Welcome to Worldwide Weird Holidays, where you’ll find a new reason to celebrate every day of the year.
Corporate Baby Name Day
Today is Corporate Baby Name Day. On August 6, 2001, AmericanBaby.com, a (now defunct) online resource for pregnancy and parenting advice, announced the results of a survey it had recently conducted. The poll asked six hundred respondents if they would sell the right to name their baby to a corporation for $500,000. We’ve learned about […]
Curiosity Day
Today is Curiosity Day. On August 5, 2012, NASA’s Mars Rover Curiosity landed on the red planet after a procedure so complicated its engineers dubbed it Seven Minutes of Terror. On November 26, 2011, an unmanned spacecraft carrying the 1,982-pound SUV-sized rover launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. After traveling 354 million […]
US Coast Guard Day
Today is U.S. Coast Guard Day. After the Continental Navy disbanded in 1785, no provision existed in the U.S. Constitution for the establishment of a permanent maritime force. In 1790, Alexander Hamilton, the country’s first Secretary of the Treasury, founded the service that would become the Coast Guard. Established to enforce tariff laws and manned […]
National Watermelon Day
Today is National Watermelon Day. It closely follows July’s Watermelon Month, established in 2008 by a unanimous U.S. Congressional Joint Resolution. Today’s holiday is sponsored by the National Watermelon Promotion Board (NWPB), an organization whose strategic mission is to increase consumer demand in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico while working to develop trade with England and […]
National Ice Cream Sandwich Day
Today is National Ice Cream Sandwich Day. According to Geraldine Quinzio, author of Sugar and Snow: A History of Ice Cream Making, the ice cream sandwich was invented in 1899 by a pushcart peddler in New York City. It consisted of vanilla ice cream pressed between two thin graham crackers. In July of 1900, The New York […]
World Middle Finger Day
Today is World Middle Finger Day, created in 2012 by Charles Greene to encourage everyone to exercise their right to peaceful protest with a universal gesture of defiance. Greene chose August 1st because it falls between July 4th and September 11, two dates that inspire nationalistic fervor. World Middle Finger Day acknowledges the value of dissent. […]
National Intern Day
National Intern Day, observed on the last Thursday in July, recognizes the hard work and dedication of interns across the country. It was created in 2017 by WayUp, a unique platform that connects college students and recent grads with job opportunities and career advice. The task of getting an internship has always been a difficult one, […]
Moby-Dick Marathon
The 24-hour Moby-Dick Marathon begins at noon today at the Mystic Seaport in Mystic, CT. An actor portraying Herman Melville will recite the novel’s first chapter aboard the Seaport’s 1841 wooden whaler. Visitors can sign up to read a chapter aloud. Hopefully, the reading will progress at a pace that will bring it to a conclusion at […]
Jimmy Hoffa Day
Today is Jimmy Hoffa Day. On July 30, 1975, James Riddle “Jimmy” Hoffa disappeared after leaving the Machus Red Fox Restaurant on the outskirts of Detroit, Michigan. A labor leader and union activist with strong ties to the Mob, Hoffa presided over the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT) from 1958 until 1971, when he was forced […]
Rain Day
Today is Rain Day. Why? According to records kept since 1874, it has rained in the town of Waynesburg, PA, on July 29th in 118 of the last 151 years, more than 78% of the time, a statistical anomaly. Every year, the town holds a festival, come rain or come shine. Events include a t-shirt design […]