I’m a bit fickle when it comes to traditions, and not just in keeping them or not keeping them, but also concerning why we have them at all.

St. Patrick’s Day is this week and I can guarantee that I will see a sea of green on this day. It is likely even I will participate in this custom. But, why?

Why are we slaves to traditional trends?

This Irish holiday is an American appropriation that is not even truly celebratory of Irish history as it is of giving us justification to drink. St. Patrick wasn’t Irish, his traditional color is blue, not green, and Ireland’s climate is too cold for it to support all those snakes that he supposedly drove out of the country.

We’ve taken what basically started as a day of political and social representation in America and have turned it into this drunken excuse of a holiday that it is known as today.

Ignoring all the things wrong with how we celebrate St. Patrick’s Day, I still have my issues with traditions. But that’s mostly because I both think it’s stupid to carry on behavior for the sake of something like tradition and, conversely, hate when things aren’t the same as they always have been.

I’ve argued with my mother, several times, when she tried to change our typical Thanksgiving meal. And the one time we tried a different main dish, unsuccessfully, for Easter? I remind her of it every time we do try something new – because I’m a picky brat that doesn’t like change.

However, I also end up tolerating most holidays as I don’t like the act of traditional traditions. I don’t like decorating, I don’t like Christmas songs, I don’t like the formality of it all, the same things over and over. While I like getting stuff, I’m hard to shop for and find myself disappointed a lot of the time.

But I participate. Not for myself, but for my mother and my niece and nephews, because that’s why we keep traditions alive, isn’t it, for others?

So, are traditions important? I don’t think so, but I’ll concede my obstinate behavior out of respect.

Sometimes, we just need to start our own traditions, like having a horror movie marathon on Halloween, buying a Christmas gift for yourself and recognizing the birth of a fictional character every Jan. 19 because, as is tradition, we can and so choose to do whatever the hell we want.