It is the eve of Lunar New Year for the people of the Chinese race all over the world. Tonight, families will cluster in the homes, wherein people from two or three generations will celebrate their reunion over an annual feast whilst catching up from where they last left off.

Besides the joy that comes from such occasions, there is a purpose underlying such festivities. That purpose is one of traditioning.

Festivals and like occasions remind us of who we are, where we came from, and how we ended up being where we find ourselves today. It is important for the simple reason that it gives us wisdom in charting out where we will move on from here. This must resonate with the Kierkegaardian adage, "Life must be lived forward, but understood backwards."

At the point of instructing his people on how they should live, the Lord began by saying "I am the Lord your God who brought you out of Egypt", for the subsequent commandments would have made sense only if this memory of the great deliverance was kept alive. It can be likened to the way Chinese parents tell their children, "Always remember your roots."

Perhaps this is why it has now become so difficult for us to decide how we should live and where we should go from here... tradition, for many (especially in relation to the expression of the Christian faith), has become almost a vulgarity.

We have forgotten how to remember.