Traditions
7 stories
What the Groundhog Inherited from Candlemas
The groundhog's shadow on February 2 descends from an older ceremony of candlelight, carried from Germany to Pennsylvania by settlers who read the sky.
The Long Renaming of Decoration Day
A May custom of flowers on soldiers' graves, begun the spring the war ended, took a century to become the holiday on the last Monday.
The Fourth Thursday
The 1939 fight over shopping days gave the country a fixed date, and a reminder of what the month of the table is for.
How Halloween Left the Farm for the Suburbs
From bare hedgerows and turnip lanterns to porch lights and packaged candy, October's old fire festival remade itself for the American middle.
Spring Forward, Argue Again
Every March the clocks jump ahead and the whole argument starts up again — a century-long fight over who owns the hour.
The Fair Begins in May
The county fair is written in May, in courthouse rooms, months before the first ribbon is pinned to a heifer's halter.
Why Labor Day Ends the Summer
A holiday invented for workers became the country's unofficial full stop — this is how September got its line in the calendar.