People Share The Traditions That Don't Make Any Sense To Them

Elle Tharp
October 21, 2021 18k votes 1.9k voters 37.3k views
List Rules
Vote up the still-practiced traditions that, when you think about it, don't make any sense today.

Across the world, every culture and community has their own distinctive traditions, often passed down through generations. But whether it's dangling glass baubles on the pine tree in your living room or automatically calling out "Bless you" five times when your friend's having a sneezing fit, have you ever stopped to consider why we follow these traditions? Or whether they make any sense at all?

While some are steeped in history and others were simply created for some celebratory fun, a lot of these traditions could use a reevaluation in modern times. Vote up the silliest traditions that don't hold water today.

  • 1
    1,042 VOTES

    Smashing Faces Into Cakes

    From Redditor u/BearTitan3:

    Smashing people's faces into birthday cakes.

    From Redditor u/SwollenLeftThumb:

    Smashing a cake in the groom's/bride's face. Seen too many where they really smash them with the cake.

    From Redditor u/Tetrisoverlord:

    I've seen ones where they've been all dolled up and had their makeup ruined with a cake smash. I've also seen others where they've missed the cake and smashed their head straight into the table giving them a concussion. There was also one where the birthday girl was blinded by her cousin because the cousin didn't take out the toothpicks and it went straight into the birthday girl's eye.

  • 2
    1,169 VOTES

    Releasing Balloons

    From Redditor u/rastamancometh:

    People releasing balloons for any given reason... So pointless.

    From Redditor u/racergirl2000:

    ...So bad for wildlife.

  • 3
    1,058 VOTES

    Black Friday

    From Redditor u/lawhozaher78:

    Rushing to stores to buy junk the same day you celebrate Thanksgiving. Cutting family time short to collect material possessions...

  • 4
    590 VOTES

    Kidnapping The Groom

    From Redditor u/Ghost_Leb:

    So we have this tradition in some parts of Lebanon. Once you have your wedding, the bride's male relatives are supposed to "kidnap" the groom. The bride should go back to her parents' for two nights a night after the wedding.

  • 5
    599 VOTES

    'False Kindness' Rules

    From Redditor u/King_Dagda:

    The false kindness rules. I'm talking about the ones that make you refuse a gift, expecting it to be offered to you once more, and other kinds of such rules.

    The thing is such rules are usually very local, often limited to a particular village, and conflict with the rules of different areas. Imagine that in your area, being offered a gift means being respected highly, and it is rude to reject a gift. While in some other area, being offered a gift means you are supposed to refuse twice and only accept if the offer is repeated for the third time.

    The result? You meet someone. She offers you a gift. You don't really like chocolate, but you accept because you don't want to sound rude. Then she makes a weird face, as if you stole it from her...

  • 6
    569 VOTES

    Forecasting The Weather With Pig Entrails

    From Redditor u/tangcameo:

    Up until he died (although someone else is probably carrying on the tradition), a Canadian weekly agriculture newspaper used to publish the annual findings of a guy who forecasted the weather by reading the entrails (spleen) of a slaughtered pig.