Welcome to Worldwide Weird Holidays, where you’ll find a new reason to celebrate every day of the year.
March 2 is Read Across America Day
Read Across America Day was proposed in 1997 by the National Education Association (NEA) and adopted the following year. March 2nd was chosen to celebrate the birthday, in 1904, of Theodor Seuss Geisel, better known as Dr. Seuss, one of the most beloved children’s book authors in history. Geisel worked as a cartoonist and ad man for […]
February 28 is National Public Sleeping Day
Today is National Public Sleeping Day, not to be confused with Festival of Sleep Day on January 3rd. Cats are known for taking short naps and waking quickly to flee a predator or pounce on prey. Those who have cats can attest to the fact that cats sleep a lot, an average of 15 hours […]
February 26 is Levi Strauss Day
Today is Levi Strauss Day. It celebrates the birthday on February 26, 1829, of the man who invented blue jeans with a little help from his friends. Strauss, born Löb Strauß, grew up in Bavaria, Germany, where he, his family and his community faced discrimination because they were Jewish. They paid extra taxes and were […]
February 23 is International Dog Biscuit Appreciation Day
Today is International Dog Biscuit Appreciation Day, also known as National Dog Biscuit Day. The modern biscuit our dogs know and love owes its existence to Ohio electrician James Spratt. It gets its international pedigree because he got the idea while on a trip to London around 1860, where he reportedly saw sailors who’d just […]
February 22 is World Thinking Day
Today is World Thinking Day. It doesn’t mean we get to lay off thinking the rest of the year. It doesn’t mean the Earth is a sentient being. What is it? Read six (very short) paragraphs to find out. In 1899, Robert Baden-Powell wrote a field manual for fellow British soldiers called Aids to Scouting. The […]
Single Tasking Day
Today is Single Tasking Day. Your mission, if you choose to accept it, is to do just one thing at a time, without participating in the sham called multitasking. Unlike computers, humans are not wired to work on many complex problems at once. Switching focus quickly from one thing to another can make us perceive that […]
National Handcuff Day
Today is National Handcuff Day. On February 20, 1912, George A. Carney was awarded U.S. patent number 1,017,955 for his “swinging bow ratchet-type” adjustable handcuff. Prior to Carney’s invention, there was no standard style and handcuffs were heavy and awkward to use. His lightweight design features a freely swinging arm that enables law enforcement officers to secure […]
February 19 is Prevent Plagiarism Day
Today is Prevent Plagiarism Day, created by freelance writer, columnist and “Queen of Holidays” Jace Shoemaker-Galloway to call attention to the rampant problem of high-tech theft of words, images and ideas that is all too easy in the Internet age. When does copying and pasting from a source constitute plagiarism? The Harvard College Writing Program’s guidelines help students define […]
February 18 is Cow Milked While Flying in an Airplane Day
Today is Cow Milked While Flying in an Airplane Day. This self-explanatory holiday commemorates the first documented flight of a cow. (It’s possible one snuck aboard an earlier flight disguised as a businessman but we can’t confirm it.) On February 18, 1930, a cow known as Nellie Jay to locals in Bismarck, MO (then Elm Farm […]
National Champion Crab Races Day
Today is National Champion Crab Races Day. How did it get its start? “There’s only one Kentucky Derby, there’s only one Indy 500, and there’s only one crab race – the NCRA.” So says Jim Morgan, who founded the National Crab Racing Association (NCRA) in 1979. His first act was to appoint himself “Commissioner for Life,” […]