Welcome to Worldwide Weird Holidays, where you’ll find a new reason to celebrate every day of the year.
November 3 is National Sandwich Day
Today is National Sandwich Day. On November 3, 1762, John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich, invented the—you guessed it!—sandwich. But why, where, how and who? Why? He was hungry. That’s just about the only subject upon which everyone agrees. Where? He was either working long hours at his desk or playing poker in a gambling hall. […]
November 2 is Plan Your Epitaph Day
Depending on how you view it, a tombstone is your last chance to say goodbye, crack a joke, be profound or otherwise make cemetery visitors imagine you were cool and wish they’d known you before they move on to visit their Nana’s weed-covered grave. Plan Your Epitaph Day was created by Lance Hardie in 1995 to coincide […]
November 1 is National Author’s Day
Today is National Author’s Day. In 1928, teacher Nellie Verne Burt McPherson suggested the creation of a holiday dedicated to American authors at a meeting of the Bement Illinois Women’s Club. McPherson was inspired by an experience she’d had more than a decade earlier while lying in a hospital recuperating from an illness. She’d written a […]
October 31 is National Magic Day
Everybody knows today is Halloween. But it’s also National Magic Day, when members of the Society of American Magicians (SAM) and many other groups celebrate with free magic performances for kids, the ill, elderly and shut-ins. Why is this holiday celebrated today? In 1938, a Chicago member of SAM proposed a holiday to honor Harry […]
October 30 is Create a Great Funeral Day
“Funerals are the party no one wants to plan.” So says Gail Rubin, a death services planner, radio host and leader of the Albuquerque chapter of Death Café. She’s been called the Doyenne of Death and liked it so much, she trademarked it. She runs a site called A Good Goodbye – Funeral Planning for Those Who Don’t […]
October 29 is National Cat Day (and International Internet Day)
Today is International Internet National Cat Day because I said so! Hell, yeah, it’s National Cat Day! Sure, it’s International Internet Day, too. On October 29, 1969, a few months after Neil Armstrong landed on the moon, the first message was sent across the Internet. The system crashed after the first two letters of the word “login” […]
October 28 is National Chocolate Day
Today is National Chocolate Day. There are thirty “national” chocolate-themed holidays celebrated every year in the United States: dark, bittersweet, milk, white, cream-filled, to name a few, with Chocolate Covered Anything Day taking care of whatever else may have been lost in the shuffle. While it’s unclear if these holidays originated with a candy manufacturer, it […]
October 27 is Sylvia Plath Day
Is it possible to wish someone a Happy Sylvia Plath Day? How can anyone celebrate the birthday of a woman who killed herself? Is this a joke? Is it sponsored by some brand of oven cleaner? We found evidence that this holiday exists: From the Sylvia Plath Forum: To all avowed Sylvia Plath supporters and […]
October 26 is Mule Appreciation Day
According to numerous sources on the Internet: President Ronald Reagan signed a bill in 1985, designating October 26th as Mule Appreciation Day. Two hundred years before on this date, a ship docked in Boston, bearing the gift of a donkey from King Charles III of Spain to President George Washington. We went a little crazy researching […]
October 24 is World Tripe Day
If dedication and effort are any indication, the holiday known as World Tripe Day is as real as it gets. Since 2012, the Tripe Marketing Board (TMB) has campaigned tirelessly to raise awareness of the hidden virtues of consuming, or at least discussing, the stomachs of ruminant mammals. The TMB was set up in 1992 to replace the […]