Danish children celebrate their birthdays by receiving a “cakeman.” The festive dessert is a cake baked and decorated to resemble the birthday child.
After blowing out the candles, the birthday boy or girl gets to sit in wide-eyed wonder as he or she is symbolically decapitated and disembowled and guests feast upon the sugary entrails.
The Times Square Ball Drop Started With Sailors. Naturally, Things Got Out of Hand
Every New Year’s Eve, millions watch the Times Square ball drop. But the tradition’s origins have nothing to do with celebrating the new year. Discover how a nineteenth-century invention designed to help sailors navigate the oceans became one of the world’s most famous celebrations.
When Politeness Had Rules: The Strange Etiquette Rules Everyone Once Knew and We Somehow Forgot
From bowing and calling cards to chaperones and gloves, discover the strange old etiquette rules everyone once knew—and why they disappeared.
Kangaroo Feathers: The Australian Military Tradition That Started as a Joke
Discover the strange history of “kangaroo feathers,” the emu plumes worn by Australian Light Horse soldiers and the military tradition behind the joke.
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