Wednesday, February 29, 2012

March: Holidays & Days of Note



March 1 Beer Day (Iceland) To commemorate the return of beer to Iceland in 1989, what was Bjork's excuse before then? Matronalia (Ancient Rome) in honor of Juno. / Feriae Marti (Ancient Rome) in honor of Mars. / New Year (Ancient Rome) and the day the sacred fire of Rome was renewed / Saint David's Day, who really could have used a better PR man, like the one that Saint Patrick had say / Peanut Butter Lover's Day (U.S.) Back in the 20's the most popular soup in America was Peanut Butter soup, see if you can find a can of it today, you can't, I checked.

March 2 Omizu-okuri Festival (Obama, Japan) "Water Carrying"


March 3 Hinamatsuri (Japan) Doll Festival, a special day for girls observed in Japan. / Labour Day (West Australia) / NEA Read Across America Day (U.S.)


March 4 Feast day of Rhiannon (Wales) /Church of All Worlds incorporates in Missouri, in 1968, Becoming the first Pagan church to do such in the U.S. / Holy Experiment Day. (Christian) Has something to do with two fellows in Numbers (3:4) who tried to please the Bible God with "strange" (common) fire instead of "Holy" fire and were struck dead for their trouble. See, you experiment and the next thing you know stuff like enlightenment or even science breaks out and people go get all a twitter! Best to stop it right at the beginning.

March 5   Learn from Lei Feng Day. (China) Lei was an example of a guy willing to do anything for the state, usually a day to clean things up. / Multiple Personalities Day (U.S.) I'm Going to celebrate it. But I'm not.

March 6  Dentists' Day (U.S.) / Frozen Food Day (U.S.) / Alamo Day (Texas) / Oreo cookies go on sale for first time one hundred years ago today!




March 7 Walk a Mile in Another's Shoes Day (U.S.) Day when it is encouraged that we try to think like another person, gender, race, nationality or any combination of the above.

March 8 Holi (Hinduism) " The festival of colors," Starting yesterday and taking up the whole of today Holi is a boisterous Hindu festival. that's an occasion for all sorts of merriment and of course, lots of bright colors! During Holi, practices, which at other times could be offensive, are allowed. Squirting colored water on passers-by, getting drunk on bhaang and cavorting with companions is perfectly acceptable while you get away with it by saying, Bura na mano, Holi hai, "Don't mind, it's Holi!" / International Working Women's Day.


March 9 Baron Bliss Day (Belize) Not nearly as interesting as it sounds, just named after a benefactor of Belize. / Employee Appreciation Day (U.S.) I won't be holding my breath. / Barbie introduce 1959, How about that Barbie is 53.

March 10 Tibet Day / Jousting the Bear (Pistoia, Italy) Don't worry, they only use things shaped like bears..... Now / Life Between the Cracks Day (U.S.) / Middle Name Pride Day (U.S.) Mine is Keith..... never really cared for it, and I didn't really have anything to do with getting did it? So what have I got to be “proud” about?

March 11 Daylight Saving Times Starts. / Johnny Appleseed Day (U.S.)

March 12 Receiving the Water (Buddhist) / Arbor Day (China) Plant a tree, it's what Lei Feng would do! / Girl Scouts founded one hundred years ago today! / Coca Cola first sold in bottles, 1894. However back then it had the for real genuine addictive stuff in it .......... SUGAR! Not that gawd awful corn sweetener stuff they use now.

March 13 Purificattion Feast (Balinese) / Ronmass... Okay it's not called that, but it is the birthday of L. Ron Hubbard, / and it's the day that Uranus was discovered in 1781. Though what Uranus (said with a Bart Simpson emphasis on the word) was doing around so long before the rest of you showed up I can't explain.



March 14 White Day (Japan & Korea) Similar to Valentine's Day, but only men give the gifts..... wait a minute..... women give gifts on Valentine's Day? / Equirria (Ancient Rome) horse races in honor of Mars were held on this day. / Pi Day Do scientists know how to party or what? Pi day is held on the 14 because Pi is 3.14159, (and on into infinity,) so on the 3 month, the 14th day, and starting exactly at 1:59 P.M. the Exploratorium Science Museum in San Francisco stops everything and serves pie, (no, I don't know what kind,) then they stop and sing Happy Birthday to Albert Einstein who shares his B-Day with this, then they eat more pie. Yeah, go ahead and try to stop those party hardy scientists! / Head of the Knights Templar, Jacques de Molay burned at the stake 1314. Conspiracy theorists the world over thank him for having that done to himself,they however do not get any pie.

March 15 Hounen Matsuri (Japan) Phallus Fertility Festival. / Feast of St Longinus (Catholic) Said to be the Roman soldier who stabbed Jesus with his spear on the cross, he has gained a lot of fame of late mainly due to a book by a man named Ravencroft who claims that Hitler was hot to get the still existing spear because of the occult power it's suppose to have. However in a trial in the 80's when he sued a novelist who used his book extensively, Ravencroft had to admit he made it all up.

March 16. Freedom of Information Day (USA) I'd say send a card to Julian Assange, but I don't know what his address is, must be secret. / Bacchanalia (Ancient Rome) first day of a 5 day festival.

March 17 Saint Patrick's Day. A day to pee green to celebrate a story about some guy driving the Druids `errrrr snakes out of Ireland, or to drink until the snakes come back. / Kustonu Diena (Ancient Latvia) "Return of the larks." / Liberalia (Ancient Rome) in honor of Liber. / Rubber band introduced 1845.

March 18 Sheelah's Day (Ireland) / Expropiación Petrolera day (Mexico) "Oil expropriation" day celebrating when the president of Mexico declared that all oil reserves found in Mexican soil belonged to the nation. Let's see Hallmark come up with a card for that! / Day given by the company as the birthday of the Pillsbury Dough Boy in 1961, though the character didn't show-up until 1965 and the whole March date is also in question, so take it with a pinch of salt. It helps the biscuits rise.

March 19 Mohammed's Birthday / Feast of Minerva (Ancient Rome)

March 20 Spring Equinox / Ostara / International Astrology Day / Extraterrestrial Abductions Day / Happy birthday Big Bird / Or is it autumn? Depends on where you are on the globe.


March 21 Norooz (Zoroastrian New Year's Day) or as the Baha'i call it Nau-Roz.

March 22 Emancipation Day (Puerto Rico)

March 23 Chamaya Vilakku Festival (Quilon, India) The Exact reason for the festival is lost to time, but it's been going on for ages. At some time in the past a religious devotion to the Goddess Bhagavati (a form of Durga), that the women performed was stopped, (invading army? plague? flood?) while some say it has something to do with some cow tending boys that found favor with Bhagavati, the stories vary, whatever the case the men kept the rite going, and for this Bhagavati recognizes them as women for the two days. Now men in the town, with the aid of wives, mothers, sister and even shops set up just for the purpose, dress as women and take special lamps to the temple where Durga is guaranteed to hear their prayers.



March 24 Day of Blood (Ancient Rome) Say what you will about the Romans of old, but they liked to throw festivals! This one however sounds like it might be one to miss. / Ashuraa (Islamic) Something about a battle and Jihad being in full bloom.

March 25 Independence Day (Greece) / Ladies Day, New Year's Day in England from 1155 to 1752 / Pecan Day (U.S.) / International Waffle Day in Sweden. Just for fun have a waffle and put some pecans on it.

March 26 Prince Jonah Kuhio Kalanianole Day (Hawaii) A day for the second delegate to congress from Hawaii.

March 27 Smell the Breezes Day (Egypt) / Prophet Zoroaster's Birthday (Zoroastrianism) / National "Joe" Day (U.S.)

March 28 Teacher's Day (Czechoslovakia) / Evacuation Day (Libya) evacuate what, where? They know something we don't?

March 29 Festival of Ishtar / Youth Day (Taiwan) / Commemoration Day (Madagascar) Eventually in the spring almost the whole of Madagascar starts to smell of vanilla due to most of the world's supply of that commodity coming from there.

March 30 Festival of Salus. (Ancient Rome) Daughter of Asclepius and Goddess of health, cleanliness and sanitation. / National Doctor's Day (U.S.) / John Reid opens the 1st US golf course in 1889, I kid you not, if this were any more ironic it would hurt.

March 31 The Borrowed Days (Ethiopia) I have no idea what it's about, but it's got a darned evocative sound to it ain't it? Sort of like an old Merchant Ivory film or something.


             Enjoy those March Winds!

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