Traditions+CN 

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Society has had many traditions through the years, and most of them have been benign. Traditions like Thanksgiving and Christmas bring families and friends together. Even Halloween has allowed for people to dress-up in costumes and have fun. It's these kinds of traditions that have allowed people to grow closer as friends. These traditions have been around for a long time and have interesting back-stories, and these are traditions that we all know and love.=====

Christmas has always been a holiday that during it, I would think about spending time with family. Yet when I was very young I just thought of getting presents from Santa Claus. The thing about Christmas is that it has two stories behind it that make it the tradition we know today, and both contribute a lot to the tradition. The first story is about the birth of Jesus Christ in a barn, located in the City of David (aka Bethlehem). As most people know when Jesus was born an new star appeared in the night sky, this marked the birth of Jesus Christ who was known as the m essiah. Three wise men followed this star and presented Jesus with three gifts, gold, frankincense, and mirth. His birthday is what we all know now as the tradition called Christmas.

The second story talks about one of Christmas's cover-boys "Santa". He was originally called St. Nicholas. He came from a rich family, and was well known for when he gave gold to a father who could not afford to pay the dowry for his daughters' marriages (that's Christmas some generosity). The way he gave the gold was that he dropped it down the chimney. This story shows that he is one of the reasons we give presents on Christmas. It's these stories that help me see the important things about Christmas, and shows why I think that this tradition of society is a beneficial one, because it brings families together.

The next tradition on the list is Thanksgiving. As the name implies this holiday is about having gratitude for all of the things you have. Not only that but you would usually have a big dinner together with your family. How this began was that when the pilgrims had arrived at Plymouth rock they couldn't grow any plants for food. So that's where Squanto came he and the other Native Americans decided to help the pilgrims learn how to hunt and grow crops. To celebrate this they had a feast which was later known as Thanksgiving. So even in the beginning Thanksgiving was about friends and family coming together and being grateful for what they have.

So after writing about these traditions I discovered why they became holidays. I also realized how they have managed to stay so long. It's simply because people love to spend time with there families; and these traditions of society do just that, they bring our families together so that we can spend time with each other. With what these traditions of society that I have written about do for all of us makes them beneficial, and that's simply because my family is very important to me.