In my household, religion has always had a large presence. Both my mom’s family and my dad’s family are catholic, my dad went to catholic school, he was an altar boy, and all three of my siblings and I were baptized, went through communion and confirmation. This specific crucifix has been in my family for decades, as it was made by my Great-Grandfather on my mom’s side. Both of my mother’s parents came from Italy, one from Sicily, and were raised very religiously. In a similar manner, my dad’s father came from Budapest, Hungary and his mother came from Cork County, Ireland. All four of my grandparents were raised catholic. My Grandmother had brought this crucifix from Italy, who she then gave to my mom when she was married to my dad. Along with this crucifix, all three of my siblings, my parents, and I have crucifixes hanging in our rooms. In Catholicism, the crucifix represents the sacrifices Jesus had made in order to assure all his follower’s prosperity and happiness. Since there are four of us, each of us were given a crucifix to be hung in our room soon after we were baptized. Similar to my mother, this exact crucifix will be given to my sister by my mom when she is married. For the foreseeable future, assuming it is never lost or broken, this will continue, as the crucifix is passed down to the first child of each family when they are married. My family hopes that religion will continue to be a tradition passed down from generation to generation, as it has been for the past four to five generations before me.

 

– Jonathan Lakatos

Relationship:  Grandchild of im/migrant Grandchild of im/migrant