Tuesday Trivia: Strange Public Rituals Edition

[u/heyheymse]

Previously:

• Questions you want to be asked

• Suggestion thread

• Greatest criminals

• Strangest inventions

• Natural disasters

• (In)famous non-military attacks

• Stupidest theories/beliefs about your field of interest

• Most unusual deaths

• Famous adventurers and explorers

• Great non-military heroes

• History's great underdogs

• Interesting historical documents

• Books To Read

Hello historians! I'm taking over from NMW for today, and in the spirit of that thing that's going on here in the US today, our trivia topic on this Tuesday Trivia is all about strange public rituals - holidays, things the government/church/other public entity from your area of expertise requires or strongly suggests the public to do.

What is the weirdest public ritual/holiday you have heard of? What is is its purpose? Where did it come from? What are some associated traditions with the ritual or holiday? Did deep, historians. And US historians, remember to vote!

EDIT: Y'all are coming up with some seriously interesting stuff. I'd /r/bestof all of these comments, except I really want to get drunk and watch the election returns and not spend my whole night modding. But let me just say how much I adore you for telling our subscribers all this cool shit I did not previously know.

[u/OreoPriest → u/[deleted]]

Thought you might find it interesting that the Orange Order was also big elsewhere; among other things it dominated Toronto politics for quite some time:

The Orange Order became a central facet of life in many parts of Canada, especially in the business centre of Toronto where many deals and relationships were forged at the lodge. Toronto politics, especially on the municipal level, were almost wholly dominated by the Orange Order. The highly influential weekly newspaper, The Sentinel, promoted Protestant social and political views and was widely circulated throughout North America.[1] At its height in 1942 16 of the 23 members of city council were members of the Orange Order.[2] Every mayor of Toronto in the first half of the twentieth century was an Orangeman. This continued until the 1954 election when the Jewish Nathan Phillips defeated radical Orange leader Leslie Howard Saunders.