There’s much to be learned from “The ancient city” and to a degree implement much of the wisdom within that book in our modern life, Coulanges made a great job of recognizing these customs of ancient European peoples(with great emphasis on the Greeks and romans).
Great article.
I would also like to give my input on how important it is to recognize one’s ancestors and the debt one owns to them:
My grandfather was a fairly devout Catholic (and my grandmother too but that’s not about her, great grandma overall still) still is I suppose, although my family was and still is of Traditional Catholics, I myself am fairly devoted to my faith, but the point here is to talk a bit about how my grandparents raised me(parents had to work a lot you see) specially my grandfather: when I was 6 he gave me a bow and a few arrows and told me to go into the woods to shoot something and be back before dark, he taught me how to make a fire, gave me my first knife, we would go fishing sometimes despite the fact he was terrified of large bodies of water due to a episode where he almost drowned in a river during patrol when he was in the military, he was saved by a native to whom he gave a proper uniform as a gift of gratitude(without any medals or insignias of course as he couldn’t give those to civilians), he taught me fencing and insisted that I learned judo from a young age, and after days full of these adventures, that surely must have been taxing on his aging person, he would sit me down by the hearth while my grandmother made us tea from her herbal garden and baked us bread to serve with butter and eggs, and while we waited my grandpa would read me the Iliad, Odyssey, Aeneid, Lusiad and the Bible, he would tell me about how the Bible was the tales of our religion and our God, the Iliad the tales of the greatest men of pagan times, the odyssey a reminder that the most important thing is your home and your people, the Aeneid the most remote story of my ancestors by my fathers side(Italian) and how the Lusiad was the great epic of the heroes of the people of my mothers side of the family(Portuguese/lusitans) he taught me how to read and write with those books.
He also passed down to me all family lore from his side of the family, all the story of Portugal and Iberia, how and why we came to South America, he told me tragic tales of how our lineage was purged with many of the traditionalists by the Marquis de Pombal, how our lands were seized and how the survivors fled to Spain before changing their names and returning to the motherland, attempted to resume their lives as better kings came to rule the land, he told me about how they were always faithful supporters of the kings, how they became Forresters and rangers and later administered 70 hives of bees as they dedicated to apiculture,he told me about how the republicans, anarchists and socialists burned our bee hives, he told me about how my ancestor at the time(great grandfather) cried in despair at the cruelty of what was done to the bees he so carefully and lovingly tended to since he was young, he told me of the world wars and how Portugal ceased to be a kingdom and although he spoke well of Salazar he told me that he was no king, and how my ancestors moved to South America for a better, simpler life, how they bought their farm, how hard they labored in it, how his father joined the navy and he later joined the air-force and later intelligence, he told me how he met my grandmother in a train ride, he told me our history and the weight of each ancestor he cited weighted on me, I felt admiration and love for them, I came to understand how much I owed them and how much those that come after me will depend upon my choices, it was a very important lesson for a young me.
So yes, I think it is important to preserve family traditions, sorry if this comment was too long, and also for any grammar mistakes or “Reddit spacing”.
I moved with my family to my grandparents' house after they died. This alone brings me more in line with my ancestry.
We did not have many family traditions. Mostly probably because grandad worked in another country almost all his working life. That left a hole in the family, because my dad and him did not have a great relationship which was amplified by some strange decisions on the side of my grandad. But, now I live closer to my family, and am more connected to my ancestry. Having now sons of my own, I think about these things all the time.
How to be a good priest in my family, how to bring my kids up, how to deepen my relationship with my father etc.
Because of these many questions, I realized I needed to put them on paper, and have made an outline of basic subjects I wanted to write about, but in the end it was a long outline and it will take some time to write all that, but your writing encourages me to do so. Thank you
"Sentimentalism through 1950’s artwork is not going to reinvigorate the life of the family. Nor will the wholesome visages of your typical family television programming or even lighthearted family events at your local church. "
There’s much to be learned from “The ancient city” and to a degree implement much of the wisdom within that book in our modern life, Coulanges made a great job of recognizing these customs of ancient European peoples(with great emphasis on the Greeks and romans).
Great article.
I would also like to give my input on how important it is to recognize one’s ancestors and the debt one owns to them:
My grandfather was a fairly devout Catholic (and my grandmother too but that’s not about her, great grandma overall still) still is I suppose, although my family was and still is of Traditional Catholics, I myself am fairly devoted to my faith, but the point here is to talk a bit about how my grandparents raised me(parents had to work a lot you see) specially my grandfather: when I was 6 he gave me a bow and a few arrows and told me to go into the woods to shoot something and be back before dark, he taught me how to make a fire, gave me my first knife, we would go fishing sometimes despite the fact he was terrified of large bodies of water due to a episode where he almost drowned in a river during patrol when he was in the military, he was saved by a native to whom he gave a proper uniform as a gift of gratitude(without any medals or insignias of course as he couldn’t give those to civilians), he taught me fencing and insisted that I learned judo from a young age, and after days full of these adventures, that surely must have been taxing on his aging person, he would sit me down by the hearth while my grandmother made us tea from her herbal garden and baked us bread to serve with butter and eggs, and while we waited my grandpa would read me the Iliad, Odyssey, Aeneid, Lusiad and the Bible, he would tell me about how the Bible was the tales of our religion and our God, the Iliad the tales of the greatest men of pagan times, the odyssey a reminder that the most important thing is your home and your people, the Aeneid the most remote story of my ancestors by my fathers side(Italian) and how the Lusiad was the great epic of the heroes of the people of my mothers side of the family(Portuguese/lusitans) he taught me how to read and write with those books.
He also passed down to me all family lore from his side of the family, all the story of Portugal and Iberia, how and why we came to South America, he told me tragic tales of how our lineage was purged with many of the traditionalists by the Marquis de Pombal, how our lands were seized and how the survivors fled to Spain before changing their names and returning to the motherland, attempted to resume their lives as better kings came to rule the land, he told me about how they were always faithful supporters of the kings, how they became Forresters and rangers and later administered 70 hives of bees as they dedicated to apiculture,he told me about how the republicans, anarchists and socialists burned our bee hives, he told me about how my ancestor at the time(great grandfather) cried in despair at the cruelty of what was done to the bees he so carefully and lovingly tended to since he was young, he told me of the world wars and how Portugal ceased to be a kingdom and although he spoke well of Salazar he told me that he was no king, and how my ancestors moved to South America for a better, simpler life, how they bought their farm, how hard they labored in it, how his father joined the navy and he later joined the air-force and later intelligence, he told me how he met my grandmother in a train ride, he told me our history and the weight of each ancestor he cited weighted on me, I felt admiration and love for them, I came to understand how much I owed them and how much those that come after me will depend upon my choices, it was a very important lesson for a young me.
So yes, I think it is important to preserve family traditions, sorry if this comment was too long, and also for any grammar mistakes or “Reddit spacing”.
In Latin it is called "focus"...
Really enjoyed reading the article.
I moved with my family to my grandparents' house after they died. This alone brings me more in line with my ancestry.
We did not have many family traditions. Mostly probably because grandad worked in another country almost all his working life. That left a hole in the family, because my dad and him did not have a great relationship which was amplified by some strange decisions on the side of my grandad. But, now I live closer to my family, and am more connected to my ancestry. Having now sons of my own, I think about these things all the time.
How to be a good priest in my family, how to bring my kids up, how to deepen my relationship with my father etc.
Because of these many questions, I realized I needed to put them on paper, and have made an outline of basic subjects I wanted to write about, but in the end it was a long outline and it will take some time to write all that, but your writing encourages me to do so. Thank you
"Sentimentalism through 1950’s artwork is not going to reinvigorate the life of the family. Nor will the wholesome visages of your typical family television programming or even lighthearted family events at your local church. "
Amen.