Culture can be defined as “The attitudes, values and behaviors that are characteristic of a particular social group or organization.” This meaning can apply to our general values, expectations, lifestyles and beliefs based on the broadest and most all-encompassing population of which we are a part, and how we spiritually and mentally interpret these surroundings. For example, we may live in the United States, our official language is English, our government is a representative democracy with checks and balances, and we celebrate our nation’s birthday as July 4th! How we design, interpret and display our reaction to this information becomes our cultural identity. In defining our personal or self-culture, we can dig down much more deeply, and can do so in stages. For instance, we may have a religion and belief system of our choice (which determines our moral and ethical behavior), we may live on the west coast (climate and terrain, among other factors, determine much of our lifestyles, expectations and activities); we may live in a coastal town, and so on. This drill down definition of our personal culture reaches a critical point when we arrive at the smallest group component of our personal culture – that being the family and household to which we have come from and where we currently belong.
Our culture helps define us, as we in turn interact and interpret our surroundings. Our deepest and most recognizable reactions to our environment are determined by our immediate and most important cultural group: our family. Defining our family culture can help us define our sense of belonging in the larger culture.
When defining this culture we naturally first examine our understanding of our family’s traditions, social values, and beliefs. In the FamilyIQ article, Defining Your Family’s Values, Susie Duffy writes, “The values that a family develops are traditionally the foundation for how children learn, grow, and function in the world.” The examination and definition of our families is crucial to our successful adjustment and response to the world around us.
The benefits of this examination and subsequent definition are many: they include a tighter and more cohesive family unit and a road map of how you want yourself and your family to live. Other examples of the rewards of the examination of family values and culture include the development of a guiding family philosophy, the understanding and creation of a healthy balance of work, play and loving relationships, the understanding of the role that spirituality plays in the family, the knowledge of family traditions, and a sense of belonging to an entity greater than oneself.
Native Americans used totems to help define their clan or families; in the Middle Ages, Europeans used heraldic symbols and crests to create a Coat of Arms to do so. These cultures, along with many others, employed representative icons to depict the outstanding features of their family and their values. The Bear clan in the Pacific Northwest may have considered their family qualities and values as similar to those of a bear: strong, intuitive, powerful and protective. In medieval times, the symbol of a lion on a coat of arms crest signified courage and vigilance. Most cultures share the symbolic significance of doves or lambs, for example. Using symbols creates a short cut to our understanding and definition of who we are. A creation of a Coat of Arms to depict these representative symbols can also help us define our families: define who and what our family culture is and help focus our family’s direction now and towards the future.
Holding a family meeting, or a series of them, allows the family as a whole to discuss and define values and beliefs. Families meet together to examine, learn about, and discuss the traditions that bind each family member to each other (see the FamilyIQ course Holding a Family Council). Like the totem clans and the medieval clans, the depiction of your family values in terms of symbols can assist this process and create a ‘picture’ of your family that you all can relate and ‘rally’ to.
Additional information can be found in the FamilyIQ course, Building Family Unity: Make Your Coat of Arms.
The creation and building of a Family Coat of Arms or Family Crest encourages the examination and determination of what the family represents. It creates an identifiable picture of the cultural and emotional unity of your family that you can proudly rally to.
Further Information: The Make Your Coat of Arms website allows you to easily create your own family coat of arms with your family crest, based on your family values and ancestry using traditional and non-traditional symbols. You can create and print out a family crest for no charge, and if you so choose, you may order personalized items with your family emblem emblazed on it.
