Weird August Holidays

Every month has its collection of strange, weird, and obscure holidays, sometimes more than one per day, many of which are unknown to the general public. And, needless to say, holidays that are not government recognized—days where the schools, banks, government offices, and post office are not closed. But still holidays to be celebrated and enjoyed in their own quirky fashion.

Let's start with month long celebrations.  For August you have:  Admit You're Happy Month, Family Fun Month, National Catfish Month, National Eye Exam Month, National Golf Month [I'd better make sure my brother knows about this one], Peach Month, Romance Awareness Month, Water Quality Month, and National Picnic Month.

And then there are the week long celebrations. The first week of August is National Simplify Your Life Week. The second week of the month is National Smile Week. The third week is Friendship Week. And the fourth week is Be Kind To Humankind Week.

And the daily celebrations:  I found it interesting that 10 of the 31 days in August had holidays connected to food [are we seeing an ongoing theme here?]. Some of the dates had more than one holiday attached to them.

August 1)  National Mustard Day (the first Saturday in August)

August 1)  National Raspberry Cream Pie Day

August 2)  Friendship Day (the first Sunday in August)

August 2)  International Forgiveness Day (first Sunday in August)

August 2)  Sisters Day (first Sunday in August)

August 2)  National Ice Cream Sandwich Day

August 3)  National Watermelon Day

August 4)  U.S. Coast Guard Day

August 5)  Work Like A Dog Day

August 6)  Wiggle Your Toes Day

August 7)  National Lighthouse Day

August 8)  Sneak Some Zucchini Onto Your Neighbor's Porch Day

            Apparently zucchini is one of the most prolific plants with a single plant producing what seems to be an endless supply of zucchini. By the time August arrives, home gardeners have far more zucchini than they can possibly use. After giving away as much as they can to family and friends, desperate growers seek desperate measures to rid themselves of the overflow. And that gives us the name of the holiday…sneak some zucchini onto your neighbor's porch day.

August 9)  Book Lover's Day

            Book Lover's Day encourages you to find a comfortable place, relax, and enjoy a good book. If you happen to fall asleep in that gently swaying hammock while reading, that's perfectly okay. There is some disagreement about when this holiday is celebrated. August 9^th is the most widely accepted date. Some celebrate it on the first Saturday in November. My suggestion? Celebrate both days.

August 10)  Lazy Day

August 10)  National S'mores Day

August 11)  Presidential Joke Day

August 12)  Middle Child's Day

August 13)  Left Hander's Day

August 14)  National Creamsicle Day

August 14/15)  V-J Day (end of World War II)

August 15)  Relaxation Day

            For people with a hectic lifestyle, this is the day to kick back and do nothing…just relax. Take a break from your busy work and personal schedule. If something stresses you out, this is the day to ignore it.

August 16)  National Tell A Joke Day

August 17)  National Thrift Shop Day

August 18)  Bad Poetry Day

August 19)  Aviation Day

August 20)  National Radio Day

August 21)  Senior Citizen's Day

August 22)  Be An Angel Day

August 22)  National Tooth Fairy Day (and/or February 28)

August 23)  Ride The Wind Day

            This is a carefree day, a time to soar above the earth. Catch a ride on the breeze or float like a cloud. Summer will soon be over. Take advantage of this day to relax and leave your worries behind. Fly a kite. Enjoy the final days of summer.

August 24)  Vesuvius Day

August 25)  Kiss And Make Up Day

August 26)  National Dog Day

August 26)  Women's Equality Day

August 27)  Global Forgiveness Day

August 27)  Just Because Day

August 28)  Race Your Mouse Day [but in today's world are we talking rodent or computer?]

August 29)  More Herbs, Less Salt Day

August 30)  Frankenstein Day

            There are 3 versions of this day. This one is in honor of Mary Shelley, the author of Frankenstein, who was born August 30, 1797. There is also Frankenstein Friday and National Frankenstein Day, both celebrated in October. Confused? Celebrate all 3 days.

August 30)  Toasted Marshmallow Day

August 31)  National Trail Mix Day

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.

December Bizarre and Unique Holidays

As with every month, December has its share of the bizarre and unique when it comes to holidays, both official and unofficial. Since this is the wacky and weird, I won't be listing those legal holidays such as Christmas. Many dates have more than one holiday attached to them. So, in order to keep the list manageable, I'll only list one holiday per date.

For month long celebrations, December gives us Bingo Month and Write A Friend Month.

December 1: EAT A RED APPLE DAY

Apples are delicious and nutritious. It's easy to participate in this special day. All you need to do is pick an apple from among all the available varieties and eat it.

December 2: NATIONAL FRITTER DAY

December 3: NATIONAL ROOF OVER YOUR HEAD DAY

December 4: WEAR BROWN SHOES DAY

December 5: REPEAL DAY

This celebrates the repeal of the 18th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution (the 18th commonly referred to as Prohibition). Once more, Americans were free to buy, sell, and consume alcoholic beverages. The 18th Amendment was passed by the U.S. Congress on January 16, 1919.  Congress passed the 21st Amendment on December 5, 1933, repealing the 18th.

December 6: ST. NICHOLAS DAY

There really was a St. Nicholas. He lived in Greece just a couple of hundred years after the birth of Christ. He became a priest and later a Bishop of the early Catholic Church. There are many tales of him helping children in need.

December 7: NATIONAL COTTON CANDY DAY

December 8: NATIONAL BROWNIE DAY

December 9: NATIONAL PASTRY DAY

December 10: HUMAN RIGHTS DAY

Human Rights Day was created by the United Nations to promote awareness of the importance of Human Rights issues around the world. The UN General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights on December 10, 1948.

December 11: NATIONAL NOODLE RING DAY

December 12: NATIONAL DING-A-LING DAY

On National Ding-A-Ling Day you should brace yourself for bizarre and crazy behavior from all the people you encounter. Even normally reserved people have been known to go a little crazy on this day. It's a day to cut loose, act a little weird, and have fun.

December 13: ICE CREAM DAY

December 14: NATIONAL BOUILLABAISSE DAY

December 15: NATIONAL LEMON CUPCAKE DAY

December 16: NATIONAL CHOCOLATE COVERED ANYTHING DAY

Chocoholics rejoice! This is a great day to indulge, binge, pig out, and otherwise consume to excess your favorite food…chocolate. Enjoy all that delicious chocolate by covering anything and everything edible.

December 17: NATIONAL MAPLE SYRUP DAY

December 18: BAKE COOKIES DAY

December 19: LOOK FOR AN EVERGREEN DAY

For many people, only a fresh cut real tree will do for Christmas…the scent of fresh pine to help capture the feel of holiday season. If you haven't selected your real tree by this date, you're running out of time. This special day can serve as a reminder.

December 20: GO CAROLING DAY

December 21: HUMBUG DAY

This is the day that allows everyone preparing for the holidays to vent their frustrations. Humbug Day also brings out the Scrooge in some of us. Use this day to release the stress of the holiday season, but avoid becoming a real holiday Scrooge.

December 22: NATIONAL DATE NUT BREAD DAY

December 23: FESTIVUS

Feeling a little left out? Don't celebrate Christmas or Chanukah? Then enjoy the Miracle of Festivus celebration. Festivus came into being  on the December 18, 1997, episode of Jerry Seinfeld's television show. Since Festivus is non-denominational, everyone can partake and enjoy.

December 24: NATIONAL CHOCOLATE DAY
In case you missed National Chocolate Covered Anything Day, here's another excuse and opportunity to indulge your chocolate desires.

December 25: NATIONAL PUMPKIN PIE DAY

December 26: BOXING DAY

While not an official holiday in the U.S., it is a legal holiday (as in the banks are closed, etc.) in the UK and elsewhere.

December 27: NATIONAL FRUITCAKE DAY

December 28: CARD PLAYING DAY

This is the perfect time to spend an hour or several playing cards with family and friends. The Christmas hustle and bustle is over. The kids are getting bored with their new toys. Perhaps a calmer, relaxing and slow-paced form of entertainment is in order.

December 29: PEPPER POT DAY

December 30: NATIONAL BICARBONATE OF SODA DAY

Bicarbonate of Soda (also known as baking soda) has many good uses. Among those is relieving stomach indigestion and heartburn when mixed in water. Perhaps this celebration would be better on January 1st following the New Year's Eve partying?

December 31: UNLUCKY DAY

Hopefully this won't be an unlucky day for you. It does give everyone a chance to get all the bad things out of the way so next year will be happy, healthy and prosperous.

So, there you have it. A full month of daily celebrations. When looking over the complete list of 66 celebration days, I noticed how many of them were dedicated to food and drink (not counting Bicarbonate of Soda Day): 20 days, almost a third.