By Rebecca Noeske

One aspect of enduring cold Michigan winters is that sometimes they result in what we fondly refer to as “Snow Days”. Sure, this means the roads are icy, it’s snowing too hard, or it is simply too cold to safely be outdoors and/or driving.  But all it means to students is an unexpected day off which gives rise to several rituals that have become famous for supposedly increasing the likelihood of snow days.

One of the most well known snow day rituals involves wearing pajamas inside out. Another includes sleeping with a spoon under the pillow. Flushing ice cubes down the toilet is also thought to increase the likelihood of a snow day.

“I still sleep with a spoon under my pillow whenever I hear we might have a snow day,” said junior Barbara Diaz. “I gave up wearing my pajamas inside out though!”

Senior Mackenzie Coden admitted that her family has their own rituals for snow days. “My younger siblings and I do a snow dance while we chant. It’s kind of weird but it seems to work!”

Other students are more doubtful about the effectiveness of these rituals.

“When I was younger I used to wear my pajamas inside out and do all of that, but I haven’t done that since elementary school,” said senior Hallie Averbach. “It never ended up working.

Several less famous, but still well-known snow day rituals include running around a table five times, throwing shaved ice into the yard, putting a white crayon in the freezer, sleeping on opposite ends of the bed, wearing gloves to bed, and yelling “SNOW DAY!” into the freezer. So if you’re a student looking for a day off due to inclement weather, you can give those a try!

“I’m a believer,” said senior Sandeep Siva. “Snow day rituals definitely work!”