Welcome to Worldwide Weird Holidays, where you’ll find a new reason to celebrate every day of the year.
Donald Duck Day
June 9 is Donald Duck Day. It celebrates the date in 1934 when he first appeared in a Disney cartoon called “The Wise Little Hen.” His rise was meteoric. Only nine years later, in 1943, Donald won an Oscar for his role in a satire about Nazis, only to see the film shelved by Disney for […]
June 8 is Hannah Duston Day
Today is Hannah Duston Day. On June 8, 1697, she became the first official heroine of the American colonies when her husband was awarded the sum of 25 pounds in her honor. As a woman, she was technically her husband’s property and had no right to collect the money herself, but we suppose it’s the […]
June 7 is VCR Day
Today is VCR Day. It commemorates the date in 1975 when Sony Corporation supposedly released the Betamax videocassette recorder (VCR) made specifically for home use. Some historians place the release in November 1975. In any case, it beat JVC’s Video Home System (VHS) to market by a year. A VCR records the analog audio and […]
National Doughnut Day
Today is National Doughnut Day, also known as National Donut Day, celebrated in the U.S. on the first Friday of June. In 1938, the Chicago chapter of the Salvation Army, an international charitable organization, hosted the first Doughnut Day event to raise funds for the needy during the Great Depression while honoring the women who […]
Festival of Popular Delusions Day
Today is Festival of Popular Delusions Day. It is said to have originated in Germany on June 5th, 1945. Let’s begin with some background information about this mysterious holiday. On June 6th, 1944, over 160,000 Allied soldiers landed on a 50-mile stretch of beach in Normandy, France. Nazi troops heavily guarded the area to prevent […]
June 4 is Old Maid’s Day
Today is Old Maid’s Day. It all began in Denton, TX, when Dorothy Babb, a Latin professor at North Texas State College (NTSC) jokingly complained she was sick of spending money on gifts for weddings, baby showers and Mother’s Day when, as a single woman, she only received presents at Christmas. The school’s news director wrote […]
June 3 is Repeat Day
Today is Repeat Day, an unofficial holiday of unknown provenance that celebrates the do-over. But does it imply that we must reenact this moment exactly as it is, in excruciating detail? Can we achieve that level of granularity or even comprehend it? If we are able and willing to participate in this endeavor, must we start right now? (If so, must we keep […]
International Sex Workers Day
Today is International Sex Workers Day, known in some countries as International Whores’ Day. On June 2, 1975, approximately one hundred prostitutes in Lyon, France, took over the Saint-Nizier Roman Catholic church to protest dangerous working conditions. While police harshly punished prostitutes, their johns were allowed to go free. They, along with the French government, […]
Heimlich Maneuver Day
June 1st is Heimlich Maneuver Day. You may think you know everything you need to know about this procedure and the man who may or may not have invented it. But, stick around because this one gets weird. In 1974, the journal Emergency Medicine published Dr. Henry Heimlich’s article about a method to combat choking […]
May 31 is Speak in Complete Sentences Day
Today is Speak in Complete Sentences Day. Celebrating this holiday may prove more difficult than you’d think. The advent of text and email messages has led to an economy of words and a profusion of symbols, acronyms, and slang. Sentence structure has been sacrificed on the altar of expediency. Emojis and acronyms are quick, convenient […]