Aug. 1 Lammas or
Lughnasadh. The wheel of the year begins to shift from growing time to harvest
time. / Fortuna Virilis (Ancient Rome) day that Roman matrons offered
sacrifices to the Goddess Fortuna so that their blemishes might be hidden from
the male gaze, and to “regain the loss of the waning affection and the desire
of men for their wives or mistresses.”
Aug. 3 National
Watermelon Day (U.S.)
Aug. 4 Feast day of St. Sithney, patron saint of mad dogs (Catholic)
Aug. 5 National
Mustard Day (U.S.) / International
Beer Day
International Beer Day
Aug. 6 H.H. Sheikh
Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan's Accession Day.
(United Arab Emirates)
Aug. 7 Lighthouse Day
(U.S.) I’m not sure about this, but I think this “holiday” may have outlived
lighthouses, as there are darn few left.
Aug. 8 Father's Day or Bā bā Day (爸爸節), Bā Bā is Mandarin
for "father" and "8-8", or August 8. (Taiwan) / Farmer’s
Day or Nane Nane, Swahili for "8-8". (Tanzania)
Aug. 9 International Day of the World's Indigenous People
(International)
Aug. 10 Smithsonian Day
Aug. 11 Ingersoll Day
(Atheist)
Aug. 12 HM the
Queen's Birthday and National Mother's Day (Thailand) / Assumption of Mary / Melon
Day (U.S.) held, as far is it is held, on the second Sunday in August. Yeah,
melons have a moveable feast.
Aug 13 International
Lefthanders Day. In honor of the day I am typing this left handed. At least for the A's T's
E's and such. / Festival of Aventine Diana & Hercules Victori (Roman
Empire)
Aug. 14 On this day in 1888 rain fell on the Cape of Good
Hope that was so black it was called a shower of ink.
Aug. 15 Main day of Bon Festival (Japan) or it might not be,
this holiday is a little hard to pen down.
Aug. 16 Hartjesdag
“Day of Hearts” traditional date (Amsterdam) At first it was a day on
which fires were kindled and children
collected money, after a time the adults started to cross-dress on this day as
if you have a bonfire you have to do something around it and cavorting about in
the clothes of the opposite is as good as any. When the Nazi occupied the
country starting in 1943 it was banded and did not come back after the war. However
in 1997 a local committee in Zeedijk, Amsterdam, decided to see if they could
revive the tradition. Each year since then, the festival has flourished into a
two day event on the 3rd weekend in August.
Aug. 17 Men’s Grooming Day (U.S.)
Aug. 18 National Science Day (Thailand)
Aug. 19 World Humanitarian Day (International)
Aug. 20 Eldritch Day (Geek) Celebrating the birthday of H.
P. Lovecraft in 1890.
Aug. 21 Ecological Debt Day
Aug. 22 ------ Zip! Day without even a silly holiday, showing that holiday wise August is one of the barist of all the months, and frankly of the ones that it does have aren't all that much.
Aug. 23 Vulcanalia (Ancient Roman) On this day in the old
Roman Empire small fish were tossed into large fires to appease Vulcan and ask
him to restrain wild fires and volcanoes.
Aug. 24 International Day Against Intolerance,
Discrimination and Violence Based on Musical Preferences, Lifestyle and Dress
Code (Romania) / It was the 79 years that Mt. Vesuvius erupted destroying
Pompeii, Staviae & Herculaneum. See what happens when you skimp your
Vulcanalia observances?
Aug. 25 International Bat Night
Aug. 26 Women's Equality Day (United States) as on this day
in 1920 the 19th Amendment giving women the vote in America was passed.
Aug. 27 Volturnalia (Roman Empire) held in honor of
Volturnus god of water and fountains.
Aug. 28 ------ !!! Another day in August with no holidays! Sorry, here take a lighthouse animation for the 7th out of spare change.
Aug. 29 More Herbs, Less Salt Day. (U.S.) The first day of
Thoth, the first day of the Egyptian calendar.
Aug. 30 International
Day of the Disappeared (International) /
It was on this day in 1146 that a conference of European leader outlawed the
crossbow, thinking to end war for all time. Nice try. / According to Charles
Fort on this day in Switzerland there were a number of hailstone storms in
which along with the ice, large salt crystals fell, and for all that no one
took the opportunity to make homemade ice cream.
Aug. 31 On this day in 1888 Jack the Ripper struck
for the first time.
