I was listening
to the radio a while back when the DJ mentioned National Pizza Day. “Malarkey!”
I said (or something like that.) Sure enough, when I did a Google search for
national days, I found National Pizza Day listed on nationaldaycalendar.com. This
is not to be confused with National Pizza Party Day (May 17.) Of course a
little overlap is to be expected on a site that’s now tracking 1,500 national
days, and where anyone can fill out a form to register a special day for annual
recognition. I was relieved to see that the site doesn’t declare national days
for individuals, since that literally requires an act of Congress.
My feelings about
acknowledging every day as a special day mirror my philosophy about doling out
awards to everyone who participates in an event: if everyone is a winner, then
no one is. If every day was ‘special’ we would burn ourselves out in a frenzy
of celebration, and start looking forward to doing nothing. Plus too many days
spent overindulging and our pants would no longer fit. Don’t forget how you
feel every year by January 1st! That said I do have a soft spot for
certain recently invented national days. May 4th as Star Wars Day
appeals to the punster in me (‘May the fourth be with you’) while March 14th
as National Pi Day, for the mathematical constant that begins 3.14, appeals to
my inner geek. It also appeals to my stomach, since it’s a great excuse to eat
the homonymous dessert: pie. Still, I am more of a traditionalist when it comes
to holidays. Beyond our ten federal holidays such as Independence Day, and
national observances like Mother’s Day, I was curious to learn more about the
days we celebrated before the recent proliferation of national days. A search
in the Minuteman Library Network unearthed several interesting volumes.
I learned that
while it is tempting to think of nouveau holidays as a trend driven by social
media, the reality is that our penchant for partying predates widespread use of
the Internet. Alice van Straalen’s “The Book of Holidays Around the World” (published in 1986) is a charming
compendium that boasts “At least one reason to celebrate on every day of the
year.” As promised, it includes international celebrations from Norway’s
Constitution Day (May 17) to the Chinese Hungry Ghosts Festival (August 18), in
which people make offerings of food, money, clothing and such to their
ancestors. The layout of this book provides one occasion to celebrate per
calendar day, so some of the reasons are a bit thin. Numerous entries rely on
famous author birthdays. Nevertheless, there’s not a whiff of National Donut
Day or the other stuff trending now.
Anyone who
objects to the questioning of author birthdays as a reason to celebrate will
likely adore “A Reader’s Book of Days: True Tales from the Lives and Works of
Writers for Every Day of the Year” by
Tom Nissley. True to its title, this book offers a full page dedicated to each
day of the year including author birthdays and death dates as well as other reasons
to celebrate, or lament. Readers can rejoice in the publication of various
works, from the first volume of Cervantes’ “Don Quixote” (January 16, 1605) to “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” by Douglas Adams (October 12, 1979.)
Or they can bow their heads over the misfortunes therein such as Ernest
Hemingway’s various accidents and injuries, which are detailed across nine
different dates! Births, deaths and other goings-on of fictional characters are
also included. As an added bonus, Nissley thoughtfully introduces each month
with a page of recommended reading.
As well as offering
ideas for adding your own flair to holidays, “The Book of New Family
Traditions: How to Create Great Rituals for Holidays and Everyday” (by Meg Cox) encourages finding new
reasons to celebrate. In keeping with the other titles, it suggests celebrating
author A.A. Milne’s birthday. It is, this book notes, important to personalize
reading by having a sense of the author who created the characters we love.
That, and “mid-January is a good time for a party, deep in the winter
doldrums.” I have to admit that reading Milne at an indoor picnic with
characters from the Hundred Acre Wood while munching on snacks made with honey
sounds like a fine idea.
If we needed any
further proof that people like to party, Anthony Aveni’s “The Book of the Year:
A Brief History of Seasonal Holidays” offers insight into the origins of
celebrations throughout the year. From “Happy New Year! But Why Now?” to “Christmas:
From Resurrection to Rudolph,” Aveni progresses through the year offering a
broad array of cultural perspectives. Of the origins of Labor Day, he writes
that in 1882, “Defying authority, ten thousand men left their jobs and paraded
up Manhattan’s Fifth Avenue…” They apparently then had a picnic and rounded out
the day with fireworks. It was such a hit that they kept repeating it, until it
was formally established as a holiday.
So it would
appear that we’ve been drumming up excuses to celebrate for a long time. In
spite of my protestations that I’m a purist, and although I balked at the gambit
of National Pizza Day, even I could not resist the excuse to celebrate with a
slice of Sicilian on February 9th. I guess that’s what bothers me: the
fabrication of special days as excuses to indulge somehow diminishes the
celebrating we do on days of real import. I love birthday cake but if I ate it
every day it would be less special. Yet viewing each and every day as a cause
for celebration isn’t an inherently bad idea. I just hope that we can balance
out all of the hedonism with a bit of temperance (it will make those
indulgences even tastier!) In the meantime, maybe we can celebrate with a
little altruism. National Random Acts of Kindness Day, anyone? Technically it’s
February 17th, but there’s an idea worth celebrating every day.
