Why Tradition?

May day, as a human tra­di­tion, is just one small piece of evi­dence point­ing to the order with­in man. God is a God of order. He cre­at­ed this world and man to live and gov­ern it. Man, as an image bear­er of the cre­ator, cre­ates, and one of those things he cre­ates is tra­di­tion. Tra­di­tion grounds us in our homes, fam­i­lies, and com­mu­ni­ties. It gives us a sense of iden­ti­ty. It does­n’t deny the mys­ter­ies of life their pow­er, but instead looks them in the eye as a wor­thy com­peti­tor. Tra­di­tions help our chil­dren know what to expect even as they con­tin­u­al­ly change. 

May day, as a small recog­ni­tion of the first day of May, in which a man secret­ly brings a bas­ket to the home of the girl he loves, is a fun whim­si­cal tra­di­tion. It may seem small and insignif­i­cant, even quaint. Yet joy, spring, mys­tery, and love are all behind this small tra­di­tion. If noth­ing else, this mys­te­ri­ous lit­tle bas­ket on a doorstep, brings delight. That we could bring delight to our homes through a small mys­te­ri­ous tra­di­tion like the May basket.