges.

Our stories are unique

A Pantarei somatic practitioner listens to what their clients tell them – their unique story – but also to who they are and who they were – during the time of the events, before the events took place, and often after. We know that when we were young, being ourselves was sometimes a real challenge but whatever we had to go through, is a part of who we are today. It might even be that parts that were disturbing and different when we were young, end up being strengths and uniqueness later on in life. Pantarei practitioners are interested in all of that, as we know that sometimes it is the circumstances that allow a certain part of uniqueness to strengthen and express itself.

Holiday’s memories

Almost all of us, have memories from our holiday traditions – some of them are being passed to us from year to year, from generation to generation, creating a continuation of life, of our people, and our ancestors.  There is some magic in knowing that some of the rituals we have today, were established hundreds or thousands of years ago. The painted eggs we might create this weekend as Christians was a tradition that started thousands years ago, as eating Matzah for Passover in a Jewish family was something that’s described in the bible. The way we manifest those holiday traditions naturally changes over the years, but still there is something in the spirit of us as people, that we as human beings took the practices of our ancestors and somehow decided to continue to practice them into modern times and beyond.

Memories and tradition

As somatic practitioners teaching clients to experience their being, remembering that some memories we carry in our body are more than personal memories is an interesting concept. There is a deep feeling of belonging when we realize that although our time on this earth is limited, we somehow also belong to a greater family than the one we know of; that we are the daughters and the sons of many generations, witnesses to great developments that lasted throughout many generations. There is a certain sensation of belonging we have that is beyond our own private story, beyond our own past or the life circumstances we deal with.

Happy holiday, happy spring

We wish you to celebrate the holiday times with people you care for and love, while respecting the past, living in the present, and creating the future.