Students around campus walking around, doing their best to not to slip and fall (Kush Kumar/The Daily Campus)
Spring semester has traditionally been snow day season at UConn, even to the point of becoming a weekly occurrence just last year. Now with 15 straight weeks of classes looming ahead, we can only hope the same can be said of this year. Here’s a few superstitions to guarantee the maximum number of days off this spring.
There are some superstitions lowkey enough to not draw attention to yourself, which are ideal for the teacher’s pet that needs a break or the cool kid who wants to run around in the snow. This includes either wearing your pajamas backward, placing a spoon under your pillow, dropping ice cubes in the toilet or eating ice cream before bed. All of which tend to be most effective when there’s a possible snow storm being predicted for the next day. Even so, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try them out when there’s clear skies. It also may be a good idea to try them out with a roommate. That way it will be more fun and may increase your chances of getting a snow day.
Other superstitions are best performed in groups. This includes a ritual dance as demonstrated by Dimitri Dimitri’s video “The Snow Dance” on YouTube. It is often performed outside the day before a storm that has a slim chance of happening. It has been said to work with a single participant, but gains power with more dancers, as seen in the video. While there is little scientific backing for this theory, some say there is a correlation between the number of dancers and the number of inches of snow. The same can also be said of the length of the dance.
If dances and rituals don’t feel powerful enough to secure the blizzard you’re hoping for, you can always turn toward magic. Snow storm spells are free on “Spells of Magic” and very easy to follow. In order to create a blizzard, you need to yell, “Waving wands since I’m a wizard, make it into a snowy blizzard!” This spell is 100 percent effective, but “will not work immediately!” To simply make it snow, you must stand outside and visualize snow falling. With this image in mind, chant, “Snow, snow, fall and blow, softly to the ground.” It should begin to snow shortly after the completion of the chant. Although these spells are useful, they are only short term. If you’d rather have a long-term solution, you can try chanting, “Cerridwen, Cerridwen, goddess of magic, give me powers like Elsa from Frozen. Let me control ice and snow, but have my powers not cause a commotion. This is my wish, so mote it be!” three times. Once this is done, you should have gained complete power over the snow.
Of course, if none of these superstitions work, you can always invent your own. Remember, the more people who cast spells and dance for snow, the more snow days we’re likely to get. It would be silly to just leave it up to chance.
Rebecca Maher is a campus correspondent for The Daily Campus. She can be reached via email at rebecca.maher@uconn.edu.
