Welcome to Worldwide Weird Holidays, where you’ll find a new reason to celebrate every day of the year.
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 […]
Whatever Happened to Visit a Cemetery Day?
Visit a Cemetery Day is supposed to take place on the last Sunday of October each year but the unofficial holiday has vanished without a trace. The inaugural event in 2010 was intended to create an annual ritual of remembrance, according to organizers mysendoff.com, International Memorialization Supplier Organization (IMSA), Kates-Boylston Publications and American Cemetery Magazine. By […]
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. […]
October 21 is Back to the Future Day
“We’re descending toward Hill Valley, California, at 4:29 pm, on Wednesday, October 21st, 2015.” Fire up the DeLorean and put the pedal to the metal. You’ll need 1.21 gigawatts of power at 88 miles per hour to get back to the future or, in this case, the past. Today is Back to the Future Day. In the second […]
October 20 is Information Overload Day
Today is Information Overload Day. Why? Here’s a hint. In April 2016, Statista published a study regarding media usage. In it, the company reported that U.S. adults spent an average of just over twelve hours per day consuming media on their televisions, mobile phones, tablets and computer screens, among other sources—sometimes simultaneously. In it, the statistics company […]
October 18 is World Menopause Day
For women dealing with menopause, every day is World Menopause Day. The International Menopause Society (IMS), creator of the holiday, attempts to make it fun by choosing a new theme each year. It’s a little like the prom: full of sweaty, uncomfortable seniors driven crazy by hormones. “What Comes to Mind: Menopause and the Aging […]
October 12 is International Top Spinning Day
Today is International Top Spinning Day, created in 2003 by the Spinning Top & Yo-Yo Museum of Burlington, WI, to celebrate one of the oldest toys in the world. It always takes place on the second Wednesday of October. The earliest known tops, constructed of clay, date back to around 3500 BC. Archaeologists discovered them […]
Columbus Day
Columbus Day might not seem to qualify as a weird holiday, but why not take a closer look? Why do we celebrate the second Monday in October every year? How did this become a federal holiday in 1968? A Congressional Research Service report entitled Federal Holidays: Evolution and Application explains: By commemorating Christopher Columbus’s remarkable voyage, the […]
September 26 is Presidential Debate Day
Today is Presidential Debate Day. It commemorates the first televised debate, which aired on September 26, 1960, and changed the way American citizens select their leaders. Democratic senator John F. Kennedy and Vice President Richard M. Nixon met in a Chicago studio to debate domestic policies. Kennedy, telegenic and seemingly at ease in front of […]
September 23 is Checkers Day
Today is Checkers Day, also known as National Dogs in Politics Day. On September 23, 1952, Senator Richard M. Nixon addressed the nation to dispute allegations he had taken $18,000 from a secret campaign slush fund. His speech became known as the Checkers Speech because of his reference to the family dog. General Dwight D. Eisenhower […]