Automobile Folklore - Cars For Special Occasions

Cars For Special Occasions

Cars are often decorated, and have wishes written on them, and various streamers or trailing objects attached, in celebrations of weddings and graduations.

A frequent wedding tradition in the United States involves the decoration of the vehicle the bride and groom drive take at the conclusion of the wedding ceremony. Typically, various ribbons and streamers are attached, and words written upon the surface of the vehicle, and often tin cans are attached to its fenders or bumpers by strings to serve as noisemakers. Jan Brunvand's American Folklore: An Encyclopedia speculates that the decoration of the car and its equipment with noisemakers may perpetuate the shivaree, a custom in which newlyweds were given a noisy serenade; when honeymoon travel became a custom, it made a traditional local shivaree impractical, so the vehicle is given a noisy sendoff instead.

Some cars are used chiefly for special occasions and social rituals, such as limousines.

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