34 articles
Anna Jarvis
Anna Maria Jarvis (1864-1948), American founder of Mother's Day, born in Webster, West Virginia; organized the first service in Grafton in 1908, won national recognition in 1914, then fought the holiday's commercialization.
Bicycle Day (psychedelic holiday)
Bicycle Day, April 19, commemorates Albert Hofmann's first intentional LSD trip on April 19, 1943, and his bicycle ride home through Basel; founded 1985 by Thomas B. Roberts, distinct from UN World Bicycle Day.
Birthday
Birthday: the annual anniversary of a person's birth. Also called dies natalis (Latin). Ancient Persians and Romans celebrated it; Kinderfest created the candle cake; modern birthdays act as rites of temporality with milestones like the quinceañera.
Bonfire Night
Bonfire Night, or Guy Fawkes Night, is the British 5 November celebration with bonfires and fireworks marking the failure of the 1605 Gunpowder Plot, once a mandated anti-Catholic thanksgiving, now a largely secular autumn festival.
Boss's Day
Boss's Day (National Boss Day, Bosses' Day) is a U.S. workplace observance on October 16 or the nearest working day, created in 1958 by Patricia Bays Haroski at State Farm for her father's birthday, proclaimed in Illinois in 1962, and critiqued for pressuring employees to gift higher-paid bosses.
Casimir Pulaski Day
Casimir Pulaski Day, observed the first Monday in March, is an Illinois state holiday honoring Polish-born Revolutionary War cavalry general Casimir Pulaski, created in 1977 after Polish American Congress lobbying, centered on Chicago, and distinct from the October 11 national memorial observance.
Christmas in July
Christmas in July, also called Yulefest or Midwinter Christmas, is an unofficial July celebration with Christmas-themed parties, sales, and events. Oldest reference: Massenet's 1892 opera Werther; first US celebration: Keystone Camp, North Carolina, 1933; popular in Australia as a winter festival.
Cinco de Mayo
Cinco de Mayo (May 5) commemorates Mexico's 1862 victory over France at the Battle of Puebla, not Independence Day (September 16). Born in Civil War-era California, now celebrated mainly in the United States.
Data Protection Day
Data Protection Day, also known as Privacy Day or Data Privacy Day, is an annual observance on 28 January established by the Council of Europe in 2006.
Day of the Dead
Day of the Dead (Día de Muertos, Día de los Muertos) is a Mexican festival on November 1–2 honoring deceased relatives with ofrenda altars, marigolds, pan de muerto, and sugar skulls; UNESCO-recognized since 2003, distinct from Halloween.
Father's Day
Father's Day honors fathers; in the US it falls on the third Sunday in June, founded by Sonora Smart Dodd in Spokane in 1910 and made permanent by Nixon in 1972. Other countries use March 19, November, or September dates.
Festivus
Festivus is a secular parody holiday popularized by the 1997 Seinfeld episode "The Strike", celebrated December 23 with an aluminum pole, Airing of Grievances, and Feats of Strength, adapted from writer Dan O'Keefe's real family tradition begun in 1966.
Friendship Day
Friendship Day, or International Day of Friendship, is a UN observance on 30 July proclaimed in 2011 (A/RES/65/275), originating with the 1958 World Friendship Crusade in Paraguay; other countries celebrate on 20 July, the first Sunday of August, or 14 February.
Greeting card
Greeting card: folded illustrated paper card, also called greetings card in UK English, sent to mark occasions like birthdays and Christmas. Traces to ancient China and Egypt; first commercial Christmas card 1843; global market USD 19.8 billion in 2025.
Guy Fawkes Night
Guy Fawkes Night, or Bonfire Night, is the British 5 November commemoration of the failed 1605 Gunpowder Plot, when Guy Fawkes was caught with 36 barrels of gunpowder beneath the House of Lords; marked with bonfires, fireworks, and effigy burning.
Hinamatsuri (雛祭り)
Hinamatsuri (雛祭り), Japan's Doll Festival or Girls' Day on March 3, features tiered displays of hina dolls representing an imperial wedding, festive foods, and prayers for daughters' health; it grew from Heian purification rites and Edo doll customs.
International Talk Like a Pirate Day
Talk Like a Pirate Day is a parodic holiday held each September 19, encouraging people to speak like pirates in phrases such as "Ahoy, matey!"
Leif Erikson Day
Leif Erikson Day is a U.S. observance on October 9 honoring the Norse explorer credited with reaching North America around 1000 CE. Established by Public Law 88-566 (1964), codified at 36 U.S.C. § 114, it is marked by presidential proclamation, not a federal holiday.
Lemon pig
Lemon pig: a lemon turned into a pig figure with toothpick legs, clove eyes, foil tail, and a coin. A Victorian children's craft, not a real New Year tradition; the luck claim dates to Alcoa's 1971 party book and went viral via Twitter in 2017.
Mother's Day
Mother's Day honors mothers and motherhood; founded by Anna Jarvis with a May 10, 1908 service, a US national holiday since Wilson's 1914 proclamation, observed worldwide on varied dates such as the second Sunday of May, Lent's Mothering Sunday, and Thailand's August 12.
Mother's Day (United States)
Mother's Day (United States): annual observance the second Sunday in May, founded by Anna Jarvis after the first 1908 Grafton, West Virginia service, made law in 1914 under Wilson; white carnation emblem, about $38 billion in 2026 spending.
National Boyfriend Day
National Boyfriend Day, also written National Boyfriend's Day or National Boyfriends Day, is an unofficial October 3 social media observance for appreciating boyfriends, with no verified founder and contested 2012 versus 2014 origins.
Parents' Day
Parents' Day: US National Parents' Day (fourth Sunday of July, 36 U.S.C. § 135, signed by Clinton in 1994) and the UN Global Day of Parents (June 1, resolution A/RES/66/292, 2012); observances, not public holidays.
Pi Day
Pi Day, March 14 (3/14), celebrates the mathematical constant pi (π). Founded 1988 by physicist Larry Shaw at San Francisco's Exploratorium, recognized by the US House in 2009, and the date of UNESCO's International Day of Mathematics.
Rabbit rabbit rabbit
Rabbit rabbit rabbit is a British and North American good-luck superstition: saying "rabbit", "rabbits", or "white rabbits" as the first words on the first of a month brings luck for the month. First recorded in Notes and Queries (1902/1909); practiced by Franklin D. Roosevelt; related to the lucky rabbit's foot.
Raksha Bandhan
Raksha Bandhan (रक्षा बंधन), also called Rakhi, is a Hindu festival on the Shravana full moon, usually in August, when sisters tie a protective rakhi thread on brothers' wrists and receive gifts and protection vows; regional names include Narali Purnima and Avani Avittam.
Siblings Day
Siblings Day, or National Siblings Day, is an unofficial April 10 holiday founded by Claudia Evart in 1995 for her late siblings, promoted by the Siblings Day Foundation and celebrated in 14 countries.
Star Wars Day
Star Wars Day, also called May the 4th, is an informal fan holiday on May 4 from the pun on "May the Force be with you," traced to 1978-79 uses and later embraced by Lucasfilm and Disney.
Summerween
Summerween, a blend of summer and Halloween, is an informal mid-year Halloween celebration coined in the 2012 Gravity Falls episode "Summerween" and popularized from 2024 onward by TikTok trends and early Halloween retail from Walmart, Michaels, and Home Depot.
Sweet sixteen (birthday)
Sweet sixteen (sweet 16) is the mainly American celebration of a girl's sixteenth birthday, a secular coming-of-age milestone without fixed traditions, distinct from the Latino quinceañera at 15 and tied historically to driving age and debutante customs.