Every Day Is Special: holidays

Showing posts with label holidays. Show all posts

January 3 – Festival of Sleep Day

Posted on January 3, 2020

There are plenty of reasons to be short on sleep today: loads of holidays have clustered throughout the late-November, December, and early-January time period. Like, loads.

These are just SOME of the holidays celebrated in
December - many folks also celebrate Thanksgiving
in November and New Year's in early January, too!

And loads of holidays means loads of things to do instead of sleeping!

We're talking parties, family gatherings, church services, shopping, decorating and cleaning the house, hosting, visiting / traveling, late nights, parades, fireworks, and all manner of special events.

And - at the same time - there's flu season and plenty of common colds floating around. Sleeping through a sneezing fit or with a severely congested nose just ain't easy!

Today's holiday was created to give us pause, help us remember that we are animals with biological needs.

It's to help us get back to a normal and healthy sleep schedule, give us an excuse to sleep in, nap, and maybe even catch up!

Also on this date:

Anniversary of Alaska's Statehood

Anniversary of Rutherford changing one element into another element

Anniversary of Vi Hart + Khan Academy

The anniversary of Leonardo da Vinci NOT flying

J.R.R. Tolkien Day

Great Day for the Yankees

Anniversary of patent for drinking straws

Anniversary of the founding of the March of Dimes

Anniversary of a Coup in Burkina Faso

Memento Mori Day

Plan ahead:

Check out my Pinterest pages on:

And here are my Pinterest boards for:

February holidays
February birthdays
Historical anniversaries in February

March 26 – Make Up Your Own Holiday Day

Posted on March 26, 2019

I do research on "holidays" for my daily posting, and there are some very serious commemorations, some silly holidays, loads of patriotic holidays and religious holidays from all over the world, and an incredible number of food holidays.

To give you an idea of the variety of holidays:

Today, March 26 - aside from famous birthdays and historical anniversaries - is Spinach Day, Prince Jonah Kuhio Kalaniana`ole Day (Hawai'i), Democracy Day (Mali), and Live Long and Prosper Day. Tomorrow, March 27, is World Theatre Day, Quirky Country Music Song Titles Day, Skyscraper Day, Plant Cells Day, and Armed Forces Day (Myanmar/Burma).

Today, March 26, is ALSO Make Up Your Own Holiday Day!

Are you ready to call attention to an important issue? Or your favorite (previously ignored) food? Or a hobby or a sport or or or...?

I suggest googling whatever holiday you come up with - just in case there is already a special day set aside for that very thing!

There are already special days for several of my favorite foods (like chocolate chip cookies - May 15, oatmeal cookies - April 30, and cookies in general - December 4). There's already a holiday celebrating my favorite band, Green Day; Green Day Day is February 19.

My two favorite Kristen Bell
TV shows are Veronica Mars
(above) and The Good Place
(below).

Some of my favorite TV shows don't have special holidays, but they would be better celebrated on the anniversary of their premiere. For example, we could celebrate Veronica Mars on March 14, and we could celebrate The Good Place on September 19.

From what I can tell, there don't seem to be holidays for these personal food favorites:

Apples and Peanut Butter Day
Chocolate Almond Horns Day
Chili Spaghetti Day

And although there is already an International Sudoku Day, I didn't spot:

Logic Puzzles Day

And for some completely random holidays:

Pyramid Day

Black and White Foods Day

Science T-Shirts Day

Hope you enjoy coming up with some holidays YOU want to celebrate!

Also on this date:

Spinach Day

Biologist Richard Dawkins's birthday

Encyclopedist Conrad Gesner's birthday

Poet Robert Frost's birthday

Prince Jonah Kuhio Kalaniana`ole Day

Democracy Day in Mali

Live Long and Prosper Day

Plan ahead:

Check out my Pinterest boards for:

And here are my Pinterest boards for:

October 10 – Moi Day in Kenya

Posted October 10, 2018

It was a holiday.

Then it wasn't.

Then it was again.

Do you know how official holidays are created? In the United States, Congress has the authority to create holidays for federal institutions (such as national parks) and employees, and for the District of Columbia (D.C.). State and city governments have the authority to create state and city holidays in addition to the federal holidays - and they sometimes do.

Banks and post offices and public schools, and a lot of other institutions, usually close on federal holidays. Private businesses can choose whether or not to close. Of course, there are people whose work is classified as "essential services" who may have to work even on a holiday. Even some federal employees are in this category.

In Kenya, there may well be a similar process of establishing holidays. Moi Day was an official holiday celebrated on October 10 every year. It is a recognition of Daniel Moi, the second President of Kenya, and it was first established to celebrate Moi's 10 years in power (hence, I guess, the holiday being celebrated on 10/10). He ended up ruling for 24 years, much of that time acting like more of a despot or tyrant than a president.

When Kenya's new constitution was created in 2010, the holiday was scrapped. So 10 / 10 / 10 was the first day that Kenyans did not celebrate Moi Day since it was first begun.

In 2017, a judge ruled that removing the holiday without Parliament changing the Public Holidays Act or without the appropriate minister subbing in another holiday was illegal. The workers were supposed to have that day off as a paid holiday, and so the judge restored Moi Day.

Many Kenyans tweeted thanks to the judge for getting their holiday back, and some even tweeted that they should have an entire week off because of seven years of missed holidays. But some Kenyans don't want the holiday to be named for Moi. Moi started off popular but was hated by many by the time he finally retired in 2002. Why not name the holiday for environmental activist Wangari Maathai, at least one Kenyan suggested.

In the past when Moi was serving as president, there were sort of "our glorious leader" type ceremonies, with soldiers marching past the president, a fly-by, and tribal dancing. Today will be the first 10 / 10 "Moi Day" celebration since 2009, so it will be interesting to see if and how it's celebrated other than most folks just staying home from work!