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Every country has something peculiar that makes it different from the others. Take traditions, for example; some countries have customs and celebrations that might seem completely wild to some but are totally natural to others.
Spain, for example, has the festival of La Tomatina, where people just basically throw a bunch of tomatoes at each other. The Māori people of New Zealand have a traditional dance called Haka that they use to welcome, honor, or intimidate.
But some traditions can be so outrageous and silly that even the locals think they're a little bit too much. When the user u/SnooPoems7525 asked people online to share the "stupid traditions" in their countries, folks from all over the globe had something to say. Some picked pretty bad ones; others focused on those that are just harmlessly fun yet still pretty ridiculous.
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Australia
We have the Henley on Todd Regatta up in Alice Springs. It’s a boat race on a dry river bed.
Finland
Wife-carrying competitions. It's an obstacle race, and the winner gets their wife's weight of beer. Doesn't have to be a wife though, a girlfriend, a cute neighbor etc. are fine.
Spain
So hear me out. Shortly before Christmas you go to "the forest" (aka nearby store) and get a Tió, which is a log with a painted face and a traditional catalan hat. You put your Tió in a warm corner in your living room, cover it with a blanket so it doesn't get cold, and periodically feed it orange or tangerine peels. On Christmas eve, children gather around it with sticks and start beating the [h**l[ out of the poor thing while singing the traditional song. Which basically says: "either you [drop] out gifts, nougat and almonds, or we'll beat you up until you do". After the song the blanket is removed to reveal all the gifts the Tió has [dropped]. Fun times xD.
Canada
We have bathtub races. It’s a race from Nanaimo to Vancouver in a bathtub (with a motor attached). The race began in 1967 as a unique way to celebrate Canada's 100th birthday and has grown into a major event.
USA
Not well known in the US but it’s a big country so I’ll nominate my state’s dumb tradition. In the Upper Peninsula of Michigan there is an annual outhouse race. Stupid? Probably. Awesome? Definitely. Great place to get drunk? You betcha.
Autralia
The tuna hammerthrow at Tunarama in Pt Lincoln, South Australia. They throw rubber fish now but up until 5ish years ago the tuna were real.
France
The race on an inclined mast :
It consist to running up a soap-coated pole tilted over the water (like a bowsprit), to try and grab laurel branches and a flag hanging from the end.
France
Nautical jousting in the South of France. It's completely stupid but it looks super fun. A bit like béhourd (combat with medieval weapons and armor).
Switzerland
Queen fights. Every year there'll be a series of fights between queens (cows) with the winner being crowded the Queen of queens.
You get two dominant herd leaders and put them in a ring. They lock horns and start shoving to establish dominance. The one that backs down or gets pushed a certain distance loses.
The cows become famous. I.e you can buy calendars of famous cows etc.
USA
More silly than stupid, the Pumpkin Chuck Festival. Hobbyists and engineers create these extremely powerful machines including trebuchets and pneumatic canons to see which team can chuck (throw) a standardized pumpkin the farthest. The current record is held by Big-10 that chucked a pumpkin 5,545.43 feet (1,690.25 m) or a little over a mile.
Turkey
Family of the deceased is expected serve every guest (usually about 30-50 people) a dinner after the funeral.
It doesn't sound bad but I remember during my grandmother's funeral this year how my dad, aunt and uncle basically had no choice but to instantly start arrangements when they were crying just 10 minutes ago because relatives of outer circle expected dinner, they should have been comforted and instead they were kept busy.
Russia
I don’t think traditions are dumb/cringe. They had the meaning at some point. Now we can make them “dumb” or “cringe” when we don’t have the meaning behind it anymore, so it’s just incomprehensible to nowadays society.
In Russia we have a funny experience celebrating Easter - we have chicken eggs boiled and painted with different patterns. In the morning we have something like egg fights, where each person chooses an egg (some look at the painting or colour, some choose with their teeth - like to slightly knock them against the tip of the egg to guess if it’s hard and strong enough).
After choosing the egg you pick who is going to hit and who is going to take a hit (it usually doesn’t matter). Whose egg is not cracked wins.
In some parts of Russia winners have a right to take the opponent’s egg and eat it. In other parts of our country the loser eats the cracked egg and the winner continues his contest with other people.
I think it’s quite fun, also a great thing to boost family bonding. Even if you’re not religious you usually do it just for fan and as a small tradition.
Mexico
Dressing baby Jesus.
It’s a tradition every February 2nd to dress baby Jesus in different ways.
It’s like having Barbies but with baby Jesus dolls.
The catholic church is not happy and always suggest people a dress code 😄 but people keep doing what ever they want and is not a joke for them, they actually do it with respect even it could look funny.
Of course there are some people who do it as a joke but in general is a tradition with respect from some old school catholic people.
Canada
Polarbear dip.
People will jump into a hole that's been cut into the ice. Don't think many people do it anymore. Was kinda a thing just to say you did it but it was also sometimes done for charity.
Denmark
Tying your friends to a street lamp on their 25th birthday and showering them with boatloads of cinnamon powder.
*If they are not married by 25. If you get married before 25, you don't get "kanel".
Sometimes your friends pour water on you before the cinnamon, to really make it stick or they just give some cinnamon rolls and sticks.
Canada
In my province, there’s a Christmas tradition called “mummering”.
People get dressed up in ridiculous, thrown-together outfits that hide their identity. Think; multi-layered and oversized clothing, huge undergarments worn on the outside, big clunky boots and mittens, and scarfs/glasses/masks/ even lampshades to disguise their faces.
Like carollers, the mummers will go door to door around the neighbourhood looking to be invited in for a drink or a dance or just to cause some good old fashioned foolishness. (The mummers are usually known to the people the visit but keeping their identity hidden during the charade is the goal)
There are songs about it, Christmas ornaments, even mummer-themed entertainment nights are put off at local venues.
If you ever get visited by mummers on Christmas you can bet there’ll be no shortage of laughs and gossip after they’ve left trying to figure out who each one was
New Zealand
Crate Day is an absolute riot. Stupid to some but for many of us it's one of the highlights we look forward to this day usually the first weekend in December.
It's twelve (750ml) bottles of beer you usually start in the afternoon and keep going until you're done. For some that never happens they can't finish it as it is a lot of beer, for others it's a war and for a select few it's a walk in the park. My group of friends we always finish our crates but it's a long battle.
Have done five crate days these last five years in a row and it doesn't get any easier but our secret weapon is guitars lots of singing and lots of laughing.
United Kingdom
Usually mentioned alongside the cheese chasing in weird and unique UK town traditions is the tar barrels from my hometown. Like the running of the bulls in Barcelona, but replace the bull with an ogre of a man running at you with a barrel of fire.
Germany
Where do i start...
Maybe Stocherkahnrennen (Stake boat race)?
The most known one is a competition for Students. It involves heavy drinking, a self built boat and a team of 8. The goal is to be the fastest down a river. One pushes the boat with a stake, while the other seven have to steer and defend against other boats with their bare hands.
An other one would be the labour day traditions:
* local to me, people take "Bollerwagen" (small, hand drawn carts), fill them with crates of beer, put a speaker on top and hike to the top of the next hill with their friends while drinking. As this is open to every age group, fun things happen, like seeing your teachers or someomes grandparents get wasted.
* in big cities people putting expensive looking cars on fire has become a tradition of its own
And dont get me started on alemannic carnival, scared the [h**l] out of me as a kid. Getting chased by people in costumes and scary wooden masks, that can grab you and take you with them or even hold you over a fire. Not fun.
Netherlands
On new years day we look for a body of water, traditionally the sea, and we take a new years dip. We run into the sea, on januari 1st, even if there is snow and subzero temperatures.
Poland
We have a tradition of spraying/shooting/dumping water on someone on the first monday of easter. As you can see volontuary firefighters participate in that as well.
Mexico
Fireworks at 5:00 am on every religious holiday. Nothing like being forced awake that early on Christmas Day.
USA
Cardboard boat races. Although I think they may also do these in the UK, and likely Canada.
Germany
I just learned the other day that in some tiny town in East Germany, they weigh a tomcat in a public ceremony on the first sunday of advent.
The amount of weight he has put on since the summer is supposed to predict how severe the winter will be.
USA
Groundhog Day, where we yank a groundhog out of the ground and if he does not see his shadow we have an early spring, if he does then we have 6 more weeks of winter.
The President pardons a turkey from being eaten every year, which is really funny.
State and county fairs aren’t quite “stupid” but they’re a good time, always.
Tailgating before a football game is objectively a little odd, but they’re also super fun.
The pageantry of college sports I know seems odd to foreigners, but I love it. Mostly because my professional team [is bad] while my college team is poised to be a consistent contender for the next decade. It also just feels more authentic than any of the professional leagues.
Beating women as a folks fest on the North Sea Isle of Borkum (Germany).
drmanhattanmar:
It’s called „Klaasohm“. Local boys dress up in costumes like these and have a parade around town. It’s not worth going into detail but the point was: Until 2023 it was part of the tradition to chase women around, hold them and beat their bottoms with a cow horn. Which was of course very painful and sometimes traumatic, because most women don’t want to be chased and beaten (there might be some who had fun with this part and were okay with it) but didn’t want to stay at home either. So they were chased and beaten. And of course running did make things worse because you know… it’s part of the "game".
Journalists brought this to light in 2023, after that the locals officially announced to stop with that. If they really did… I don’t know.
Chile
There is a more recent tradition called "the Strait dip" in which thousands of people go into the waters of the Strait of Magellan during the winter wearing only swimsuits.
This year a little over 7000 people participated and next year is expected to be the same.
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USA
My dad went to high school in Preston, Idaho, and they had a tradition where every year they raced beds down main street. We only went once, but it was really weird.
USA
Despite the name, something that isn't really cringey but a whole lot of fun is Stickball, this is really only played in Oklahoma from my knowledge and isn't played professionally to the same extent that Football is.
It's a Native American sport, the goal is to hit an item, usually a wood carving of a fish, ontop of a pole that is about as tall as a telephone pole. The game is played boys vs girls, usually. My fellow dudes play with two sticks, both have baskets on them just big enough to hold the ball (little smaller than a tennis ball) One of the sticks is shaped to be better for throwing, they cannot use their hands at all during the game, only sticks. The girls meanwhile get to use their hands to get and throw the ball, yes they are alowed to grab your sticks.
The game gets super competitive when playing it, but everyone has a fun time generally. There are a lot of injuries, especially with the sticks.
Ireland
Puck Fair.
3 day festival involving a goat being put in a cage for all three days (until very recently) and hoisted in the air.
Spain
I think most of you are familiar with the Spanish tradition of people running in front of a bunch of bulls. Many foreigners assist every year, many people end up injured.
But reading about the frog competition, I remembered there is this less famous tradition in some parts of Spain where people compete with male pigeons. They release a female one, then each team releases his male pigeon, often painted with bright colours, and I don't really exactly know who the winner is, as it's just a big floating ball of pigeons in the air and you can't see [anything].
USA
Near where I lived in California, a bunch of folks will collect frogs and see how far they can jump by putting them down and then scaring the [h**l] out of them to get them to jump far.
This is a serious competition and people get into fights over it, and where they source their frogs etc.
USA
I can’t believe none of my brothers and sisters from the southern states have mentioned Oakie Noodling.
Basically stick your hand into the zero visibility murk of some hillbilly swamp and pull out a monster catfish with your bare hands.
I salute you.
USA
Rolling an old car out on a frozen lake and taking bets on exactly when it will fall through.
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England
The Cotswolds are a hotbed of crazy. As well as the Cheese rolling, there are the Olympiks, which includes the shin kicking competition, and the river football at Bourton on the Water where the game is played in the river that goes down the middle of the high street.
USA
Annual world's largest chicken dance.
Oktoberfest Zinzinnati, Cincinnati Ohio.
Next one is September 2026.
It's always a blast.
United Kingdom
Not saying it’s not fun. But Bonfire Night. Catholic failed to blow up parliament (didn’t even have enough explosives even if he were successful) and 400 years later it’s still a massive celebration.
USA
Kinetic Grand Championship in California. Basically a triathlon of foot peddled sculptures.
Belgium
Hazing. Willing students are subjected to humiliating, physically and mentally draining ordeals as part of initiation rituals to the student associations in university.
USA
Black Friday, where people put their lives in danger and riot for $200 off a television.
Thankfully the tradition seems to be [vanishing] with the Boomers.
USA
Red Bull Flugtag. Why not build a silly flying machine and compete for who's goes farthest.
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USA
Worm gruntin’ festival. Worm grunting is a unique tradition in Northwest Florida where people vibrate the ground to coax earthworms to the surface. Theres a worm grunting competition, food, costumes, and even a worm grunting ball.
There’s some parts of Alaska that are so far north they don’t get nighttime during the summer. Our Independence Day is July 4th and the way we celebrate is lighting off fireworks. Fireworks are kinda hard to see during the daytime unfortunately for these places in Alaska so instead they just launch old broken cars off a cliff. It’s so dumb but kinda awesome.
USA
I’m from North Carolina and we have the Wooly Worm Festival. Wooly worms are these guys and, according to folk lore, you can predict the severity of the upcoming winter based on their patterns (this has been reviewed scientifically and is not at all true). Kids catch them and race them at the festival!
I'm not sure if this is still a tradition or exclusive to the US but the Cannonball Run is both really awesome and really stupid and dangerous.
USA
Well my first one was already taken, so in a few western states that have a long mining history, we have pack burro (donkey) races. You have to lead the burro, you can't ride it. It's an official "summer heritage sport" in Colorado.
USA
In Texas many towns do a rattlesnake roundup where they have a competition to go out and catch as many rattlesnakes as they can. It becomes a festival with vendors selling rattlesnake skins, bbq, snake meat, snake skins, and other goods. It was originally started by caballeros to keep snake populations down to protect people, pets, and livestock but it's turned into a whole commercialized thing. Freer, tx is a big one in South Texas.
This is very specific to Philadelphia, USA. Whenever one of our sports teams progresses beyond a certain point in the playoffs, it becomes a regular occurrence for people to climb traffic lights en masse to the point where the cops pre-emptively go around with buckets of Crisco and lube them up.
USA
Hot take but gender reveals. My sister loves to go insane for this sort of thing. She has two kids and is pregnant with her third.
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