April 1. April Fools Day / Palm Sunday / Day of Hathor (Ancient Egypt) / Veneralia (Ancient Rome) Held in honor of Venus. / It was on this day in 1621 that the first peace treaty was signed between the American Colonists and the Indians, making that the cruelest and most ironic April Fool's joke of all time.
April 2. International Children's Book Day / The Battle of Flowers (France) / According to the Call of Cthulhu by H. P. Lovecraft, the day in 1926 that the dread Cthulhu awoke from where he lay dead but dreaming in R'lyeh only to have a boat driven though his head encouraging him to do some more dead dreaming until later.
April 3. Festival of Demeter (Ancient Rome) / Sizdah be dar (Iran) "Outdoor 13," Day to play jokes on each other.
April 4. Megalesia (Ancient Rome) / International Day for Land Mine Awareness and Assistance. / Children's Day (Taiwan and Hong Kong) / Ching Ming Festival (China & Korea) also know as Tomb Sweeping Day, a day to honor ones ancestors by cleaning their graves. / on this day in 1877 the first home telephone was installed.
April 5. Paraprofessional Appreciation Day, (U.S.) sure... tell me what the heck a paraprofessional is and I'll see what I can do. / Thank Your School Librarian Day. (U.S.) Arbor Day (South Korea)
April 6. Passover (Judaism) Starts at Sun down / Good Friday / Tartan Day (Scotland) Day set aside for the celebration of Scottish influence... somebody tell Willie, there really IS a Scotober Fest! / Date of the organization of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints by Joseph Smith, Jr. and the date, according to them, that Jesus was born.
Lot of big holidays this month, Easter, Passover, Tomb Cleaning Day, Buddha's Birthday, Earth Day and yet I STILL don't get a day off from work! What's up with that?
April 7. Blajini Day (Romania) A festival to thank the "Kindly Ones" hidden spirits of water and the underworld./ World Health Day (the 191 members of the World Health Organization) No Homework Day (U.S.) / Festival of Pure Brightness (China) / Buddha's Birthday in Japan.
April 8. Easter (Christianity) / Hanamatsuri, “Spring Flower Festival” (Japan)
April 9. Valour Day (Philippines) also known as Bataan Day, a national holiday wherein groups of Filipino citizens solemnly re-walk parts of the death route and pay homage to those who died on it.
April 10. National Siblings Day (U.S.) / Women's Day (Mozambique)
April 11 Heroes Day (Costa Rica) / Shan-et-Nissin (Egypt) / Fast & Prayer Day (Liberia) I have looked for the meaning of Shan-et-Nissin and while I found dozes of places that list it, along with the one following it here, none however will explain it, and let's say it means "hey, there's a fast & prayer day in Liberia" in Egyptian until further notice.
April 12 Cerealia (Ancient Rome) which goes until the 19th and was the primary festival of Ceres the Goddess of growing plants. / Take a Walk on Your Wild Side Day (U.S.) / Cosmonautics Day or Yuri's Night, (Russia) celebration of the first human in space, Yuri Gagarin. / Drop Everything And Read Day (U.S.) This along with Children's Book Day & School` Librarian Day are all part of `Reading in the Schools month, however a school librarian has told me that as these take place just before the start of the heaviest testing time in American schools and so are almost all totally ignored while everything is concentrated on preparing for the test.
April 13 New Year's Day (Thailand & Cambodia)
Here is something for everyone eating black noodles today
April 14. Black Day (South Korea) If you are single and no one gave you anything on Valentine’s day, or White day then go have yourself a bowl of black noodles and feel sorry for yourself, it's OK to do it today. / Sanno Festival (Japan) / Dia De Las Americas (Honduras) Day of the Americas. / National Day of Climate Action in the United States.
April 15. Plowing Festival (China) When my father was 12 he had to plow, with the plow hooked up to an actual mule... he said there's nothing festive about plowing. Nothing at all. / Tipsa Diena (Ancient Latvia) / Father Damien (Hawaii Day) / Fordicia (Ancient Rome) Held in honor of Terra.
April 16. Tax Day in American / Bicycle Day (U.S.) / According to the cartoon "One Froggy Night" (1955) the day in date in 1898 that the singing frog that came to be called Michigan J. Frog was buried in the Acme building.
April 17 Yayoi Matsuri Festival of Futarasan Shrine (Nikko Tochigi Prefecture, Japan)
April 18. Sumardagurinn Fyrsti (Iceland) At first I thought it was Choke my spell checker day. However it turns out to be Happy Summer Day in Iceland. Sure its still just Spring, but they're just happy to get out of the house is my guess.
April 19. Garlic Day (U.S.) / Primrose Day (England) - primroses are placed on the statue of Benjamin Disraeli in Parliament Square, on the anniversary of his death in 1881 See, America isn't the only country with silly arse holidays.
April 20. Drum Festival (Japan) / Pineapple Up-Side Down Cake Day (U.S.) / Ridván (Bahá'í Faith) / Four Twenty (Potheads) Started in Northern California it has grown to other states and counties, day for tokers to light up at 4:20 am & pm. They need an excuse?
April 21 Tiradentas Day (Brazil) / Grounation Day (Rastafarin) Mon. / Parilia (Anicient Rome) Held in honor of Pales. / Speaking of which, happy birthday Rome.
April 22. Earth Day. / National Jelly Bean Day (U.S.)
April 23. St. George's Day. Patron Saint of England, Policemen & the Boy Scouts. Somehow the Patron Saint of England just doesn't have the same ambiance as St. Patrick's Day, however I've still got my "Don t Kiss Me, I Disapprove of Public Displays of Affections" button ready. / Lover's Day (Catalonia) Yeah... I had to look up what it is too, it's day for men to give women roses while women give men a book. No really. / National Beer Day (Germany) Riiiiight, wouldn't it be easier to note when it's NOT beer day in Germany? Ohhhh, it's never not beer day in Germany, alright, then the point of this day is what again?
April 24. Children's Day (Iceland) / Armenian Martyr's Day.
No card card on Valentine's day? No candy on White day? Ahhh Then this day is for you, have some black noodles the 14th
April 25. Robigalia (Ancient Rome) Day the Romans prayed to Robigalla the god (or Robigo the goddess, information I have found on Robigalia varies) of mildew and rust to ask him to spare their homes...... Don't look at me that way, I'm not kidding! Nobody makes a fuss about Vulcanalia in August when they prayed to Vulcan for protection from volcanoes & home fires, and while Vulcan is better known and still gets "the big props," can you think of one Roman city destroyed by mildew? Yet there were some biggies where Vulcan let them down!
April 26. Arbor Day. Use to be a day for everyone to go out and plant a tree, it was a real big deal in it's day, so all you other holidays that think you have it made, Sic transit gloria mundi.
April 27. Matazas Mule Day. Day that the first Naval bombardment in the American - Cuban war took place is noted. Seems the only casualty was a mule. HAY! somebody do something so we have a better holiday for this day! / World Penguin Day. Sorry, nice try but that's not quit what I was looking for.
April 28 Buddha’s Birthday (Hong Kong) like Easter and Passover this is a moveable feast that falls on the eighth day of the fourth lunar month, also known this year as today / National Day of Mourning (Canada) To commemorate workers killed, injured, or suffering illness due to work place hazards and accidents. / World T'ai Chi & Qigong Day / Floralia (Ancient Rome) / National Hairball Awareness Day. (Veterinary) Day to spread awareness about hairball treatment in cats, If you don't have a cat what's the point? And if you're around a cat trying to get rid of one lets see you try to NOT be aware of it! / Hairstylist Appreciation Day. semi ironic.
April 29. International Dance Day / National Shrimp Scampi Day (U.S.) / National Sense of Smell Day (U.S.) No… Really…
So go out and smell something.
April 30. Walpurgis Night, Walpurgisnacht, or Beltane Eve. Said to be a night when the veil between the worlds is at it's most thin. / Liberation Day (Vietnam) / Children's Day (Mexico) / Carodejnice (Czech Republic) Witches' Night
And for Walpurgis Night some comic book Witches
