How silly will you act at the tea party you throw on Mad Hatter Day? Do you need to go outside and scream on International Moment of Frustration Scream Day? How many fears do you need to face on National Face Your Fears Day? Are you going to overindulge in chocolate on National Chocolates Day?
The month of October is full of interesting holidays, some of which will be covered in this article. There will be another October holidays article later this month just for the holidays that seem to go right along with Halloween, probably the most well-known holiday this month.
I'm sure that many people would call this information useless, but knowledge of any kind is valuable for a writer. Maybe one of the following days would fit in what you are writing perfectly. Or maybe researching one of these days will inspire a great story. However you use what you learn about these days, please have some fun with it. If nothing else, store the knowledge wherever you keep your interesting facts for future reference. Some of holidays, I give a bit of information on, others, I don't. Please research them and find out all about them yourself.
Animal Holidays
October 17 is Hagfish Day, a day when we celebrate the beauty of ugliness.. That sounds kind of silly, but it does make sense. Hagfish are ugly, deep-sea scavengers that ooze slime. These less than beautiful creatures show us that even the ugly are needed, as they play an important role in our ecosystem.
October 21 – Reptile Awareness Day
October 29 – National Cat Day
Food/Clothing Holidays
October 10 – National Cake Decorating Day
October 18 – National Chocolate Cupcake Day
October 28, National Chocolates Day, is the day for chocolate lovers everywhere to celebrate all things chocolate. Besides, dark chocolate, because of the high amounts of cocoa it contains, is actually good for you. It has been proven to help ower blood pressure and improve your LDL. It is also good for your heart. So what are you waiting for? Celebrate this day the best way possible – eat some chocolate!
October 26 – International Bandanna Day
October 28 – National Breadstix (bread sticks) Day
Internet/Computer Holidays
October 15 – National Clean Your Virtual Desktop Day
October 29 – Internet Day
Just Plain Goofy Holidays
October 6, Mad Hatter Day, is Autumn's friendlier version of April Fool's Day. It is day to celebrate silliness. This day was, of course, inspired by the Mad Hatter from Alice's Adventure in Wonderland.
October 11, National Face Your Fears Day, is the special day for all of with phobias to get a grip and overcome your fear, whatever it might be.
October 12, International Moment of Frustration Scream Day, is the day for all of us with frustrations that we have kept bottled up inside us to release them with a 30-second long scream. Go outside at 1200 Greenwich time and scream like crazy for 30 seconds. I wonder, if every person did this, just how loud would it be?
October 14, Be Bald and Be Free Day, is the day to celebrate having no hair. If you normally wear a wig or toupee to hide your baldness, go without it today and show how you have been blessed. Blessed, how are you blessed? You don't have to worry about your hair turning gray or falling out. You don't have to pay for shampoo, combs, brushes, or styling products. Best of all, you will never have to endure a “bad hair day”.
October15 is National Grouch Day. You are grouchy when you are irritable, easily upset, angry, or have a tendency to complain. If you hold back on these feelings every other day of the year, then this is the day for you to be as grouchy as you wish. Just remember, tomorrow you need to go back to being a nice person.
October 25, Sourest Day, is for those people who would rather just suck on the lemon than make lemonade with it. It is a day for individuals who have been jaded by their life experiences.
Reading/Words/Writing Holidays
October 16 is Dictionary Day. Today we honor Noah Webster, the Father of the American Dictionary, a very important tool for everyone, especially writers. Where would we be without a dictionary to help us understand the meanings and pronunciations of words?
October 17, Black Poetry Day, is also the birthday of Jupiter Hammon, the first published African-American poet. Jupiter, probably born on Long Island, came into this world as a slave.
Do you know of any other interesting holidays, besides Halloween, that I haven't mentioned? Please let me know about them in the forum.
