Here’s an attempt to explain some of rock’s weirder traditions and behaviors
[This was my weekly column for GlobalNews.ca. – AC]
On the last Wednesday in August, the good citizens of Buñol, Spain, gather in the main square to throw tomatoes at each other. No one is entirely sure why, either. All most people care about is that it’s fun to pelt friends and strangers with tomatoes, so the La Tomatina Festival became an annual thing. (For the record, it seems to date back to about 1945, when there was some kind of brawl that devolved into the throwing of fruits and vegetables.)
Speaking of throwing things: In Denmark, single people aged 25 are doused with cinnamon by friends and family on Valentine’s Day. No one knows why other than it’s always been a thing. Same thing with tossing newborn babies off the 50-foot Sri Saneswar Temple in India. The tykes are caught by people holding a big cloth below. It’s just tradition, the origins and purposes of which have disappeared into history.
Rock music has been around long enough to have its own inexplicable traditions and behaviours. Let’s look at a few.
