Holidays & Days of Note for January, 2013.

Jan. 1. New Year’s Day, a very popular one anyway, but not the only one throughout the year. Whatever the case may be I just hope 2013, a year that just for the record will have 54 Friday the 13^th’s, two regular ones in September and December and the rest because, well because when you write out the day on a Friday it will have a 13 in it, so there!  / 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) Fortuna was the Roman Goddess of Luck / 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. / Kwanzaa ends.

Jan. 2. 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 Thursday after my winter vacation is over, is this supposed to be ironic or something? /  and going until the 7^th, Carnival de Blancos y Negros Holiday of Blacks and Whites (Columbia) Festival held in Pasto City, Columbia. To celebrate 300 years of racial harmony they have a two-day 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. But what of the Indians? / 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.

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 are 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? 

                                  Secret Pal Day

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. Business God's Day (Japan) / Peculiar People Day (US) about damn time. / The film Metropolis by Fritz Lang premiers in 1926.

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. Midwinter blot (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. Makar Sankranti (Hindu) Marks the transition of the Sun from Dhanu rashi (Sagittarius) to Makara rashi (Capricorn) while there are 12 Sankranti throughout the year, this is regarded as one of the most important and is celebrated across Indian in a variety of ways depending on the local culture of the different regions. / Bald Eagle Appreciation Day (US) / The Simpsons Series Premiered 23 years ago, meaning Bart & Lisa have been around longer than they are old.

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. / Flag Day or Magen David Day (Israel) / Teacher's Day (Thailand)

Jan. 17. Surya, Hindu Feast of the Sun Goddess.

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 (see bottom of page for recipes) / Ati-Atiha Festival (Philippines) which goes to the 20th. 

                                Ati-Atiha Festival

Jan. 20. Theogamia of Hera (Greek)

Jan. 21 Martin Luthor King Jr. Day observed / White Dog Feast. (Iroquois)

Jan. 22 Festival of the Muses (Ancient Greek) / today is the 107th birthday of Robert E. Howard creator of Conan, Kull, Solomon Kane & others. 

Jan. 23. National Pie Day. (US) Ooooooh National pie day agggggaaagh! (You know, the sound that Homer Simpson makes.)

Jan. 24. Milad un Nabi (Birthday of the Prophet Muhammad) or Id-E-Milad which commemorates the Prophet Muhammad's (or Mohammad's) birthday. Shia Muslims celebrate these 5 days later. Some Muslims do not approve of celebrating the birthday, and regard doing so as a religious innovation. / Blessing of the Happy Woman's Candle (Hungary) Bless that candle you happy little woman! / 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. 25. Vietnamese New Year / Robert Burn's Night (Scotland). 

                                 Robert Burns

Jan. 26. Australia Day / Republic Day (India) 

Jan. 27. National School Nurse Day (US) / Thomas Crapper Day.

Jan. 28. National Kazoo Day (U.S.)

Jan. 29. Freethinker's Day also Thomas Paine's birthday in 1737. Happy 276th Tom!

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. 

                                Up-helly-Aa

November: Holidays & Days of Note

Nov. 1 All Saints Day. / Dia De Los Muertos (Mexico) The Day of the Dead / It was on this day that Claudius poisoned Hamlet's dad by pouring poison in his ear, starting a trend making November a particularly good month for conspiracies.

Nov. 2 Day of the Dead (Haiti) / National Deviled Egg Day (U.S.)

Nov. 3 Housewife's Day (U.S.) / Bunka no hi (Japan) Culture Day for promotion of culture and love for freedom and peace. / Sandwich Day (U.S.)

Nov. 4 Daylight Savings Time Ends / It was on this day 1871 that Alice went through the looking glass. / In 1954 Gojira premiers in Japan, an anti-atom bomb film in which the bomb is metaphorically represented by a 150 tall fire breathing monster. This message, along with over 20 minutes of content were removed and replaced with footage of Raymond Burr when it appeared in America in 1956 as Godzilla: King of the Monsters.

Nov. 5 Guy Fawkes Night (England)

Remember, remember, the 5th of November

The Gunpowder Treason and plot;

I know of no reason why Gunpowder Treason

Should ever be forgot.

Guy Fawkes, Guy Fawkes,

'Twas his intent.

To blow up the King and the Parliament.

Three score barrels of powder below.

Poor old England to overthrow.

By God's providence he was catch'd,

With a dark lantern and burning match

Holloa boys, Holloa boys, let the bells ring

Holloa boys, Holloa boys,

God save the King!

Hip hip Hoorah!

Hip hip Hoorah!

A penny loaf to feed ol' Pope,

A farthing cheese to choke him.

A pint of beer to rinse it down,

A faggot of sticks to burn him.

Burn him in a tub of tar,'

Burn him like a blazing star.

Burn his body from his head,

Then we'll say: ol' Pope is dead

Nov. 6 Saxophone Day (U.S.) And the other musical instruments get their days when?

Nov. 7 Mayan Day of the Dead.

Nov. 8 Fuigo Matsuri (Shinto) Festival in honor of Hettsui no Kami Goddess of the kitchen range.

Nov. 9 Kristallnacht Night (1938) The night of the Nazi attacks on Jewish homes, synagogues, and shops in Germany started, which today has been turned into a night for meditating on the evil of all religion based hatred. / Quatuor Coronati (Freemason)

Nov. 10 Tree Festival (Tunisia) / Festival for the Goddesses of Reason, Liberty & Philosophy (Revolutionary France 1793) which some say never really happened but was disinformation spread by pro-royalists.

Nov. 11 Remembrance Day (Canada, England and others) The tradition is to observe a minute of silence at 11:00 am on this day to remember the dead of World War I. / Martinmas (Old Scotland) The feast of St. Martin. A day to "enjoy" a dish of haggis. To quote Mike Myers character in So I Married An Ax Murderer "I think most Scottish cuisine started out as a dare." But seriously, just where are the haggis frozen dinners in my local grocery? My guess would be right under the liver & onion dinners. / Halloween under the old calendar. / Fast for Balder thru the 17th (Old Anglo-Teutonic) Marking Hod (God of Darkness) unintentionally killing Balder (God of Light), and his true love Nanna (Goddess of Flowers) dying of a broken heart. The dead were honored.

Nov. 12 Veterans Day (U.S.)  / Tesuque Feast Day (Native American) / Lha Bab Duchen (Tibetan Buddhist) Day to celebrate the Buddha's descent from heaven after teaching the Dharma there. / The start of November under the old calendar.

Nov. 13 Festival of Jupiter (Ancient Rome)

Nov. 14 Children's Day (India) / Operating Room Nurse Day (U.S.) Which reminds me, do you know what the 5 levels of cleanliness are?

5. Guy clean.

4. Girl clean.

3. Mom clean.

2. Operating room clean  &

1. Grandmother clean.

Nov. 15 Shichigosan '7 - 5 - 3' (Japan) Children's festival. / National Teddy Bear Day (U.S.) I've read that more people are killed each year by teddy bears (button eyes stuck in throats, allergic reactions to materials) than by real bears. Of course real bears don't kill a lot of people. / It was on this date in 1966 in Point Pleasant, West Virginia that two young couples reported to Mason County sheriff's department that they have had a curious encounter with a something or other that would come to be called the Moth-Man.

Nov. 16 Icelandic Language Day or Dagur íslenskrar tungu (Iceland) / International Day for Tolerance (International) 

Nov. 17 Queen Elizabeth's Day (England) Not the current one Elizabeth I that is... back long in the long ago It had been usual to observe the anniversary of the accession of Queen Elizabeth with rejoicings; and hence  'Queen Elizabeth's Day;' but after the great fire, these rejoicings were converted into a “satirical saturnalia of the most turbulent kind.”

Nov. 18 Occult Day (U.S.). Look as I might the meaning for this day

remains......

wait for it.......

............................ occult.

Nov. 19 Pencil Day. The modern pencil first appears in 1895 / Pop Tarts are one year away from being 50 years old as of today, at first they were called "Country Squares.”

Nov. 20 Shakyamuni or Siddhartha Buddha Day (Tibetan Buddhist) Day to meditate on the Buddha's teachings and strive to fulfill the Precepts.

Nov. 21 World Hello Day (mostly world wide) The objective of World Hello Day is to promote world peace. The theme of this day is "Greet ten people for peace". It is really easy to participate in World Hello Day. Simply, say hello to the people today. And, voice your concern for world peace. / Repentance Day (Germany)

Nov. 22  Thanksgiving Day (U.S.) And for breakfast that first Thanksgiving the Pilgrims served boiled eel, explaining the popularity of Thanksgiving D I N E R.

Also

Remember, remember, the 22 of November,

The Daly Plaza Treason and plot;

I know of no reason why the Daly Plaza Treason Should ever be forgot.

But I'll tell you this right now about that shot

It will be long forgotten before we know the real reason.

/ Noumenia (Ancient Greek) Festival honoring all the Gods and Goddesses.

Nov. 23 Kinro kansha no hi 'Labor Thanksgiving Day' (Japan) A national holiday for honoring labor. / National Cashew Day (U.S.)

Nov. 24 Feast of the Burning Lamps (Egypt)

Nov. 25 Feast of Oya (Yoruba / Santeria) Feast of Oya, Orisha of Wind, Storm, and Sudden Change. / Feast of Aphrodite and Eros (Ancient Greek) Day to honor love and passion. / National Parfait Day (U.S.) "I don't know nobody who don't like a parfait, I think it's the perfect food!" Donkey from Shrek.

Nov. 26 Festival of Lights (Tibetan)

Nov. 27 Pie in the Face Day (U.S.)

Nov. 28 Day of the New Dance (Tibetan) / Bodhisattva White Tara Day. (Tantric Buddhist) Time for meditation on White Tara, who guides the dead to Buddha Amitabha's Pure Land, where all will find salvation.

Nov. 29 Square Dance Day (U.S.) People still do that?

Nov. 30 Stay at Home Because You're Well Day (.U.S.) Sure, whatever.....

And don't forget National Teddy Bear Day on the 15th

June: Holidays & Days of Note

June 1. Children's Day (China, Laos.) / Navy Day (Mexico) / Festival of

Carna (Roman) / National Day Against Homophobia (Canada) / National Doughnut Day (U.S.) always held on the first Friday in June. / It was 45 years ago today that the Beatles released Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, meaning I guess that it was 65 years ago today that he taught the band to play leaving the question will we still love them when they're past 64?/ also Happy birthday Oscar the Grouch

June 2. Rice Harvest Festival (Malaysia) / Juno Regina's Day (Ancient

Rome) / Queen's Birthday (New Zealand) / Shapatu of Ishtar (Babylonian) / Mother Shipton Day matron saint of working women. / In 1924 Congress granted citizenship to all Indians on this day, however it was not until 1993 that their religions practices were no longer illegal. / St. Elmo's Day. (Catholic) They've made that little red gremlin a saint now? It was bad enough when they gave almost the whole of Sesame Street other to him! / As of today radio is 118 years old.

June 3. Memorial Day for Broken Dolls (Japan) Buddhist observance when broken dolls are enshrined by a priest. / Festival for Bellona (Ancient Rome) Bellona minor Roman war goddess. / Second Festival of Pax (Ancient Rome) A festival for a goddess of war and a goddess of peace both on the say day… oh those daffy ancient Roman!

June 4. Tiananmen Square Protests of 1989 memorial day. / On this day in 1070, in a cave just outside the town of Roquefort France, the first example of the cheese we know today as Roquefort was discovered, who made the blend? Why was it abandoned in the cave? Unknown, now THERE is an idea for a conspiracy! / Ford made his first operational car on this day 117 years ago.

                                               World Environment Day

June 5. World Environment Day (U.N.) This year's theme “Green Economy: Does it include you?” / National Gingerbread Day (U.S.) / First flight by balloon by the Montgolfier brothers, 1783

June 6. Teacher's Day (U.S.) Yeah... You folks in the holiday naming biz

DO know that most schools are out for the summer in the U.S. now don't you? / Queensland day (Australia) / Anniversary of D-Day. / Crossroads of Artemis (Ancient Greek) / First drive-in movie theater ever opens In New Jersey in 1933, The first film shown was the Adolphe Menjou film Wives Beware.

June 7. Unionsopplosningen (Norway) / first day of Vestalia (Ancient

Rome) held in honor of Vesta. / National Chocolate Ice Cream Day (U.S.) So what's with all the chocolate themed days this month? / National Moth Night (U.K.) night for Britain to celebrate moths and moth recording. / Vatican City becomes nation in 1929.

June 8 Milad-un-Nabi (Islam) Mohammed dies or ascends into heaven in 632. / World Ocean Day. / Lindisfarne Day (Odinist)

June 9. Trooping the Colour (United Kingdom) Military celebration of the monarch's official birthday held in London on the second Saturday of June. / Sigurdsblot (Norse) festival honoring Sigurd (Sigifrith or

Siegfreid),the great hero who killed the dragon Fafnir and won back the treasure of the Rhine. / Queen's Birthday (Australia, except for Western Australia) Huh? / Donald Duck's Birthday, 78 years young, not bad for someone with such rage management problems.

June 10. On this date in New Haven, Connecticut in 1682, the first

tornado was reported in America, many years before the first freight train so I have no idea what they said it sounded like. / National Yo Yo Day (U.S.) Do they even make those anymore, or do they just have a "yo-yo app" for cell phones now?

                                                            FORTUNA


June 11. Feast of Fortuna (Ancient Rome) Day for the Goddess of fortune, chance and luck. / King Kamehameha I Day (Hawaiian) It was said that he was so strong he could brake open a coconut using one hand. / Davis Day (Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, Canada) held in remembrance of William Davis

June 12. Araw ng Kalayaan (Philippines) Independence Day / Russia Day (Russian Federation) Independence Day / Dia dos Namorados (Brazil) Lover's Day; similar to St. Valentine's day / World Day Against Child Labor (International)

June 13. Feast of Epona goddess of horses (Celtic) / Athena's Day (Greek) / Quinquatrus Minusculae (Ancient Roman) Day for Minerva. / The space probe Pioneer 10 has been outside the solar system for 18 years now, and yet still not a full light year out.

June 14. Birthday of the Muses (Ancient Greek) / Poson (Sri Lanka) Day

to celebrate the introduction of Buddhism to Sri Lanka in 256 B.C.E. /
Flag Day (U.S.) / It was on this day in 1954 that Dwight Eisenhower
signed an order adding "Under God" to the Pledge of Allegiance. The
Theory being that all those Commies hiding under all those beds in the
50's would melt away in fear on hearing this.

June 15. Feast of Saint Germaine Cousin (Roman Catholic) Patron of

shepherdesses & victims of child abuse. Would somebody kindly poke him and tell him to stop slacking off? No, no, just about the latter part,
as far as I know things have been going just dandy for shepherdesses
lately.

June 16. Night of the Teardrop (Ancient Egypt) Festival where

Priestesses of Isis were said to control the weather by braiding and
releasing their hair. For related item see Grimm's fairy tale The Goose
Girl. / Bloom's Day (Dublin) You know from the novel Ulysses by James
Joyce that you haven't read, or if you have read it didn't get all the
way though, or if you did read the whole thing didn't get it. /
National Fudge Day (U.S.) I guess this puts America about neck and neck with the ancient Romans and their seeming endless list of festivals, I bet if they had had chocolate there would have been a goddess for it, and this could have very well have been the day for Fudgata, works for me.

June 17. Father's Day (U.S., Canada, Brittany, Ireland, Northern Ireland) Stated in 1910 in Spokane, Washington. While Mother's Day has been adopted by a lot of other countries, it seems far fewer have taken up Father's Day. What, other countries' dads don't need socks and loud ties? / Marriage of Orpheus and Eurydike (Ancient Greek) / Watergate Day (U.S) / Eat Your Vegetables Day (U.S.)

June 18. In 1885 the Statute of Liberty arrived in New York aboard the

Isere. / It was on this day in 1978 that we got the first appearance of
Garfield the Cat in the comics section, 34 years old, which in cat years
would make him, gets out calculator and does some figuring, ….. Dead.

June 19. Juneteeth (U.S.) The oldest known celebration of the end of

slavery in America. Today Juneteenth commemorates African American freedom and emphasizes education and achievement. / World Sauntering Day. I wouldn't now how to "saunter" if you paid me.

June 20. Summer Solstice / Bald Eagle Day. (U.S.) / Kuan-Yin becomes a Bodhisattva (Chinese) / World Refuge Day. / Ice Cream Soda Day (U.S.) Call these invisible holidays pointless if you want to, this one I can get behind.

June 21. Alban Hefin (Druidic) / Day of the Green Man (Northern Europe) / Day on which many Slavic people celebrated the marriage of the Sun God Dazbog & Moon Goddess Myesyats. / National Aboriginal Day (Canada) / All Hera's Day (Ancient Rome) / Ishtar's Day (Old Babylon) / Astarte's Day (Canaanite) / Aphrodite's Day (Greek) / Yemaya's Day (Brazilian) /Aine's Day (Irish) / National Go Skateboarding Day (U.S.) To be followed I assume by National Go to the ER Day. / Vinegar Day (U.S) Vinegar, really? Vinegar. Why? / Litha (Wiccan)

                                                                   Litha

June 22. National Chocolate Éclair Day (U.S.) Roses and chocolate? It's like the day the spirits of Valentine's day take the day off. / Anti-fascist Struggle Say (Croatia) / Stupid Guy Thing Day (U.S.) A day for women to make a list of stupid guy things and pass it on to other women to share. How sexist, just thinking about this is going to put a crimp in my attempt to hang-glide from the highest mountain in my state with a skateboard tied to my shoes so I can ditch the glider close to the ground and land on a highway to see if I can get it over 60 miles an hour, it's perfectly safe… there's hardly any traffic on Sunday.

June 23. In Ireland & England it was once thought that on the 23rd or

`St. John´s Day Eve´, the souls of everyone left their bodies while

they slept and found the place where they would die (can you say that? Morbid? Sure, I knew you could). Now doesn´t that make for a perfectly creepy sounding holiday? What will you dream about?

June 24. St. John's Day. Use to be a big deal, as big or even bigger

than Christmas in some places, day for lighting bonfires for St. John

the oldest of the saints' days in the Greek and Latin calendars.

/ Feast of the Sun (Aztec) / It was on the 24th in 1717 that the Masons

went public in London. / This is the day on which Shakespeare's

Mid-Summer's Night Dream took place, it is also the date that people

thought Fairies were most likely to be active. / Festival of Mati-Syra-Zemlya & Zemlya's Night (Slavic Lands).

                                         
                                             Mati-Syra-Zemlya

                       Also

The 24th is the Day King Edward III founded the Order of the Garter in 1348, which some believe was secretly tied to the pre-Christian Pagan beliefs of Europe.

By tradition this is the day the Pied Piper lead 130 children out of the

town of Hamlin and into a mountain.

It was on this day in 1694 that the Utopian community known as Woman of the Wilderness (which was all male) made up of Primitive Christians, alchemists, & mystics landed in what would come to be known as Germantown, Pennsylvania.

It was on this day in 1701 that the above community said they were

visited by a glowing white sphere while burning their St. J Day fires.

This is also the day in 1947 that Kenneth Arnold claimed he sighted a

number of crescent shaped objects "flying with a motion like saucers
skipping over a lake.

June 25. In 1876 the day that George Armstrong Custer died for your sins as he and the 7th Cavalry where are out. / National Catfish Day (U.S.) Day for the best eating of the bottom feeding fish, it's better if you don't think about that part. / The day in 1962 that the Supreme Court ruled school sponsored prayer to be unconstitutional. / Native American Independence Day

                             Native American Indepndence Day

June 26. National Chocolate Pudding Day (U.S.) / International Day in

Support of Torture Victims / Beautician's Day (U.S.)

June 27. Day of the 7 Sleepers (Catholic, however there is also an

Islamic version) know as Siebenschläfertag in Germany. / National
HIV Testing Day (U.S.) / Mixed Race Day (Brazil) Day that honors
all those who possess multiracial or multi-ethnic origins. / Helen Keller Day (Alabama) / Iroquois Green Corn Festival (Native American) / Joseph & Hyrum Smith killed by mob in 1844, leading to Brigham Young being put in charge of the Mormons.

June 28. Raggedy Ann doll introduced to the world on this day in 1917 / Paul Bunyan Day. (U.S.) Whom it turns out was not a real figure from folklore, but was made up by two advertising men hired by a company that sold lumber to create a friendlier image, making him no more an authentic figure of folklore than say Ronald McDonald.

June 29. St. Peter & St. Paul Day (Catholic) With those two together

who are you going to borrow money from to pay the other? / Special

Recreation Day for the Disabled Day (U.S.) / Runic New Year

/ Feast of Ogun (Santeria)

June 30. Burning of the Three Firs (France) / On this day in 1908 a

massive explosion took place in Tunguska, Siberia. More powerful

than a hydrogen bomb, no definitive explanation had been given for

it, theories have ranged from a comet or soft meteor, to it being

a tiny chunk of anti-matter, to a crashed spacecraft.

If April is the cruelest month then June must be the strangest.

April: Holidays & Days of Note

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.

                           See April 6th

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

February: Holidays & Days of Note

Feb. 1 National Freedom Day, 1865 President Lincoln signs the 13th Amendment. / Imbolc to some, Imbolc Eve to others. / St. Brigid's Day (Ireland.) / It was on this day that Willy Wonka, noted candy manufacturer & serial killer, gave a tour of his factory.

Feb. 2 Imbolc Some say that today is Imbolc, it was said in days long gone by to really start with the ewes starting to lactate and as that's not really a big deal with most folks these day I'm going with the 2nd… Happy Imbolc folks! / Candlemas (Catholic) / Groundhog's Day (US) / Dia De La Candelaria (Mexico) / Ladies' Day / Purification Day / Cordova Ice Worm Day (Prince William Sound) Festival to celebrate the big ice worm, which is actually an ice centipede. I guess people in Cordova are hard up for entertainment.

Feb. 3 Powamu Festival (Hopi) A day for Kachinas dances and planting beans in kivas / Heroes' Day (Mozambique)

Feb. 4 Rosa Parks Day (U.S.) / World Cancer Day (International)

Feb. 5 National Weatherperson's Day (U.S.) Back to you Willard.

Feb. 6 Lantern Festival, Lunar New Year is now over / Waitangi Day (New Zealand) Commemorates the day in 1840 that the British and a group of Maori chiefs signed the treaty of Waitangi. / No Talk Day. A day to underline the importance of written communication skills in schools

Feb. 7 Tu B'Shevat (Jewish) Also known as the New Year for Trees, hmmm… I didn’t know Treebeard was Jewish.

Feb. 8 Hari-kuyo `Needle Funeral´ (Japan) A day for girls to gather old and broken needles to dedicate them to the deity Awashi Myozin, no needlework is to be done this day. (I have to wonder just how much is done these days anyway.) / Kite Flying Day (Korea) / Boy Scout Day

Feb. 9 National DAV Day. DAV stands for Develop New Vices and this day is dedicated to people changing their habits.

Feb. 10 Gasparilla Day (Florida) / It was on this day in 1286 B.C.E. that Herakles (Hercules) was conceived. According to the myth Zeus eclipsed the sun so that he had three full nights to do the deed. It would seem that the Greek sky God had something against nooners. Herk was born later that year on Oct. 31 making him, it would seem, a preemie.

Feb. 11 Youth Day (Cameroon) / Victory of the Islamic Revolution Day (Iran) / National Foundation Day (Japan) / Independence Day (Vatican City)

Feb. 12 Happy Birthday Abraham (don't call him Abe, he hated that) Lincoln.

Feb. 13 Get A Different Name Day (U.S.) Okay.... Call me Jasper Wang Angus Christina Keith Whatsup Totoro Bill MacDounut the XXXIVth.

Feb. 14 Valentine's Day.

Feb. 15 Lupercalia (Ancient Rome)

Feb. 16 Bursting Day (Iceland) A day to feast on salted mutton and thick pea soup, if one can actually be said to "Feast" on mutton & think pea soup.

Feb. 17 Quirinalia (Roman) Festival for the god Quirinus, about whom not all that much is known.

Feb. 18 Cat Festival (Belgium)

Feb. 19 Neo's call traced by the Matrix. / Happy Birthday Bruce Wayne, not really my idea of a Pisces.

Feb. 20 President's Day (U.S.) I'm baking a cake in the shape of Taft this year, should be able to feed a family of from 8 to 10.

Feb. 21 International Mother Language Day (UNESCO) / Mardi Gras, which is a bit ironic as so many people will seem to be speaking in tongues today.

Feb. 22 Ash Wednesday / World Thinking Day, also known as "B.-P. day" or "Founder's Day" (World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts) / Celebrity Day (Church of Scientology) Gawd yes! That’s just what the world needs, a holiday celebrating people famous for being well known.

Feb. 23 Terminalia (Ancient Rome) Day to celebrate Terminus the god who protected boundary markers

Feb. 24 Dragobete (Romania) "the day when the birds are betrothed,” It is around this time that the birds are said to begin to build their nests and mate. / Flag Day (Mexico) / National Artist Day (Thailand)

Feb. 25 Baikasai (Kitano Tenmangu Shrine, Kyoto, Japan) "Plum Blossom Festival" At the Kitano Tenmangu Shrine in Kyoto charming geisha women and maiko girls (geiko in Kyoto dialect) perform an open air tea ceremony (nodate) and serve powdered green tea (macha) to visitors under plum trees (ume) in full bloom on 25 February. Baikasai (Plum Blossom Festival) commemorates the death anniversary of Sugawara Michizane (845-903) enshrined as the god of scholarship and literature.) / People Power Day (Philippines) Celebrating the return of democracy in 1986, commemorate by wearing yellow, which was the official color of the LABAN party, the rival political group that challenged the government back in 1986. Much of the festivities and activities occur in the city of Manila, particularly Epifanio Delos Santos Avenue (EDSA), a major public road where people flock to visit. Activities include programs such as church masses and concerts. Many people also flash the LABAN (fight) sign, which is an “L” sign using one’s index finger and thumb.

Feb. 26 Savior's Day (Nation of Islam) Holiday of the Nation of Islam commemorating the birth of its founder, Master Wallace Fard Muhammad, February 26, 1877. It was established by Elijah Muhammad.

Feb. 27 International No Holidays Day

Feb. 28 Independence Day (Egypt) / Finnish Culture Day (Finland) / Heritage Day, (Canada)

Feb. 29 Along with the Olympics , and the American Presidential campaign, once every four years (unless the year ends in double zeros) we get a Leap Year, at least this only takes one day to get over with. Also Happy Birthday Kal-El, somehow he doesn’t strike me as being a Pisces, must be that Krypton rising he has in his chart.