How do Family Traditions and Legacies Contribute to and/or Inhibit an Individual's Self-Identity? 
Cultural legacies and Family traditions contribute to inhibiting self-identity an individual’s life in many ways. The way an Individual conducts himself or herself reflects back to the way they conducted themselves at a young age. Family tradition is responsible for the types of food people consume and their cultural way of living. Individuals with strong and respectable backgrounds defiantly pass these traits to a next generation. Family traditions cultural practices and legacies develop in an individual helps in everyday existence and survival. Culture, therefore, is an essential self-identity, which assists in the way a person identifies himself or herself in a society as an important being to the society they surround.
Many people anchor their decision-making on traditional beliefs. The choices they make range from the schools they attend to whomever they date and the kind of food they eat to their cooking methods. For example, when dating someone whose culture has been shaped by a Greek background, with a personal trait it might be difficult, engaging in a serious relationship like this because of close family relations. Most Greek families prove extremely close to each other; therefore, one needs to be approved by an elder male to engage in a relationship with whomever he wishes. On the first date: except a personal significant, family to accompany someone including not only younger and older siblings, and their parents; but also grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. This does not result as an effect of having nothing particularly to doubt rather, it is according to their culture to share joyful family moments, as they prefer to say it, time is valuable, so they enjoy it to their best levels. Culture is more than just a pass down but it is an art of understanding how different traditions operate, as compared to an individual’s own culture.
In addition, culture is an essential component of self-identity, and it is part of how people conduct themselves in a particular setting. Family is, therefore, the foundation of life. If individuals do not establish an effective way to grow, developing stable senses might prove difficult. Therefore, where someone adopts understanding and beliefs about life is in their family. Growing up without the existence of family to teach and show some love can be a little confusing at an early age. Additionally, social values, beliefs, and ethics differ depending on the society and/or ethnic group. Culture is best considered as practices such as religious beliefs, politics, clothing, and songs. Peoples living with same characteristics pass their cultural heritage from one generation down the line
Heritage is the unity of community members that builds instances of belonging to a society. Further, despite people’s existence, what goals might exist, or the modern time of life; heritage is a shared cultural act that occurs to everyone. It is well defined as a touching, social and spiritual legacy passed on from parent to child. Everyone receives the legacy as an individually, lives out of it and provides back to the family through it. For this reason, legacy is a mandatory way of family tradition. Spiritual, social and emotional legacy is a three standard cord. Each piece cannot hold much weight when left on their own. However, wrapped together, they prove stable and much more reliable. For this reason, passing on a positive, affirming legacy is so important. Today, if individuals do not deliberately pass a legacy in line with their parent’s beliefs to their children, the culture tends to pass itself, often leading to an unenthusiastic end.
Cultural individuality is well determined as a state of mind and heart. Therefore, an individual’s self-identity starts with family heritage and cultural integrity. Characters need culture identity because of the importance of self-identity and how individuals relate to others outside the family. It reflects to people’s personality and ways of conducting one’s self in an ethnicity. Some people find it hard to realize their ethnic backgrounds from which their families existed. This could be because of their position of growing up, the friends they relate with and the kind of family they are in. Family traditions often are similar, but they differ in activities conducted within the setting. Because of difference in backgrounds and culture, experiences vary. For a better understanding of who we are, it is important to learn other people’s cultural practices.
One’s self-identity can be well defined by one's heritage, family tradition, and cultural practice. Family builds the most of the culture as well as individuals place of resident. For a full understanding of one’s self, it is important to understand other cultural activities that belongs to person through cultural heritage and family tradition. In “Everyday Use” Walker & Barbara goes through the concepts of legacy through conflicting relationship of two daughters and their Mamma. This story shows how legacy will shape individuals along with the family for molding the person who they currently are. Culture impacts significantly to an individual’s life and to the way they recognize themselves in a community.
In Conclusion, family traditions, cultural practices and legacies may be considered “outdated” considering the era in which people are dwelling in currently. However, patterns exist which are applicable at any time in history. Just as food is a fundamental family procedure, so is traditions culture and heritage. Accepting and practicing culture could be of great impact to our daily lives without trying to change what it should be. Is it not clear how people are desperate for more meaning in the life of existence today? Even though scientists proves some atoms that make life what it is, but yes, they are just atoms they do not satisfy. However, Culture possesses the question heritage gives the answer then tradition is the life that we are living. They are what make life have its meaning, they exist from decades back then to the present day, and they are the practices carried every day. Their needs are never outgrown because they link the past, the present, old, new, beginning, and the ending, individuals, and groups, earthly and spiritual. By linking the present with the dates and events, they help anchor time and connect families, communities and cultures together.
