photo credit: Taylor Guzek
On a snowy Sunday night, you climb into bed with your pajamas inside out, double checking the early morning forecast and smile seeing that the possibility of snow in the early morning was over 70 percent. As your excitement races, you snuggle up in bed, trying to get comfortable despite the lump in your pillow from the spoon under it.
Students of all ages for decades in the Northeast and Midwest have spent the night before an aspiring snow day doing strange rituals aimed at ensuring a day off from school. These activities, commonly referred to as snow day superstitions, are widespread and unite children and adults in a common anticipation.
“Me and my brother would always partake in snow day superstitions like putting a spoon under the pillow or flushing ice down the toilet. It was always a big thing for us when we saw that it was cold or snowy outside,” junior Nathan Hariths said.
Although it is unclear where these seemingly random superstitions came about, some claim that they stem from traditions or rituals performed to control the weather by groups such as Native Americans, according to Daily Break. To gauge how common snow day superstitions remain, Courier staff polled over 60 fifth graders from the district about these traditions. Over 60 percent of the respondents reported having attempted a superstition before.
“I was a pretty avid snow day superstition kid so I was putting a spoon under my pillow, wearing my pajamas inside out and flushing ice down the toilet. It was a lot of fun,” junior Rynley White said.
Out of the answers for favorite superstitions from the fifth graders, two thirds of the responses had flushing ice down the toilet as their favorite superstition. This tradition is meant to cause the ground to become colder in hopes of snowfall.
“Flushing ice down the toilet was my brother’s and my favorite tradition because it made our parents mad. They would usually catch us doing it in the act so it was always a lot of fun to do,” Hariths said.
Another silly but popular practice is to put any kind of spoon under your pillow, which is thought to help you dig your way out of a snowstorm. Other common superstitions include wearing pajamas inside out and backwards and putting a white crayon on a windowsill.
“My favorite tradition was to put a spoon under my pillow because I had this one specific spoon at my house that I would use every time. It was a small blue spoon with characters from Winnie the Pooh on it,” junior Layne Jacob said.
Snow days might just seem like a day for younger children to go sledding and have snowball fights, however, older students also feel the relief of a day off. Although not all older students feel the excitement of a fun day ahead in the snow, getting days off from their heavy school workload can provide much needed breaks and opportunities to catch up on rest and relaxation.
“I feel like I used to get excited for snow days when I was younger because I could just go out and have fun sledding or doing other winter stuff like drinking hot chocolate. Now I feel like I might get even more excited because of the fact that there is no school and I don’t have to worry about my homework or assignments,” Jacob said.
Getting through the long, cold winter months is tiring for many people as the often gray weather can make things gloomy. However, lucky snow days help students to stress relieve, take some time for themselves and help to set them up for success. Snow days help brighten spirits and give students something to enjoy and look forward to.
“I get pretty excited, especially if it’s a Monday after a weekend or if it’s a really work heavy week and I’m really tired. Sometimes I do use it to do my homework, or I’ll use it to get ahead on some of my schoolwork. I also definitely use that time to catch up on sleep,” White said.
Although snow day superstitions aren’t scientifically proven to cause school closures, the excitement and anticipation of a day off is what makes these traditions so memorable. So, the next time snow is on the forecast for the morning of a school day, make sure to flush ice down the toilet, wear your pajamas inside out and put a lucky spoon under your pillow. No matter the superstition, nothing beats the feeling of waking up to knowing it worked.
“I always get super excited when there is a snow day even now. It’s so fun to wake up and see all the snow outside, and then I get super excited to go back to bed,” Jacob said.
