Saturday, September 27, 2014

October 2014—Bizarre and Unique Holidays


We have our legal holidays, recognized by official government proclamation. Days when all government offices, banks, and schools are closed…days when there's no mail delivery.

Then there are the bizarre, wacky and unique holidays…most of them with unknown origins. Holidays that are just for fun. There are also weeks set aside for specific observances. And entire months dedicated to specific causes. Here's a selection that occur in October.

October is Adopt a Shelter Dog month, American Pharmacist month, Apple Jack month, Breast Cancer Awareness month, Clergy Appreciation month, Computer Learning month, Cookie month, Domestic Violence Awareness month, Eat Country Ham month, International Drum month, Lupus Awareness month, National Diabetes month, National Pizza month, National Vegetarian month, National Popcorn Popping month, Sarcastic month, and Seafood month.

As to weekly celebrations, we have:
Week 1 gives us Get Organized week and Customer Service week.
Week 2 gives us Fire Prevention week and Pet Peeve week.
Week 3 gives us Pastoral Care week.

Oct 1 World Vegetarian Day

Oct 2 National Custodial Worker Day
Oct 2 Name Your Car Day—always October 2. Does your car have a name? People name their boats, and we think nothing of it. So, why not name your car or truck? After all, cars have character and personality. We spend a lot of time in our cars, so it seems fitting that each car should have its own name.

Oct 3 Techies Day
Oct 3 Virus Appreciation Day
Oct 3 World Smile Day (first Friday of the month)

Oct 4 International Frugal Fun Day (first Saturday of the month)
Oct 4 National Golf Day
Oct 4 National Frappe Day

Oct 5 Do Something Nice Day—always October 5th. Do something nice, anything nice. And, do it to, or for, another individual. It won't hurt, honest it won't. Doing something nice for someone almost always evokes a very pleasant response. And, best of all, doing something nice just might be contagious.
Oct 5 Oktoberfest in Germany ends (date varies)
Oct 5 World Teacher's Day

Oct 6 Come and Take it Day
Oct 6 Mad Hatter Day
Oct 6 Physician Assistant Day

Oct 7 Bald and Free Day

Oct 8 American Touch Tag Day
Oct 8 Emergency Nurses Day (date varies)

Oct 9 Curious Events Day—always October 9th. Curious Events Day manages to grab one's curiosity. Why does this day exist? Who created it? What curious events are held today? The questions go on, and on, and on…. If you have any questions, this is the day to ask.
Oct 9 Fire Prevention Day
Oct 9 Leif Erikson Day
Oct 9 Moldy Cheese Day

Oct 10 National Angel Food Cake Day
Oct 10 World Egg Day (second Friday of month)

Oct 11 It's My Party Day
Oct 11 Take Your Teddy Bear to Work Day

Oct 12 Cookbook Launch Day
Oct 12 Old Farmer's Day
Oct 12 Moment of Frustration Day—always on October 12th. One of the most important reasons for today is the opportunity to let out your frustrations. If you are not frustrated, count your blessings. Don't use today to add to your frustrations and whatever you do today, don't find new frustrations.

Oct 13 Columbus Day (second Monday of month)
Oct 13 International Skeptics Day—take your pick: January 13th, or October 13th or first Friday the 13th of the year. This is the perfect day for all you Doubting Thomas types. By definition, a skeptic is a person who questions or doubts facts and theories. He or she is a mis-believer. A skeptic does not accept the given. If you are inclined to doubt things that you see or hear, then International Skeptics Day is for you. This holiday was most likely created by a skeptic since there is doubt about even the date to celebrate. Perhaps you hard core skeptics should celebrate on all three days.

Oct 14 Be Bald And Free Day
Oct 14 National Dessert Day

Oct 15 White Cane Safety Day

Oct 16 Bosses Day
Oct 16 Dictionary Day

Oct 17 Wear Something Gaudy Day

Oct 18 International Newspaper Carrier Day (date varies each year)
Oct 18 No Beard Day
Oct 18 Sweetest Day (third Saturday of month)

Oct 19 Evaluate Your Life Day

Oct 20 Brandied Fruit Day

Oct 21 Babbling Day—always October 21. Blatherskites, mark this day on your calendar. The dictionary defines blatherskite as a person who babbles. This isn't a day to remain silent. Tell everyone you know about this special day. On this day, we celebrate those with a glib tongue. You know them when you hear them. They're talking gibberish. They never stop talking. They babble on and on. They can turn a simple one sentence statement into an endless dissertation.
Oct 21 Count Your Buttons Day
Oct 21 National Pumpkin Cheesecake Day

Oct 22 National Nut Day

Oct 23 National Mole Day
Oct 23 TV Talk Show Host Day

Oct 24 National Bologna Day
Oct 24 United Nations Day

Oct 25 Make A Difference Day (fourth Saturday of the month)
Oct 25 Punk-For-A-Day Day
Oct 25 World Pasta Day—always October 25. It should come as no surprise to discover that this special day promotes the consumption of pasta around the world with special events held to help spread the word about pasta's nutritional value. The National Pasta Association and pasta manufacturers sponsor these events and activities. This celebration day was established as an annual event at the first World Pasta Congress held on October 25, 1995 in Rome, Italy.

Oct 26 Mother-In-Law Day (fourth Sunday in October)
Oct 26 National Mincemeat Day

Oct 27 National Tell A Story Day (in Scotland and the U.K.)
Oct 27 Navy Day

Oct 28 Plush Animal Lover's Day

Oct 29 Hermit Day
Oct 29 National Frankenstein Day—there are three known days and as a result a little bit confusion. There's Frankenstein Friday (last Friday in October), National Frankenstein Day (August 30, the birthdate of Frankenstein author Mary Shelley), and Frankenstein Day. Frankenstein is one of the best known horror creations, dating back to the 1800's. It's difficult to imagine the Halloween season without the Frankenstein monster lurking somewhere in the darkness. To celebrate this day, read the novel or see a Frankenstein movie. And, for those who aren't sure, Frankenstein is the name of the doctor (the monster he created didn't have a name).

Oct 30 National Candy Corn Day
Oct 30 Mischief Night

Oct 31 Carve A Pumpkin Day
Oct 31 Halloween—that night of witches, ghosts, goblins, monsters and trick-or-treaters looking for candy.
Oct 31 Increase Your Psychic Powers Day—always October 31. There are a number of ways to increase your psychic powers and no shortage of psychics, groups and websites to help you. Here are a few suggestions: Get out the Ouija board and use it with some friends. Get out a deck of cards, shuffle them well, think of what the top card is then, turn it over. Flip of the coin where you guess heads or tails while the coin is in the air. As your psychic power increases, you should guess correctly more than 50% of the time. Hone your ESP skills—when the phone rings, guess who it will be. As you go through the day, guess what people are going to say, or what is going to happen next. Concentrating and clearing your mind of other thoughts is essential to successfully developing your psychic powers. This celebration day appears to have roots in England back to the nineteenth century. Some documentation and readings has it occurring on Halloween night. Other, references, has is on the 30th.

And there you have it…the weird, wacky and unique celebration days for the month of October, 2014.

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