Jan. 1. New Years Day. One very popular one anyway. There are others throughout the year. / Festival of Janus (Roman) / Circumcision of Christ Day (Catholic) Yes there is at least one church that claims to have the item in question. / O-Shogatsu (Japan) Along with O-Bon this is one of Japan's most important ceremonies where bad fortune of the past year is eliminated. / Fortuna's Day (Roman) / Zeus & Hera's Day (Greek) / Jupiter & Juno's Day (Roman) / Independence Day (Haiti) Heck of a lot of holidays to be piled up on a day when so many people have hangovers.
Jan. 2. Carnival de Blancos y Negros Holiday of Blacks and Whites (Columbia) Festival held in Pasto City, Columbia to celebrate more than 300 years of racial harmony, starting out small, over the years it has become a pretty big deal, during, among other things, they have a festival with music, street dances, free food and drink, and usually water & flour fights and the picking of a queen. On the first day everyone wears white face while on the last they don black face with special make-up produced in the city for the purpose, it helps that they don't have that whole toxic `minstrel show thing as part of their heritage like we do, during this almost week long Carnival...what about the Indians? / Ancestors Day. (Haiti) Be sure to call yours up and have them over! / Only 4 shopping days left until Armenian Christmas.
Jan. 3. Festival of Sleep (U.S.) And it's on the Tuesday after my Winter vacation is over, is this suppose to be ironic or something? / It was on this day in 1863, on the cover of Harper´s Weekly in a cartoon by Thomas Nast, that Santa was first shown delivering gifts with a reindeer-drawn sleigh. The title was `Santa Claus in Camp, the recipients of those gifts, Union solders.
Jan. 4. Braille Day, birthday of Louis Braille a day for honoring the blind. / Pharmacist Day (U.S.) / Spaghetti Day (U.S.) / Elizabeth Ann Seton Feast Day (Catholic) First American born saint.
Jan. 5. Fragga's Day. (Norse) A day for the wife or Odin and the Goddess of marriage. / Christianity introduced to England in 597. / Eris, the largest known dwarf planet in the solar system, was discovered on this day in 2005.
Jan. 6. Twelfth Day, now you know when that damn song is over! / Epiphany, This day was also at one time known as Old Christmas (Julian calendar). / Christmas Day (Armenia). / La Bafana (Italy) a festival on which the night before Bafana, a kindly witch flies down chimneys on her broom and bestows gifts on good children and leaving lumps of coal for the bad children. / la Fiesta de los Reyes Magos `Three Kings Day (Latin America) day when, among other things, the kids get presents rather than Christmas. / Festival of Kore. (Ancient Greek)
Jan. 7. Nanakusa (Japan), a festival that dates back to the 7th century and recalls the seven plants served to the emperor that is believed to have great medical value. Shepherd's Purse, chickweed, parsley, cottonweed, radish, hotoke-no-za, and aona.
Nanakusa
Jan. 8. Feast of Justicia (Roman) / Mid-Wife's Day, (Greece) / Man Watcher Day (US) / Rock n' Roll Day or the Birthday of Elvis 1935. / Secret Pal Day (internet) I guess if Hallmark can push dubious holidays why not 123greeting?
Jan. 9. Seijin-No-Hi `Coming of Age Day´ (Japan) Holiday for anyone who attains the age of 20 anytime between April 2 of last year April 1 of this year. Always held on a Monday. / Feast of the Black Nazarene (Philippines)
Jan. 10. Peculiar People Day (US) About damn time! So do I get a cookie or something? / Thomas Paine, who has a day coming up this month, publishes Common Sense in 1776. / The film Metropolis by Fritz Lang premiers in 1926. They tell me after all this time they finally have that darn thing restored!
Jan. 11. Juturnalia (Roman) Time when water was taken from her well to be used in state offerings. / Carmentalia (Roman) Day to celebrate prophecy, the chief giver of which was Carmentis, Goddess of prophecy, who also protected women during childbirth.
Jan. 12. Fabulous Wild Men Day (US)
Jan. 13. Midwinterblot (Norse) / Final Witchcraft laws repealed in Austria, 1787. / Wham-O introduces the Frisbee in 1957, American roofs have never been the same since.
Jan. 14. Bald Eagle Appreciation Day (US) / Ati Atihan Festival (Philippines) which goes to the 20th.
Ati Atihan Festival
Jan. 15. Feast of the Lord Esquipulas (Mayan) / Black Christ Festival (Guatemala) / Feast of the Ass (French) Started out in Rome and was dedicated to the Goddess Vesta's sacred animal, later it was Christianized.
Jan. 16. / Martin Luther King Day `observed´ (US)
Jan. 17. Surya, Hindu Feast of the Sun Goddess. / In 1929 Popeye the Sailor Man first appears in the Thimble Theater comic strip, which had been going on for almost 10 years before this without him, at the time it concerned the adventures of Olive Oyl and her family along with Olive's then long time boyfriend Hamm Gravy. Popeye is introduced when her father, Cole Oyl, down at the dock hopping to hire an assassin to take care of someone who has been troubling the family sees Popeye and asks if he's sailor, to which he replies “does I look like a cowboy to ya?” later Popeye does take care of the villains, but without needing to murderize them.
(Word Cloud of the Lyrics of "I'm Popeye the Sailor Man")
Jan. 18. World Religion Day. (U.N.) Day to appreciate the diversity of different religious expressions. At least the ones that aren't trying to kill each other that is. / Winnie The Pooh Day.
Jan. 19. International Hot & Spicy Food Day / The Apple Lisa, the first commercial personal computer from Apple Inc. to have a graphical user interface and a computer mouse, is announced on this day in 1983.
Jan. 20. Theogamia of Hera (Greek) / the roller coaster is patented in 1885.
Jan. 21 White Dog Feast. (Iroquois) / In 1997 Newt Gingrich becomes the first leader of the United States House of Representatives to be disciplined for ethical misconduct.
Jan. 22 Festival of the Muses (Ancient Greek) / today is the birthday of Robert E. Howard creator of Conan, Kull, Solomon Kane & others.
Jan. 23. Chinese New Year, Year of the Water Dragon. / Tet Nguyen Dan (Vietnamese New Year) / However the celebrations started yesterday / National Pie Day (U.S.)
Jan. 24. Blessing of the Happy Woman's Candle (Hungary) Bless that candle you happy little woman!
Jan. 25. Robert Burn's Night (Scotland).
The Toast
Fill me with the rosy wine,
Call a toast, a toast divine:
Giveth me Poet's darling flame,
Lovely Jessie be her name;
Then thou mayest freely boast,
Thou hast given a peerless toast
Robert Burns
Jan. 26. Australia Day / Republic Day (India) / Clashing Clothes Day (US) Held the 4th Thursday of each January, wouldn't want to get that wrong would we? I mean if they go to the trouble to make one of the few movable silly "holidays" we might as well play along.
Jan. 27. National School Nurse Day (US) / Thomas Crapper Day.
Jan. 28. National Kazoo Day (U.S.) / Lego bricks are 54 years old today.
Jan. 29. Freethinker's Day also Thomas Paine's birthday in 1737.
Jan. 30. Festival of Pax (Greek) Feriae Senentiva `Feast of Spring´ (Roman)
Jan. 31. National Popcorn Day (US) / Hecate's Feast (Greek) / Up-helly-Aa (Scotland) held the last Tuesday in January, it is the largest Fire Festival in the world.
