You probably didn't know until this morning, but today is International Cat Day.
Not to be confused with World Cat Day, National Cat Day, Answer your Cat’s Question Day or Cat Herders Day, this day was created by the International Fund for Animal Welfare in 2002 – but nobody really knows how, or if, we are meant to celebrate it.
In honour of days we don't know exist until Twitter tells us, here follows some of the most obscure, pointless and downright strange days to pop in your calendar.
(Fun Fact: today is also 'Sneak Some Zucchini Onto Your Neighbour’s Porch Day'.)
Tired of your old fruitcake sitting on the kitchen table, a symbol of how the joyous, merry holidays have been replaced with the grey, dreary reality of January?
Than January 3 is a day to note in your calendar. Launching a traditional Christmas cake in the new year is meant to symbolise bringing in the new in place of the old.
According to Holiday Insights “there is no one way to toss out the old fruitcake." So you can relax and toss to your heart's content.
Fruitcake tossing is actually just a more dramatic and unnecessary version of the tradition of passing the fruitcake around from one person to the next. In this tradition, the person who is holding the fruitcake on new years must store it away until the next Christmas season.
The first fruitcake took flight in 1995 in Manitou Springs, Colorado.
January 11 is the day that you can finally take your frustrations out on friends without causing arguments. Find your nearest puddle, pick your target, take aim and jump with such force and ambition that you accidentally-on-purpose soak your pal in rain water.
Rather than leave January 16 without a title, it became 'National Nothing Day'... with the expectation that we do not promote this day at all. This day was created in 1973 by newspaperman Harold Pullman Coffin, who presumably hated celebrations and didn't understand irony.
Every year on February 20, people who live in the Northern Hemisphere go out at noon, wave their hands over their heads and chant “Hoodie-Hoo”. Why? To chases away winter to make way for spring, of course.
It’s a Wellcat copyrighted holiday that people really partake in. People in the Southern Hemisphere have their own Hoodie-Hoo Day, on August 22.
National Sleepy Head Day is a yearly Finnish celebration, observed on July 27. The tradition goes way back to the Middle Ages when people believed that if you slept in later than everyone on this day you would be lazy and non-productive for the rest of the year. Back then, the last person to wake up in the household was often tossed into a lake or a sea.
Each year in the city of Naantali, a celebrity is rewarded for their commitment to the city by being thrown into the sea at 7am.
On April 21 you can honour Britain's favourite (non-alcoholic) drink by, shockingly, drinking tea. There’s even a tea tasting festival at Kensington Roof Gardens. If you fancy something stronger, you just have to wait until June 15 for National Beer Day.
Throw your cereal out of window on the first Saturday in February because its Ice Cream for Breakfast Day. The day apparently came into being when a New Yorker called Florence Rappaport's became fed up with her children complaining of being bored because it was too cold to do anything. To make them feel better about the freezing weather, she let them eat ice cream for breakfast.
Her children reminded her of it the following year, making it a tradition. Her grandchildren then carried on the ice cream baton and spread the word. Celebrations are now held worldwide and it’s become especially popular in Israel. Who knew?
The US, predictably, isn't short on days celebrating food. Favourites include National I Want Butterscotch Day, National Frog Legs Day as a Celebration for Leap Day, National Double Cheeseburger Day (because only having 'National Burger Day' just doesn’t cut it) and of course: National Pizza With The Works Except Anchovies Day.
If your diet is mostly dictated by whatever food day is marked on your calendar – Deviled Egg on November 3, National Nutty Fudge Day on May 12 – then you'll love National Eat What you Want Day on May 11.
That's right, in complete defiance to the hundreds of other days which are devoted to food, Thomas Roy created a day where you are free to throw out that food holiday calendar and eat whatever you want.
This is the perfect day for people who don’t have pets but still have an intense desire to take something for a walk.
If your plants are looking a bit limp (which obviously has nothing to do with forgetting to water it for two weeks), try to revive it by walking it around the neighbourhood on July 27.
Aye Matey, September 19 is dedicated to pirates. International Talk Like a Pirate Day was created by John Baur and Mark Summer on June 6, 1995. They were playing racquetball – a decidedly un-pirate like sport – and began talking to each other in Pirate Speak.
They enjoyed themselves so much they that they decided they needed a whole day of the year to practice. Mark Summers chose September 19 because it was his wife’s birthday and that would be easy to remember.
No but really – what if? Mark March 3 on your calendar.
August 28 is a day for the reckless, the rebels, the people who live life with no regards for their or others wellbeing. Crackers Over the Keyboard Day was created to encourage you to eat crackers and cookies, or any other annoyingly crumbly food and let bits fall into your keyboard. Happy celebrating.
The less that’s said about this the better. December 5.
Nobody knows the origin of Dance Like a Chicken Day, or why it falls on May 14. It's best not to question it, just use this opportunity to bust out your best chicken dance, which was actually created by Swiss accordion player Werner Thomas in 1950.
Nobody can ever figure out where, how or why socks disappear, but they always do and it’s always only one from a pair. May 9 is the day to spare a thought for all the socks you’ve lost over the years, and to devote some time to finding them.
If this list of obscure, amusing and downright bizarre days has inspired you to create your own, don’t fret - there’s a day for that. The Institute of Creating Pointless Holidays has become self-aware, come full circle and made March 26 into Make Your Own Holiday Day.
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
