Welcome to Worldwide Weird Holidays, where you’ll find a new reason to celebrate every day of the year.
November 29 is Square Dance Day
Today is Square Dance Day. Some of us remember awkward co-ed square dance lessons in the high school gym. Or maybe we watched a group do-si-do on a parade float down Main Street. How can we keep the memory alive of an American folk dance and its European roots? We’re glad you asked. In 17th-century […]
Make Your Own Head Day
Today is Make Your Own Head Day. Grab anything: clay, a bar of soap, a roll of tinfoil, dryer lint, mashed potatoes, peanut butter—even ice cream, if you plan to work fast. If you’d rather put pens, paints, pencils or crayons to paper or canvas, that’s fine. too. The medium is up to you. The object of […]
November 26 is National Cake Day
Today is National Cake Day. One of the most delicious things ever invented, cake has earned every one of the fifteen holidays dedicated to different variations. Whet your appetite with the story of how it all got started. A Brief History of Cake Cake dates back to ancient Egypt, where it was often flavored with […]
Tie One On Day
Tie One On Day takes place every year on the day before Thanksgiving. But it has nothing to do with Drinksgiving or Blackout Wednesday and doesn’t promote alcohol use or abuse. It began on Thanksgiving eve in 2003, when EllynAnne Geisel wrapped a pie in an apron, slipped a handwritten note of sympathy into its pocket and […]
November 19 is World Toilet Day
World Toilet Day World Toilet Day was established on November 19, 2001, by the World Toilet Organization to raise awareness of the global need for proper sanitation facilities. Since then, it has grown in scope and recognition. In 2013, the United Nations passed a resolution recognizing World Toilet Day as an official UN international day. Each year, World […]
November 12 is Guinness World Records Day
Today is Guinness World Records Day, when hundreds of thousands of people around the globe will try to make it into the famous book. Editor-in-Chief Craig Glenday said, “Guinness World Records Day unites people across the planet from all walks of life, all of whom have one common goal – to become the greatest in […]
November 7 is National Notary Public Day
Today is Notary Public Day, created in 1975 to “recognize notaries for their public service and their contributions to national and international commerce.” Today’s date was selected because the first American notary public, Thomas Fugill, was appointed on November 7, 1639, by the Colony of New Haven. Today, nearly 4.8 million notaries public in the United States […]
Zero-Tasking Day
Multitasking, we can all agree, is not much fun. Meet zero-tasking, a term coined by Nancy Christie, an author and motivational speaker. (I guess today we can call her a “de-motivational” speaker.) Zero-Tasking Day occurs on the day when Daylight Saving (not Savings) Time ends. Christie encourages us to resist the urge to fill that hour […]
Back to the Future Day Update: Cubs Win World Series!
Most holidays don’t require frequent updates. They happen once a year and the details don’t change much. That is not the case with Back to the Future Day, which has continued to evolve since its first observance on October 21, 2015. Back to the Future Part II was released in 1989. In it, Doc Brown […]
October 25 is Cartoonists Against Crime Day
Cartoonists Against Crime Day was introduced in 1991 by Illinois artist Adrienne Sioux Koopersmith, who bills herself as “America’s premier eventologist.” Mayor of Chicago Richard Daley declared October 25th, 1993, Cartoonists Against Crime Day. Later in 1993, Illinois governor Jim Edgar honored another of Koopersmith’s self-styled “holidates” by proclaiming December 3rd, 1993, Day Without Crime Day. […]