Welcome to Worldwide Weird Holidays, where you’ll find a new reason to celebrate every day of the year.
May 8 is Have a Coke Day
Today is Have a Coke Day. The first glass was sold for five cents at Jacob’s Pharmacy in Atlanta, GA, on May 8, 1886. The story of one of the most popular beverages on Earth began at the end of the American Civil War. Confederate officer and Freemason John Stith Pemberton was slashed across the […]
May 4 is Star Wars Day
Today is Star Wars Day. Its date is a play on words referencing the line, “May the Force be with you.” “May the fourth be with you” has become a rallying cry for fans. It was inaugurated on May 4, 2011, at the Toronto Underground Cinema in Canada and has quickly spread around the world. […]
May 3 is National Two Different Colored Shoes Day
Today is National Two Different Colored Shoes Day, founded in 2009 by Arlene Kaiser, Ed.D., to encourage everyone to “recognize and celebrate the uniqueness and diversity of humanity.” Wearing different colored shoes is meant to demonstrate the willingness to “take a positive risk” and step outside of your comfort zone. According to Dr. Kaiser’s biographical […]
May 2 is Tuatara Day
Today is Tuatara Day. On May 2, 1867, scientists first recognized that the tuatara, a reptile found only in New Zealand, is not a lizard (Squamata) as originally thought. Why is this important? Like Tigger and the Highlander, there can be only one. The tuatara is the sole surviving representative of its own group (Rhynchocephalia), […]
No Pants Day – 1st Friday in May
No Pants Day is a holiday invented in the late 1990s by several University of Texas at Austin students. Calling themselves the Knighthood of Buh, the group claimed to have revived the ancient “contradictory” faith of Discordianism. According to its Wikia page, “Discordianism recognizes chaos, discord, and dissent as valid and desirable qualities, in contrast with […]
National Kazoo Day
Today is National Kazoo Day, when kazoo players celebrate the long history of the instrument in America. No one knows the exact date of the kazoo’s invention. A popular story holds that it was designed in the 1840s by an African-American man named Alabama Vest. German clockmaker Thaddeus Von Clegg constructed a prototype, which Vest introduced at […]
January 11 is Cigarettes are Hazardous to Your Health Day
Today is Cigarettes are Hazardous to Your Health Day. Today, this may elicit a resounding,” Duh!” But on January 11, 1964, when Surgeon General Luther L. Terry, M.D. released his report linking smoking to cancer, it was far from accepted wisdom and vehemently disputed by tobacco companies. The report came after a year-long, comprehensive review by […]
April 5 is First Contact Day
First Contact Day won’t officially happen until April 5, 2063, when Dr. Zefram Cochrane takes off from Earth in the first warp-capable vessel, Phoenix–constructed from remnants of a nuclear missile in an underground bunker outside Bozeman, Montana–attracting the attention of a passing Vulcan survey ship, spurring the Vulcans to make, you guessed it, first contact […]
April 1 is April Fools’ Day
Today is April Fools’ Day, also known as April Fool’s Day. When we set out to determine its origins, we found a lot more theories than answers. Satellites around Mars hoax – 1959 The ancient Romans celebrated the aptly-named Hilaria festival in late March to honor the resurrection of Attis, son of the Great Mother Cybele. It was essentially […]
2022February 8 is National Girl Scout Cookie Day
The first National Girl Scout Cookie Day was celebrated on February 8, 2013, created to “highlight the real purpose of the $790-million cookie program, which is to teach girls five essential skills: goal setting, decision making, money management, business ethics, and people skills.” It appears not everyone buys into GSblog’s statement that cookie fans […]