The definition of a holiday is “a day of festivity or recreation when no work is done,” however, this is not always the case. When you think of the average American holiday you think of Christmas, Valentine’s Day, Fourth of July, and maybe Easter. The “odd” holidays that do not follow the definition above are ones you might not expect or really understand the reasoning behind. Here are some different holidays and their origin stories:
The first “odd” holiday occurs on the first Friday the 13th of every year. It is called, “Blame Someone Else Day.” This is a day dedicated to blaming everyone but yourself for your own mistakes and failures. This holiday started in 1982 when Anne Moeller claims her alarm clock did not go off that morning which caused her to be late to several appointments. She decided to blame the rest of her mistakes that day on other people and eventually celebrated it with her friends for years to come. It became popular and became a holiday.
June 12th is celebrated as “Loving Day.” This holiday was invented in 1967 when the Supreme Court ruled in favor of Richard and Mildred Loving. The couple was happily married in Washington D.C. but found themselves behind bars when they came to their home state of Virginia. When the story came to surface again in 2010, Time Magazine made it an official holiday to celebrate what the Loving couple fought for and how they have impacted interracial couples today.
Another one of these odd holidays stems from rebelling against a superstition that many believe to be true. March 13th is “Open an Umbrella Indoors Day.” This holiday was created by Thomas Edward Knibb. While many believe that opening an umbrella indoors will cause bad luck, Edward Knibb encourages people to at least open umbrellas indoors once a year to prove nothing bad will happen to them.
The typical holiday can bring people a lot of stress. Whether it’s buying gifts for family members at Christmas or trying your best to host the best Fourth of July party on the block, the holidays can bring lots of stress and a busy schedule. However “National Nothing Day” takes everything off of your schedule. All you have to do that day is… nothing. This holiday takes place on January 16th and is a great time to relax after the winter holidays. This day was invented by newspaper columnist, Harold Pullman Coffin. This is a holiday dedicated to celebrating nothing.
“Talk Like a Pirate Day” is on September 19th. This holiday was created by John Baur and Mark Summers. These two men always loved the idea of being pirates and anything that was out-at-sea themed. The best friends created this day on June 6th, but out of respect for the anniversary of D-Day, they changed the holiday to Summer’s ex-wife’s birthday which lands on September 19th.
After looking through these different holidays be sure to celebrate the “odd” holidays every year. The variety of holidays that our calendar holds can make every day special.
