Today, March 1 is World Compliment Day.
And for travelers among us, it is also Plan a Solo Vacation Day. Fruit lovers can rejoice because it is Fruit Compote Day. For equestrian lovers it is Horse Protection Day. In honor of those who work behind the scene to improve the workforce it is Executive Coaching Day and Pig Day.
Yep, Pig Day.
Daysoftheyear.com has plenty to say about that bacon-flavored day of swine appreciation.
“The Pig is a wholly underrated animal, so this special day was created in 1972 to attempt to elevate awareness of the intellectual prowess, adaptability and general tastiness of the humble Pig.
Celebrate Pig Day by tying pink ribbons to trees to symbolise curly pink tails, and then either give the poor piggies a break in recognition of their service, or tuck into a nice bacon sarnie – your choice.”
March 1 is not alone in its number of reasons to celebrate.
Every single day of the year is assigned multiple unofficial and totally-made-up-for-marketing-reasons holidays.
Sunday for instance is Namesake Day, Old Stuff Day, Banana Cream Pie Day and Dr. Seuss Day.
Perhaps people can explore their roots (kill the Namesake bird and the Old Stuff bird by looking at photos of old uncle John) while eating a banana cream pie and reciting a passage from “Green Eggs and Ham.”
There was a time when we only cared about actual holidays. You know the ones I mean …
The thing is that things want to be celebrated.
Things and stuff crave attention.
“Look at me,” things or manufacturers of things screams like Veruca Salt from “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.”
A combination of “look at me” and “buy me” is why the Great Lakes Region celebrates Sweetest Day in October.
According to the Cleveland Plain Dealer, Sweetest Day, originally called “The Sweetest Day of the Year,” was in Cleveland by candy company employee and philanthropist Herbert Birch Kingston as a way to “give something or do something nice to those less fortunate than ourselves.”
It evolved and today might as well be Valentine’s Day.
There is no reason I shouldn’t get into the holiday generation game.
I have things I want people to buy or/and honor.
For instance, why shouldn’t there be a Star Trek the Next Generation Appreciation Day. Observers would stop and reflect on the greatest show in the Star Trek franchise. A John Luke Picard float will cruise down every Main Street in North America.
People here, there and everywhere could celebrate Jack Daniels and Diet Coke Day with, you guessed it, Jack Daniels and Diet Coke.
The world’s children could learn about true sportspersonship of on International Figure Four Leg Lock Day.
So many possibilities, so few days in the year.
Contact this columnist at arobinson@DaytonDailyNews.com or Twitter.com/DDNSmartMouth
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