The Art Of... Collecting Traditions

When it comes to Christmas traditions, the more, the merrier, says ANNA HART.

- Anna Hart

I’ve never understood travellers who are hell-bent on returning with souvenirs, like strange ceramics or wooden carvings. The best thing you can cart home from a trip abroad is a brand new tradition. During my travels over the years, I’ve imported countless ideas to inflict on unsuspecting friends and family, and exotic new rituals to insert into my everyday routine.

Even during these strange lockdown days, my life is crammed with purloined practices and appropriated habits that I’ve boldly stuffed in my suitcase on the way home from adventures abroad; my schedule is a morally questionable British Museum of pillaged traditions. The morning begins with me whisking up a matcha green tea, as I learned to do in Osaka, Japan, and only cheat and use a Nutribullet rather than a wooden whisk if I’m really pushed for time, okay? And in the evening, I wrap up my day by wandering down to watch the sunset after dinner, with the Croatian term for a postdinner stroll in mind, the “corso”.