have you ever stopped to think about
some of the things we do when the
holidays roll around welcome to
watchmojo.com and today we’re counting
down our picks for the top ten holiday
traditions that make no sense
oh wait I do this before we begin we
publish new videos every day so be sure
to subscribe for more great content for
this list we’re looking at the history
behind some holiday practices whose
origins we don’t often consider or think
about number 10 hanging stockings no
holiday during the year has more
traditions associated with it than
Christmas
whether it’s leaving cookies and milk
out for Santa or drinking delicious
eggnog there are a whole lot of things
we do without ever really wondering how
they came about another biggie hanging
stockings for Santa Claus to fill the
history of hanging containers for gifts
is long-standing with different
countries having different origin
stories for the practice well actually
people mostly just used their regular
socks for father Christmas to fill but
over time they became bigger and bigger
most storage MO presents number 9
carving pumpkins dressing up in costumes
and going to your neighbor’s houses to
demand candy is strange enough but on
top of that you’ve also got a hollow out
a giant vegetable to leave on your front
porch
indeed many of the customs surrounding
Halloween seem bizarre but in fact
carving out gourds to create lanterns is
a practice that people have been
participating in for hundreds of years
it’s widely accepted that the
jack-o’-lantern as we’ve come to know it
originated in Ireland in the 1800s some
say that the faces carved into the
pumpkins are meant to represent evil
spirits while others say they’re to
scare them away
number 8 blowing out candles it happens
at every birthday party you’ve ever been
to the lights go down someone brings out
a cake festoon with candles and then
the singing starts possibly in tune but
often not so much excellent
rather than enjoying the candlelight
though the birthday boy or girl
immediately blows them out while making
a silent wish but why while there are
records of candles being placed on cakes
throughout history no one seems to know
where they blow out the candles and make
a wish definitively comes from maybe
someone should wish for an explanation
number 7 chocolate for Valentine’s Day
hey how’s it going while many of the
traditions on this list as we’ve seen
come from time-honored customs we’re
coming to the first one with a slightly
more shall we say capitalistic history
problem Valentine’s Day has of course
been around for centuries though its
origins were religious not about
romantic love but the association
between the holiday and chocolate is a
relatively new one when Richard Cadbury
was looking for a new way to market his
newly invented eating chocolates prior
to that chocolate had been mostly
consumed in liquid form he used his
marketing prowess to dream up
heart-shaped boxes adorned with Cupid’s
that could be used as keepsakes even
after the chocolate had been eaten
number six
fruitcake as a gift was murder
I picked up a fruitcake does anyone
actually want to eat fruitcake did they
just make a bunch of them 100 years ago
and the same ones are still kicking
around every holiday season we thought
you enjoyed fruitcake you enjoy throwing
up every five minutes klog Clarke Real
Talk this dessert has been much
ridiculed but similar recipes have been
around since ancient Rome in fact it’s
only in certain countries that fruitcake
is associated expressly with Christmas
in the UK it’s eaten year-round because
of the manner in which it’s made
fruitcake really does last a long time
much longer in fact than many other
desserts
so it’s an easy thing to give us a gift
without worrying that it has spoiled
[Music]
number five Black Friday shopping
because American Thanksgiving has been
on the last Thursday of November since
the early 1940s it became tradition over
the years for workers to play hooky the
following day employers eventually
decided to embrace this reality rather
than chastising their employees and it
mostly became an official paid holiday
it’s recognized as the kickoff of the
holiday season and the day to get a
start on your shopping the term Black
Friday was coined in 1966 after the
shopping rush caused particularly bad
traffic and shopping congestion in
Philadelphia new sash ons number for the
Christmas tree as we noted before
Christmas does have a lot of unusual
traditions and while it may seem like a
Christmas staple we actually haven’t
been putting coniferous trees in our
homes to decorate for all that long yes
the tradition has been around in Germany
for quite a while but the custom didn’t
catch on in the UK or the US until much
later in fact in 1900 only about one in
five American homes had a Christmas tree
and can you imagine that before the
advent of electricity people actually
put lit candles on their trees talk
about a fire hazard
[Music]
number three April Fool’s Day pranks of
all the traditions on our list with
somewhat murky and mysterious origins
none is more baffling than April fools
day I had stationery made up with his
name and then I would send letters to
other actors around the world and
throughout history there have been
numerous springtime celebrations with a
festive vibe like the Hindu holy and
Jewish poram but no one can really
pinpoint when exactly the Western
tradition of playing April Fool’s Day
pranks comes from and my parents
satisfied at dinner and told us that we
were all gonna move to London we had to
my father got transferred and we all got
to move and we started bawling everyone
you know cry
of course nowadays on reality TV pranks
get pulled 365 days a year even weirder
in France
April Fool’s is known as possum devil
for April fish
hey France you do you never to kissing
under the mistletoe back to Christmas
for what dj khaled would call another
one mistletoe is a plant that has long
been linked with fertility practices and
has for many years along with a jolly
sprig of Holly become a traditional part
of Christmas the custom states that any
man can kiss a woman who’s standing
under the mistletoe and that if she
rejects his advances she will have bad
luck
[Music]
thirty foot of Naugles that yeah this is
one tradition that needs a serious
overhaul to say the least
kissing at midnight on New Year’s is
also supposed to bring good luck to both
willing parties key word willing number
one Groundhog Day the origin of this
tradition is hyper localized it takes
place on February 2nd each year in
Punxsutawney Pennsylvania
if Punxsutawney Phil the famous soar is
that infamous groundhog sees his shadow
when he emerges from his den then there
will allegedly be six more weeks of
winter
[Applause]
there is much debate about the accuracy
of this method duh but where exactly did
this tradition come from well in ancient
European folklore a badger or sacred
bear is sometimes purported to predict
the weather and Candlemas is a Christian
holy day that falls on February 2nd
still this one is pretty weird this is
one time where television really fails
to capture the true excitement of a
large squirrel predicting the weather do
you agree with our picks check out these
other great clips from WatchMojo and
subscribe for new videos every day
[Music]
some of the things we do when the
holidays roll around welcome to
watchmojo.com and today we’re counting
down our picks for the top ten holiday
traditions that make no sense
oh wait I do this before we begin we
publish new videos every day so be sure
to subscribe for more great content for
this list we’re looking at the history
behind some holiday practices whose
origins we don’t often consider or think
about number 10 hanging stockings no
holiday during the year has more
traditions associated with it than
Christmas
whether it’s leaving cookies and milk
out for Santa or drinking delicious
eggnog there are a whole lot of things
we do without ever really wondering how
they came about another biggie hanging
stockings for Santa Claus to fill the
history of hanging containers for gifts
is long-standing with different
countries having different origin
stories for the practice well actually
people mostly just used their regular
socks for father Christmas to fill but
over time they became bigger and bigger
most storage MO presents number 9
carving pumpkins dressing up in costumes
and going to your neighbor’s houses to
demand candy is strange enough but on
top of that you’ve also got a hollow out
a giant vegetable to leave on your front
porch
indeed many of the customs surrounding
Halloween seem bizarre but in fact
carving out gourds to create lanterns is
a practice that people have been
participating in for hundreds of years
it’s widely accepted that the
jack-o’-lantern as we’ve come to know it
originated in Ireland in the 1800s some
say that the faces carved into the
pumpkins are meant to represent evil
spirits while others say they’re to
scare them away
number 8 blowing out candles it happens
at every birthday party you’ve ever been
to the lights go down someone brings out
a cake festoon with candles and then
the singing starts possibly in tune but
often not so much excellent
rather than enjoying the candlelight
though the birthday boy or girl
immediately blows them out while making
a silent wish but why while there are
records of candles being placed on cakes
throughout history no one seems to know
where they blow out the candles and make
a wish definitively comes from maybe
someone should wish for an explanation
number 7 chocolate for Valentine’s Day
hey how’s it going while many of the
traditions on this list as we’ve seen
come from time-honored customs we’re
coming to the first one with a slightly
more shall we say capitalistic history
problem Valentine’s Day has of course
been around for centuries though its
origins were religious not about
romantic love but the association
between the holiday and chocolate is a
relatively new one when Richard Cadbury
was looking for a new way to market his
newly invented eating chocolates prior
to that chocolate had been mostly
consumed in liquid form he used his
marketing prowess to dream up
heart-shaped boxes adorned with Cupid’s
that could be used as keepsakes even
after the chocolate had been eaten
number six
fruitcake as a gift was murder
I picked up a fruitcake does anyone
actually want to eat fruitcake did they
just make a bunch of them 100 years ago
and the same ones are still kicking
around every holiday season we thought
you enjoyed fruitcake you enjoy throwing
up every five minutes klog Clarke Real
Talk this dessert has been much
ridiculed but similar recipes have been
around since ancient Rome in fact it’s
only in certain countries that fruitcake
is associated expressly with Christmas
in the UK it’s eaten year-round because
of the manner in which it’s made
fruitcake really does last a long time
much longer in fact than many other
desserts
so it’s an easy thing to give us a gift
without worrying that it has spoiled
[Music]
number five Black Friday shopping
because American Thanksgiving has been
on the last Thursday of November since
the early 1940s it became tradition over
the years for workers to play hooky the
following day employers eventually
decided to embrace this reality rather
than chastising their employees and it
mostly became an official paid holiday
it’s recognized as the kickoff of the
holiday season and the day to get a
start on your shopping the term Black
Friday was coined in 1966 after the
shopping rush caused particularly bad
traffic and shopping congestion in
Philadelphia new sash ons number for the
Christmas tree as we noted before
Christmas does have a lot of unusual
traditions and while it may seem like a
Christmas staple we actually haven’t
been putting coniferous trees in our
homes to decorate for all that long yes
the tradition has been around in Germany
for quite a while but the custom didn’t
catch on in the UK or the US until much
later in fact in 1900 only about one in
five American homes had a Christmas tree
and can you imagine that before the
advent of electricity people actually
put lit candles on their trees talk
about a fire hazard
[Music]
number three April Fool’s Day pranks of
all the traditions on our list with
somewhat murky and mysterious origins
none is more baffling than April fools
day I had stationery made up with his
name and then I would send letters to
other actors around the world and
throughout history there have been
numerous springtime celebrations with a
festive vibe like the Hindu holy and
Jewish poram but no one can really
pinpoint when exactly the Western
tradition of playing April Fool’s Day
pranks comes from and my parents
satisfied at dinner and told us that we
were all gonna move to London we had to
my father got transferred and we all got
to move and we started bawling everyone
you know cry
of course nowadays on reality TV pranks
get pulled 365 days a year even weirder
in France
April Fool’s is known as possum devil
for April fish
hey France you do you never to kissing
under the mistletoe back to Christmas
for what dj khaled would call another
one mistletoe is a plant that has long
been linked with fertility practices and
has for many years along with a jolly
sprig of Holly become a traditional part
of Christmas the custom states that any
man can kiss a woman who’s standing
under the mistletoe and that if she
rejects his advances she will have bad
luck
[Music]
thirty foot of Naugles that yeah this is
one tradition that needs a serious
overhaul to say the least
kissing at midnight on New Year’s is
also supposed to bring good luck to both
willing parties key word willing number
one Groundhog Day the origin of this
tradition is hyper localized it takes
place on February 2nd each year in
Punxsutawney Pennsylvania
if Punxsutawney Phil the famous soar is
that infamous groundhog sees his shadow
when he emerges from his den then there
will allegedly be six more weeks of
winter
[Applause]
there is much debate about the accuracy
of this method duh but where exactly did
this tradition come from well in ancient
European folklore a badger or sacred
bear is sometimes purported to predict
the weather and Candlemas is a Christian
holy day that falls on February 2nd
still this one is pretty weird this is
one time where television really fails
to capture the true excitement of a
large squirrel predicting the weather do
you agree with our picks check out these
other great clips from WatchMojo and
subscribe for new videos every day
[Music]
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