I looked it up in a book and found words such as, custom, belief, practice and culture. There is more to it but these basic words encompass the meaning good enough to carry on. Now it would be appropriate to check the book and see what it says about family.

The Meaning Of Family

The first word in my reference book afoot is household. Hum? That might not be enough. There is forefathers, descendants, lineage, group, classification, clan, tribe and children. Those words should just about cover all of the creatures on this planet. So there you have it. Put the two words together and we get to the meaning of family tradition. This gets complicated from here on, such is life.

Complicated, to keep it simple.

Where Do We Go From Here?

Family Traditions are actions taught to us or given to us from older members of our unique group. We carry them with us throughout life and pass them from generation to generation. I think we call the same thing habits, or traits in my world, the animal kingdom. Animal Kingdom sorta sounds superior, won't you agree? That is why I typed it in bold letters.

Hey, if I do not look at my clan or group as the superior one, how can I ever get respect?

Just to keep it all on the up and up I feel it only right to go back to the book and see what man has to say about the meaning of trait and habit.

What Are Traits?

Characteristics, peculiarities, idiosyncrasies, customs, features and qualities, are words used to explain this word.  

What Does Habit Mean?

More words.

Prescription, custom, standing order, rule, beaten path, training.......BINGO! This sounds like animal stuff to me. Which is how I intend to turn this around and head back to tradition and more detailed, family tradition.

There are these flying creatures that are so beautiful they light up the summer with their flutter of color.They bounce from flower to flower searching for food.

I must be honest and tell you that I am not knowledgeable when it comes to anything that goes on during daylight hours. I am nocturnal you see. That is another habit we could look in to later.

The tradition that is very unique to this fine winged friend is that they have a habit of flying long distance to Mexico every year for vacation. This long journey often leads them to wind up a splat on windshields of long haul truckers so busy moving freight they hardly notice the butterflies carcass as they speed down the interstate. Maybe those Monarchs should consider the hazards of their vacationing habits or, find a more scenic route!

Read about how to attract these beauties to your yard in this article by Bard of Ely, and the next time one splats on your vehicle you might consider how you could help save another living creature.

What About Those Insects?

The Praying Mantis female will chop off the head of her lover right after having sex and eat her partner as a snack. Now that is certainly a strange way of showing gratitude. Other animals, like man for example, smoke a cigarette when they finish the mating ritual...And it all leads to death.

What some creatures will sacrifice in the attempt to pro-create is a mind boggling thing to consider. me poorQpine finds these traditions something of a curiosity. I am not so quick to care, to die for the cause.

Maybe that knowledge has tainted my own desire to go forth and bear children.

kerryg wrote a wonderful hub that tells how to keep and care for a Praying Mantis if you think you would like to try and catch a glimpse of how they do it. Get the facts in his hub and I will try to write about those of you who have the peculiarity of voyeurism.

Is that another tradition? I could also write about the custom of keeping pets.

Yes I like to lay around all day and wait for that sun ball to head to the other side of the planet. There is just too much going on in this world for me to deal with and the stores are so crowded. I like the night life.

They call it Nocturnal.

I call it peace and quiet!

My world might sound too dark but, there are a large group of living beings taking advantage of the dark time. This website has much to offer anyone interested in taking a look at what is happening while the rest of the world sleeps. Living the night life is a commonly practiced habit. C.S. Alexis wrote a hub about her favorite time of day. Wouldn't you know that she thinks the night time is the right time. Read about how she relates her habit of being more creative at 3am. Maybe you will start to get a better understanding of what we like about our nocturnal traditions.

Eating out is a phrase that has another meaning in the Animal Kingdom. Animals mostly eat out because the majority of us live outside. That goes for the ones who are lucky enough to avoid the human culture. We do most of our dining in the trees, tall grass, deep sea and so on. Humans have a tradition of eating out that is curious to me. They like to eat out for some crazy reason. I think it is because they are always in such a big hurry. They call this menu Fast Food. The strange thing about this human habit is that they know it is BAD BAD BAD for their health.

I just do not understand why they keep doing it, but who am I to judge? Makes me think back to that Mantis clan too. FOOD FOR THOUGHT?

KatieB points out 8 reasons to avoid these foods in this hub. Is anybody out there listening to her? Check out her reasons to stop the Fast Food habit before it puts you down.

Traditional Family Fare

Is your family's traditional food hurting your health? My family belongs to a long line of rodents of all forms and natures. Collectively we will eat just about anything. World wide most humans do not care for our types. They go to extremes to develop foods to feed to my cousins, mostly the rat and mice clans, trying desperately to wipe us off the face of the earth. That is not a very friendly way to be I say. That link will show just how smart we rodents can be. This tradition thing could be all about survival of the fittest? 

Checking out the human body, is somewhat of a past time on many of these HubPages. I will tread lightly but be cautious yourself because I am sitting on a very large stick.

First I would like to list a group of links to other hubpages just to set examples for each of you to ponder. Then I will take the time to find another definition. Bare with me, PUN INTENDED!

• Princessa takes a look at Hot Items to enhance the male body for a warm Holiday Spirit with this hub you should be sure to read.
• jyuva has it going on with a pictorial review of lovely women in this hub. A must see if you want to get where I am going.
• They looked so good there was another hub published taking a closer look at certain body parts that seem to meet some's fancy in this Hot Hub.
• Some hubbers specialize in looking only for celebrities as this hub walks you through.

Now keep up with me and I will wrap it up with one more example.

• Dorsi has it all exposed with her cats and dogs in these two animal hubs.

What was that I was saying about the tradition of keeping pets?

Never mind that now, I am on a roll here!

To make my point there is a habit that seems to be popular on these here HubPages and it deals with a mental illness or so they call it in this hub about voyeurism that explains in detail the act of watching.

It has something to do with sexual arousal but I fell asleep reading. Please, if you figure it out and let me know.

Now that I have you all wondering what the heck you just read about Family Traditions, I think I will call it a morning. The sun is about to get on me and you know, I hate that!

Let me know if I provoked any thoughts by leaving your comments below. I need something to keep me entertained in the wee hours because the Dr. says I am getting too PHAT. Here's loving you and all of your clan's traditions.

me poorQpine.