Welcome to Worldwide Weird Holidays, where you’ll find a new reason to celebrate every day of the year.
April 18 is Champions’ Day
In 1936, Michigan governor Frank Fitzgerald and Detroit mayor Frank Couzens declared April 18th would henceforth be known as Champions’ Day, to honor an outstanding sports season. The Lions won their first NFL championship, the Tigers won their first World Series and the Red Wings won their first NHL championship. In addition, Detroit’s own Joe Louis dominated […]
April 16 is National Stress Awareness Day
Today is National Stress Awareness Day. It was created in 1992 by Dr. Morton Orman of the Health Resource Network, a nonprofit health education organization. We’re all aware of stress. Many of us are steeped in it right now. Acute stress can be a positive thing, allowing us to react to upsetting or dangerous situations. But […]
April 15 is McDonald’s Day
Today is McDonald’s Day. It commemorates the day in 1955 when Ray Kroc put his stamp on a fast-food chain and made it into one of the most successful franchises on Earth. In 1940, brothers Dick and Mac McDonald opened a barbeque joint in San Bernadino, CA. Eight years later, they introduced the “Speedee Service System,” […]
April 13 is Scrabble Day
Today is Scrabble Day. It celebrates the birth in 1899 of Alfred Mosher Butts, inventor of the game the world knows as Scrabble. Butts lost his job in the early 1930s; there wasn’t much call for an architect during the Great Depression. He worked to develop a board game that would emulate games of chance with […]
April 11 is International Louie Louie Day
Today is International Louie Louie Day and celebrates the birthday in 1935 of Richard Berry, the composer and singer of one of the most-recorded songs of all time. Berry took inspiration from the rhythm of “El Loco Cha Cha” when writing his tune. He and his band, Richard Berry and the Pharoahs recorded “Louie Louie” […]
April 10 is International Safety Pin Day
Today is International Safety Pin Day. On April 10, 1849, Walter Hunt received a patent for his invention of the safety pin. Walter Hunt (July 29, 1796 – June 8, 1859) was born in Martinsburg, NY, and earned a degree in masonry. He worked as a farmer in Lowville, NY, and designed more efficient machinery […]
April 9 is Jenkins’ Ear Day
Today is Jenkins’ Ear Day, also known as Jenkins’s Ear Day. It commemorates an event that took place on April 9, 1731, and remains one of the strangest rationalizations for war in human history. It’s difficult to find any time in the early 18th century when England and Spain weren’t at odds or war. At various […]
April 8 is Dog Farting Awareness Day
Have you ever let slip a silent-but-deadly gas bomb and blamed it on the dog just as your guests see him through the window, playing in the yard? Worse yet, have you ever done it only to have your friends remind you that you don’t own a dog? Hey, we’ve all been there. It’s safe to […]
April 7 is National Beer Day
Today is National Beer Day but it doesn’t celebrate the end of federal Prohibition, which took place on December 5, 1933. (If you just read our post about New Beer’s Eve, stick around; we’ve got new stuff!) National Beer Day commemorates a step in that direction. Under the Volstead Act, so-called “near beer” was allowed […]
April 6 is New Beer’s Eve
April 6th, 1933, is known in the U.S. as New Beer’s Eve because it was the last night that Prohibition kept citizens from freely enjoying a glass of beer. On January 16, 1919, the 18th amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified. It stated: After one year from the ratification of this article the manufacture, sale, […]