Welcome to Worldwide Weird Holidays, where you’ll find a new reason to celebrate every day of the year.
November 19 is World Toilet Day
World Toilet Day World Toilet Day was established on November 19, 2001, by the World Toilet Organization to raise awareness of the global need for proper sanitation facilities. Since then, it has grown in scope and recognition. In 2013, the United Nations passed a resolution recognizing World Toilet Day as an official UN international day. Each year, World […]
November 18 is Pushbutton Phone Day
On November 18, 1963, the first pushbutton telephone went on sale to the public. It may seem quaint now in the age of mobile phones when many of us don’t even have landlines anymore. But this was cutting-edge technology in its day and remains an integral part of the history of telecommunications. Industrial designer Henry […]
November 12 is Guinness World Records Day
Today is Guinness World Records Day, when hundreds of thousands of people around the globe will try to make it into the famous book. Editor-in-Chief Craig Glenday said, “Guinness World Records Day unites people across the planet from all walks of life, all of whom have one common goal – to become the greatest in […]
November 11 is Air Day
Take a deep breath. Air keeps us alive. With the notable exception of anaerobic bacteria, living things need oxygen to survive. Not pure oxygen, mind you. That would be too much of a good thing. Air (usually) has just the right mix of gases and, for that, we owe it a debt of gratitude. If […]
November 10 is International Accounting Day
What’s so exciting about International Accounting Day? On November 10, 1494, Italian mathematician and Franciscan friar Luca Bartolomeo de Pacioli published “Summa de Arithmetica, Geometria, Proportioni et Proportionalita” (Everything About Arithmetic, Geometry and Proportion). It included a detailed description of double-entry bookkeeping, called the Method of Venice. Although this technique had been practiced for centuries, Pacioli’s treatise was the […]
November 7 is National Notary Public Day
Today is Notary Public Day, created in 1975 to “recognize notaries for their public service and their contributions to national and international commerce.” Today’s date was selected because the first American notary public, Thomas Fugill, was appointed on November 7, 1639, by the Colony of New Haven. Today, nearly 4.8 million notaries public in the United States […]
Zero-Tasking Day
Multitasking, we can all agree, is not much fun. Meet zero-tasking, a term coined by Nancy Christie, an author and motivational speaker. (I guess today we can call her a “de-motivational” speaker.) Zero-Tasking Day occurs on the day when Daylight Saving (not Savings) Time ends. Christie encourages us to resist the urge to fill that hour […]
Back to the Future Day Update: Cubs Win World Series!
Most holidays don’t require frequent updates. They happen once a year and the details don’t change much. That is not the case with Back to the Future Day, which has continued to evolve since its first observance on October 21, 2015. Back to the Future Part II was released in 1989. In it, Doc Brown […]
Whatever Happened to Visit a Cemetery Day?
Visit a Cemetery Day is supposed to take place on the last Sunday of October each year but the unofficial holiday has vanished without a trace. The inaugural event in 2010 was intended to create an annual ritual of remembrance, according to organizers mysendoff.com, International Memorialization Supplier Organization (IMSA), Kates-Boylston Publications and American Cemetery Magazine. By […]
October 25 is Cartoonists Against Crime Day
Cartoonists Against Crime Day was introduced in 1991 by Illinois artist Adrienne Sioux Koopersmith, who bills herself as “America’s premier eventologist.” Mayor of Chicago Richard Daley declared October 25th, 1993, Cartoonists Against Crime Day. Later in 1993, Illinois governor Jim Edgar honored another of Koopersmith’s self-styled “holidates” by proclaiming December 3rd, 1993, Day Without Crime Day. […]