Welcome to Worldwide Weird Holidays, where you’ll find a new reason to celebrate every day of the year.
November 6 is National Nachos Day
Today is National Nachos Day and should not be confused with International Day of the Nacho (October 21) or with the International Nacho Festival (October 13-15). To be honest, we’re a bit confused ourselves. To get to the bottom of this delicious mystery, let’s dig in (sorry). Although we’re not sure why it’s celebrated on […]
November 5 is Guy Fawkes Day
Today is Guy Fawkes Day. It celebrates the day a traitor to the King of England was thwarted in his attempt to blow up the entire government while it met upstairs. The plot developed as a way to end state-sanctioned religious persecution by killing James I and replacing him with a Roman Catholic monarch. Guy Fawkes, […]
November 4 is Use Your Common Sense Day
Use Your Common Sense Day celebrates the birthday of Will Rogers, who once remarked, “Common sense ain’t common.” He was a witty self-made gentleman whose homespun wisdom still resonates today. He was born William Penn Adair Rogers on November 4, 1879, in Oolagah, Cherokee Nation, now known as Oklahoma. His official website lists him as […]
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 […]