Weird America: 9 of the USA's most bizarre traditions

21.07.2023 - 08:11 / roughguides.com

Despite being a relatively young nation – at just 243 years old – America has developed its fair share of traditions. Most of us are familiar with the big hitters such as Thanksgiving, Halloween and Independence Day. But what about the USA's less well-known, more peculiar customs? Join us as we delve into the fascinating world of America’s most bizarre traditions.

Since the 1940s, US presidents have been presented with a Thanksgiving turkey at a special ceremony and, occasionally, have spared the bird’s life by officially pardoning it. (It’s not clear what crime the birds committed in the first place to warrant a pardon.)

In 1989, George Bush Senior made the turkey pardon a permanent part of the ceremony, so it’s now an annual event. The happy turkeys are returned to a farm to live out the rest of their lives – which, unfortunately, usually last less than a year, as the birds have been so overfed that they contract heart disease and other obesity-related illnesses.

And if you’re wondering whether there’s some deeper meaning or symbolic reasoning to this ritual – there isn’t.

Turkey bird © Timin/Shutterstock

Ice on the Tanana River in Alaska accumulates to more than a metre deep during the winter. Back in 1906, six people in the city of Nenana bet on the exact time on the exact day that the ice would break in the spring.

A decade later, a small group of railroad engineers fired up the ice pool again, and it’s become an annual event ever since – and anything that’s been going over a hundred years in America is a very longstanding tradition indeed.

A «tripod» (with four legs) is placed on the ice and connected to a clock in the town. When the ice breaks, it stops the clock and the winner is declared.

From a prize of $800 in 1916, the winnings have upped just a tad, hitting a high in 2014 with a record $363,627. You can keep up-to-date with the ice action here, where a webcam refreshes every thirty seconds.

© Jay Yuan/Shutterstock

On February 2 every year, groundhog burrows across America are put under intense scrutiny for their powers to foretell seasonal change.

Folklore states that if it’s cloudy, the groundhog will emerge from its burrow and spring will come early. If it’s sunny, it will return to the burrow and winter will continue for six more weeks.

The tradition of going out to watch the groundhog has been around since as early as the eighteenth century, and the biggest celebration these days is in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania – the state where the tradition originated, and made famous by the 1993 film Groundhog Day.

Groundhog (Marmota monax) © Karel Bock/Shutterstock

2019 was the 46th year of the International Cherry Pit Spitting Championship, held at the Tree-Mendus Fruit Farm in Michigan. It’s simple – eat