Welcome to Worldwide Weird Holidays, where you’ll find a new reason to celebrate every day of the year.
National #2 Pencil Day
Today is National #2 Pencil Day. Though this holiday’s provenance is unclear, there’s no question that this classic writing instrument has made its mark on history. (Sorry, had to do it.) There’s no lead in a pencil; its core is made of graphite. According to Britannica, it was initially believed to be a type of […]
Presidential Joke Day
Today is Presidential Joke Day. On August 11, 1984, while preparing to give a weekly radio address from his ranch in California, Ronald Reagan was asked to do a routine sound check. Although the president enjoyed telling jokes about Russia, on that morning, his remark was meant only for the sound engineers getting ready for the […]
National S’mores Day
Today is National S’mores Day. It celebrates Girl Scout Loretta Scott Crew’s culinary invention, immortalized in the 1927 handbook Tramping and Trailing with the Girl Scouts. “Some More” 8 sticks 16 graham crackers 8 bars plain chocolate (any of the good plain brands broken in two) 16 marshmallows Toast two marshmallows over the coals to […]
National Veep Day
Today is National Veep Day. On August 9, 1974, Richard Nixon became the first (and only) U.S. president to resign from office. Vice President Gerald Ford assumed the office in accordance with Article II, Section 1, Clause 6 of the U.S. Constitution: In Case of the Removal of the President from Office, or of his […]
Happiness Happens Day
Today is Happiness Happens Day. Spiritual seeker and motivational speaker Pamela Gail Johnson founded the Secret Society of Happy People in 1998. The following year, she created Admit You’re Happy Day, the holiday which evolved into Happiness Happens Day. In 2000, she declared August Happiness Happens Month. Per Johnson, even though she is blessed with “happy […]
Purple Heart Day
Today is Purple Heart Day. On August 7, 1782, at his headquarters in Newburgh, NY, General George Washington, the commander in chief of the Continental Army, ordered the creation of a Badge of Military Merit. The badge consisted of a purple, heart-shaped piece of cloth with the word MERIT embroidered in silver across the front. It was […]
Corporate Baby Name Day
Today is Corporate Baby Name Day. On August 6, 2001, AmericanBaby.com, a (now defunct) online resource for pregnancy and parenting advice, announced the results of a survey it had recently conducted. The poll asked six hundred respondents if they would sell the right to name their baby to a corporation for $500,000. We’ve learned about […]
Curiosity Day
Today is Curiosity Day. On August 5, 2012, NASA’s Mars Rover Curiosity landed on the red planet after a procedure so complicated its engineers dubbed it Seven Minutes of Terror. On November 26, 2011, an unmanned spacecraft carrying the 1,982-pound SUV-sized rover launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. After traveling 354 million […]
US Coast Guard Day
Today is U.S. Coast Guard Day. After the Continental Navy disbanded in 1785, no provision existed in the U.S. Constitution for the establishment of a permanent maritime force. In 1790, Alexander Hamilton, the country’s first Secretary of the Treasury, founded the service that would become the Coast Guard. Established to enforce tariff laws and manned […]
National Watermelon Day
Today is National Watermelon Day. It closely follows July’s Watermelon Month, established in 2008 by a unanimous U.S. Congressional Joint Resolution. Today’s holiday is sponsored by the National Watermelon Promotion Board (NWPB), an organization whose strategic mission is to increase consumer demand in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico while working to develop trade with England and […]