How do you design on celebrating New Year ’s Eve this yr ? Will you run around the neighborhood , chucking old dishware at masses ’s front doors ? If you endure in Denmark , you might do just that . Or perhaps you ’ll nibble some illustrious soul or event that made a splash in the newsworthiness during the year , reconstruct an effigy , then light it on fire and watch it burn . Does n’t sound like you ? It might if you are Ecuadorian .
Traditions vary widely around the world , and the ways of one society often seem downright wacky to others . American cultureand tradition , thanks to the heavy work of Hollywood and other arm of the country ’s media multiplex , have become well - known in most street corner of world . But that does n’t always mean masses in other nation find some of these custom less bizarre than Americans see theirs .
Let ’s take care at 10 traditions Americans celebrate without even considering how strange the residuum of world consider them .
10: Throwing Tailgate Parties
When Americans take care sporting events — football game in special — it ’s often not enough to but show up and take their arse . These fans need to arrive time of day in advance to properly prepare for the experience of seeing the game live and in person . Emblazoned in squad coloration , tailgaters herd the stadiums ' parking lots , grill foodand sip cold adult beverages .
Many tailgaters take their setups very earnestly and even haul along TVs , sound equipment and planet dishful to enhance their experience . ( Have you ever find out the baseball diamond of aNASCARrace ? ) When it comes to how other fans arrive to start tailgating , well , the earlier the better it seems . Some fan even camp out the night before the game to get the good place . Talk about dice - severely .
9: Supersizing Food
In the U.S. , immobile food and packaged food often comes in size that can be described as prominent , really large and , well , supersized . The practicedates to the seventies , whenfast - food restaurantmarketing directors realized customers would buy more of their food and drink if it was sold in larger sizes that were value priced . That is , if the restaurants charged less per building block for larger portions . And with that , the practice of supersizing was comport .
While supersizing solid food has seep into other state , it ’s definitely the most prevalent and outrageous in the United States . To wit : McDonald ’s cupful sizesvary around the world , with the U.S. , Canada and Singapore at 30 ounces — that ’s nearly a full liter ( 0.88 liters ) . McDonald ’s cups in Japan , in demarcation , top out at 20 oz. ( 0.59 liter ) .
8: Tipping
You ’ve always need spare hard currency on hand when din out in the U.S. That ’s because tipping is expected — and sometimes mandated — for servers and bartender . crown are also expected in other service industries , let in hair stylists , taxicab drivers , tour guides , porters and nutrient obstetrical delivery driver . Not only that , but consumers are even instructed how much to tip . hold off staff , for instance , expect tips of 15 to 20 percent of the full bill , while bellhops in general receive $ 1 per bag that they carry [ generator : Greig ] .
What ’s up with the tipping usance , which is big in some countries but frowned upon in others ? Much of it can be traced to the fact that in the U.S. , eateries are allowed to give their wait faculty less than theminimum earnings , so tips are expected to make up for that and possibly more . But before this was codify into law in 1938 , Americans had already flirted with tipping in the mid-1800s , a impost the wealthy bring back from Europe to seem more sophisticated [ sources : Greenspan , Horowitz ] .
But the public would n’t have it , and protested so much that their scandal was matte abroad and helped squash Europe ’s tipping acculturation . In the U.S. , tipping vanish for a while , then reemerged after Reconstruction as a way to single out against Black people . The railroad and restaurant industry , where many Blacks establish utilization , pay their employees $ 0 , with the understanding that guests would tip instead . Today , tipping is so entrenched in U.S. culture , it may be here to quell [ source : Greenspan ] .
7: Holding “Trials of the Century”
Americans have it off empiricism and the U.S. medium is well-chosen to give it to them , couched in conversant and impossibly exaggerated linguistic process . That ’s why , for exercise , every match of years a new " Trial of the Century " takes place in America . All by " Trial of the Century " royal court pillowcase are jointly forget , as the new one proves to be so much more distasteful , repugnant , odious ( insert appropriate adjective ! ) than the last .
Often these trials involve celebrities themselves — this is true from Fatty Arbuckle and O.J. Simpson to former President Bill Clinton and most of late Johnny Depp and Amber Heard . But oftentimes the test make renown ( however unforced or unwilling ) out of ordinary citizen . Casey Anthony ’s 2008 trialfor the murder of her 2 - yr - honest-to-god daughter is a good example of a " visitation of the Century " that launched a regular person into the intense glare of the media spotlight . Although ultimately acquitted of the murder , her bizarre and untrusting behavior during the trail brought her " celebrity , " mainly via public shaming on social media internet site . Chances are , though that a few years from now , the stage will just be set for the next " Trial of the Century " to commence [ source : Ott ] .
6: Baby Showers
The custom of celebrating a new child has been around forever and is part of most cultures . In the U.S. , however , it ’s observe other than : with a infant exhibitor . ( Do n’t even get us started on gender reveals . )
The current looping of a baby shower began during the fifties , when the post - World War II sister boom was in full swing . It typically demand an afternoon party for the mum - to - be attended by tightlipped female friends and family . During the event , the Guest " shower " the mom with much - needed gift for the baby , which she opens for all to see . Often , the client playbaby - themed games , and there ’s always batch of food for thought [ source : C&A ] .
But this kind of knock would be verboten in other countries . In China , for good example , you ’ll never regain a pregnant woman being feted at a baby rain shower , as it ’s considered luckless to celebrate an unborn child . Instead , the parent and young babe are honoredafterthe birth with a courtly banquet dinner party , where guests bring money for the family . And in France , the giving birth of a unexampled baby usually is n’t celebrate until its first natal day . When it ’s prison term for the party , both men and woman are invite , and guests bring gifts for both mom and sister [ source : Huggies ] .
5: Trick-or-Treating
Many cultures have potent historic traditions like clothe up around the metre ofHalloweenand exchanging various forms of food for thought , but few of these involve children go door - to - threshold asking for candy with the discussion , " Trick or deal ! " Thatstrange practiceis believed to be American in source , but perhaps the people who find this most baffling are the pintsized greenhorn being paraded around the neighborhood . Typically , their parents would foreclose them from verbalize to strangers , tap for confect and roaming the street at night . But all of a sudden they alter their tune and support such trickery on one magical evening each drop .
But here ’s the snap : They only incur these valued kickshaw by parrot out the magic words , " Trick or do by . " And heaven forbid if the conferrer of confect should bespeak a trick from one of these hapless , confused newbies — what kind of caper are they reckon to do ? ! But after a few year they beguile on and trick - or - treating becomes a tradition they could n’t imagine October without .
4: Presidential Turkey Pardons
Thanksgivingin general seems to mystify those not steeped in American traditions , but perhaps no part of that quirky turkey fest seems more off-the-wall than the annual ceremony during which modern presidents grant an official amnesty to a live Meleagris gallopavo presented to them by the National Turkey Federation . Interestingly , there ’s also been a great deal of muddiness among Americans touch on the actual origins of this strange custom .
Although the NTF has been gifting presidents with turkeys per annum since 1947 , the whole estimation of " pardoning " them by sparing them from the range did n’t hap until years later . And even then , when it did occasionally happen , it sure enough was n’t with anything as highfalutin as a declaration of an prescribed presidential pardon .
The first razz to receive a formal stay of slaying in the mode of an expressly tell presidential forgiveness was n’t delivered to the Rose Garden until 1989 , when then - President George H. W. Bush startle this act of prescribed benefaction that ’s now become an annual American tradition [ generator : Hesse ] .
3: Black Friday Shopping Sprees
Just hours after jillion of unpardoned turkeys are devoured in the United States on Thanksgiving each year , armies of shopper channelise out to get a start on their annualChristmasgift list . Black Fridaysales traditionally plunge this national weekend shopping bonanza , which retain with Small Business Saturday and wrap up up with Cyber Monday , two more recently minted traditions that have raise in popularity .
Traditionally , most of those shopping on Black Friday arrive at their chosen store at a civilized time , but many diehards take the tradition a pace further and begin the day at a gruelingly former hour . In rarified cases , riots or venomous stampedes have even broken out among shopper despairing to snag a sure deal or a especial intersection . More recently , many Black Friday sales have occurred online , although a sure percentage of shoppers refuse to give up the brick - and - howitzer experience .
2: Groundhog Day
entrust it to Americans to make their ardent - weather change of location plans free-base on the machinations of a reticent gnawer . Each year , groundhogsaround the country — but most notablyPunxsutawney Philof Punxsutawney , Pennsylvania — are paraded out to predict how many more weeks will transpire before spring is on the way .
It ’s either six more weeks of winter or an early spring , depending upon whether the piddling critter in question sees his darkness or not . This tradition has been going on since the 1800s , despite ( ahem ) modest advances in weather forecasting since that time . And speaking of measuring clobber by strange means , we ’ve got one last uncanny American tradition for you next .
1: Refusing to Go Metric
It ’s utterly acceptable to use themetric systemin the United States — Congress in the beginning authorise it in 1866 , and has replicate those sentiments in the years since — but tradition tells a whole other tale . Although the government now ask metric manipulation in some public sectors and powerfully encourages it in many private industry , the American populace never really took to the system and mostly dismissed it , making the United States the only industrialized nation where that ’s the case [ reference : Benham ] .
In an elbow grease to move the matter along , Congress lapse the Metric Conversion Act of 1975 and prepare up a U.S. Metric Board to take care of all the preparation for the desired modulation . But they apparently did n’t authorise the display board with enough authority , and the American multitude preferred to go on on with their miles , Egyptian pound , ounces and all the rest . likewise lustreless travail since then have done niggling to get Americans to commute their ways .
