Making Traditions

I don't know exactly when it started, probably in 2004 or 2005, but every year I find myself watching the movie 'Gettysburg' some time between July 1st and 3rd, the days that the battle took place.  Is it hokey?  Yes.  Not as hokey as if I were watching it on three separate days to coincide with the actions of the battle.  That would be down right troubling.  I prefer to watch it all in one sitting.  One, four hour long, take an intermission break, have both breakfast and lunch during the viewing, sitting.  It's my own little nod to a part of history that I have always found interesting and the movie is very enjoyable.

While the movie watching might not be what most people would call a 'tradition' in the normal sense of the word, I am going to include it.  Normally, when you think of a tradition, you think of eating a holiday meal at one specific relative's house, or going camping at the same place every year with the same group of people.  I don't necessarily think that traditions have to occur at the same time year in and year out.  I know that when I think of 'traditions' that families have, they tend to revolve around holidays.  Which is the norm, is it not?  Whether it is summer holidays or winter holidays, I'm sure every family has at least one tradition that they stick to each year.

When you think of a tradition, you do not normally think of sitting down and watching a movie the same time each year.  And why not?  Because normally, a tradition is something you do with other people.  Whether it is family or friends, a tradition is something you can always mark on a calendar and call people a month ahead of time to make sure that the plans are still on.  When I was growing up, each summer we went camping with our longtime family friends.  I do not remember it always being the same time every year, but I just remember going each year.  That is the nice thing about a tradition that doesn't revolve around a holiday.  If you take a summer camping trip with friends, it doesn't have to be the same weekend every year, it can just take place in the summer.  Or if you go on a ski trip each winter, it doesn't have to be the second weekend in January every year.

But sitting down and watching a movie around the same time each year can be a personal tradition.  For people like me who enjoy both history and movies, taking the time to watch a movie the same day(s) as the historical event took place, that's a pinnacle of nerdiness.  If you want to watch 'Half Baked' on April 20th each year, go nuts.  Watch 'The Longest Day' each June 6th if that tickles your fancy.  More recently, I have noticed that television channels have been doing holiday marathons of movie series.  AMC did a 'Jaws' marathon leading up to the 4th of July weekend.  I have seen channels like TNT, Spike, and TBS all show movies like the 'Lord of the Ring' trilogy, the 'Star Wars' prequals and original trilogy.

So there are different kinds of traditions that you can now start to call your own.  Traditions that don't involve the stress of planning out entire weekends or weeks.  Traditions that are cost saving too.  And yes, these types of traditions are a bit anti-social.  But if you are going to just sit down and watch a few movies, that isn't going to take up an entire week....unless you want it to.  

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