Welcome to Worldwide Weird Holidays, where you’ll find a new reason to celebrate every day of the year.
International Sex Workers Day
Today is International Sex Workers Day, known in some countries as International Whores’ Day. On June 2, 1975, approximately one hundred prostitutes in Lyon, France, took over the Saint-Nizier Roman Catholic church to protest dangerous working conditions. While police harshly punished prostitutes, their johns were allowed to go free. They, along with the French government, […]
Heimlich Maneuver Day
June 1st is Heimlich Maneuver Day. You may think you know everything you need to know about this procedure and the man who may or may not have invented it. But, stick around because this one gets weird. In 1974, the journal Emergency Medicine published Dr. Henry Heimlich’s article about a method to combat choking […]
May 31 is Speak in Complete Sentences Day
Today is Speak in Complete Sentences Day. Celebrating this holiday may prove more difficult than you’d think. The advent of text and email messages has led to an economy of words and a profusion of symbols, acronyms, and slang. Sentence structure has been sacrificed on the altar of expediency. Emojis and acronyms are quick, convenient […]
May 30 is Water a Flower Day
Today is Water a Flower Day. We don’t know who started this day of observance, but we hope you won’t play favorites and will show all your plants some love. Dictionary.com defines a flower as: 1. the blossom of a plant 2. Botany. a. the part of a seed plant comprising the reproductive organs and […]
May 29 is Put a Pillow on Your Fridge Day
Today is Put a Pillow on Your Fridge Day, a new take on an old tradition. Although we can find no origin for the practice, legend has it that at the turn of the 20th century, people in Europe and the U.S. placed a piece of cloth in their larders, cool spaces where they stored […]
May 27 is National Grape Popsicle Day
Today is National Grape Popsicle Day. In 1905, 11-year-old Frank Epperson was sitting on his porch, stirring powdered drink mix into water, when he was called inside and forgot to bring the cup with him. His hometown of San Francisco, CA, was hit with record-low temperatures that night. When Epperson ventured outside the next morning, […]
May 26 is Sally Ride Day
Today is Sally Ride Day. It celebrates the achievements of the astronaut, astrophysicist, engineer, philanthropist and author best known as the first American woman to travel to space. Today’s date honors her birthday on May 26, 1951. Women weren’t considered for America’s space program until 1978. Ride was selected from the first group to apply after NASA announced […]
May 23 is World Turtle Day
Today is World Turtle Day, a holiday created in 2000 by the non-profit organization American Tortoise Rescue (ATR) to celebrate turtles and tortoises and to protect their habitats. Susan Tellem and her husband Marshall have rescued and re-homed thousands of turtles since cofounding ATR in 1990. Ten years later, they started World Turtle Day because, as […]
May 22 is World Goth Day
Today is World Goth Day, a holiday that celebrates the global influence of the Goth subculture on music, art, literature, and fashion. Many consider the 1979 release of Bauhaus’ first single, Bela Lugosi’s Dead, to be the genesis of the gothic rock genre, although the word “goth” had been used in a musical context for […]
May 21 is Sister Maria Hummel Day
Today is Sister Maria Hummel Day, which celebrates the birth in 1909 of Berta Hummel, a German girl whose family recognized and encouraged her developing artistic talent from early childhood. She entered Munich’s Academy of Applied Arts in 1927, when few German women could pursue higher education. After graduating in 1931 with top honors, she chose […]