traditions

There's a reason Dyngus Day is very popular here in WNY. We have a ton of people here that are of Polish Heritage and they're proud to show it.

It's a real-life 'Polar Express' that takes to the streets for a few weeks going throughout neighborhoods in Western New York.

School will be back in session soon here in New York and every family handles it a little bit differently.

Now, this one can get really intense, but it is super fun. It is one of our most favorite traditions and it gets a little crazier each year.

The holidays are all about tradition and spending time with the ones you love. In Western New York, there are a bunch of things that we do every year.

If you've been to a Bills game in the past 20 years, there's a chance that you have seen at least one of these traditions. But you won't see them this year.

Holidays come and go, but some things stay the same. After reading about Luke Bryan's unique tradition, I started thinking about some that have stuck with us throughout the years.

From the overpriced flowing white dress to walking slowly down an aisle while music plays to throwing a garter into a crowd, weddings are filled with rituals that would make no sense if you saw them in any other place.

There are certain holiday traditions that some people still do regardless of whether they they know where they came from or not.  How many people know where the tradition of kissing under the mistletoe came from?  Better yet, how many people still do it?

Everyone celebrates holidays differently.  That's part of what makes them so great.  Everyone has their own little traditions that make them special.  So I asked WYRK listeners if they had any traditions that they do that they think are different from everyone else.  There are some pretty unique ones here too!

It's a Presidential pardon given each year to a symbolic Thanksgiving turkey, or turkeys, as was the case Wednesday at the White House. President Obama was assisted by his two daughters as you'll see in this PBS/YouTube video.

In Italy, instead of Christmas trees, they decorated small wooden pyramids with fruit. Ukranians decorate their trees with an artificial spider and matching web.  A spider web found on Christmas morning is believed to bring good luck. In Caracas, Venezuela, they block off the streets on Christmas eve so that people can rollerskate to church.