Holiday Calendar

The Vikings also counted the age of theirs by counting how many winters they had been through. This meant that the first day of summer, commonly in the middle of April was their "New Year" which we don't know whether the Vikings called it new year or not. The darker period of the year was known as Skammdegí which means the Dark Days.

Pagan New Year Traditions

Romans celebrated January 1st by offering sacrifices to Janus in hopes of gaining good fortune in the new year. They decorated their homes with laurel branches and spent the day partying. It was common for friends and family to exchange well wishes and gift figs and honey. Gifts were exchanged because they believed the beginning of anything was an omen for the whole.

Romans celebrated January 1st by offering sacrifices to Janus in hopes of gaining good fortune in the new year. They decorated their homes with laurel branches and spent the day partying. It was common for friends and family to exchange well wishes and gift figs and honey. Gifts were exchanged because they believed the beginning of anything was an omen for the whole.

Kissing at the moment of transition into the next year is rooted in pagan sexual practice and superstition.

“Watch Night” services were conducted to watch out for evil spirits who were believed to roam the earth during those times. Hence comes the tradition of staying up to ring in the New Year.

Eating pork and black-eyed peas on New Year’s Day originates from homage to Janus. His mythological wife, Carna (goddess of human organs) was honored during her festival with a dish of fava beans and pork bacon. The peas/beans symbolize rebirth and pork/swine was the preferred sacrificial meat to the gods.

Kissing under mistletoe - In Norse mythology, Frigga, the goddess of love, beauty, and fertility, wept after her son Balder was killed by a mistletoe arrow. Frigga’s tears turned the red berries white and resurrected her lost son, bestowing vitality and love connotations to this plant.  Also, Druids used to cut mistletoe with a sickle during the first new moon after the winter solstice. Sprigs of mistletoe were to be hung in doorways as a means of protection from evil spirits. Additionally, mistletoe was thought to contain the sperm of the gods because of the white substance from the mistletoe berries. Mistletoe was considered an aphrodisiac and fertility treatment.  Be careful who you kiss under that mistletoe, you might end up bonded for life.

Read the history of New Year's →

Copy link to share

The month of January / Snow Moon

Copy link to share

Mark your calendar and celebrate in your own way.

Copy link to share

Did you know that Earth reaches its closest point to the Sun about two weeks after the December solstice? It happens on January 4, 2023! We call this point in Earth's orbit around the Sun “perihelion.” Interestingly, we're closest to our fiery star in the winter and farthest away in the hot summer.

Copy link to share

Mark your calendar and celebrate in your own way.

Copy link to share

Mark your calendar and celebrate in your own way.

Copy link to share

Mark your calendar and celebrate in your own way.

Copy link to share

Mark your calendar and celebrate in your own way.

Copy link to share

It’s International Programmers’ Day! Today we celebrate the people who create the software behind our favorite websites, digital gadgets, appliances, and vehicles. Programmers (also known as developers or software engineers) write the code that runs our computers. There are many different types of computer languages and most programmers specialize in one of these. Facebook, for example, is primarily built using “PHP,” while Punchbowl uses “Ruby.”

Although women hold only 25% of all professional IT jobs in the U.S., the first programmer in history was a British countess named Ada Lovelace. She was a mathematician and wrote the first algorithm intended for a computer.

To celebrate the occasion, hug your favorite programmer, try your hand at coding, or visit the official International Programmers’ Day website to read about all the amazing innovations that have come from programmers!

Copy link to share

Mark your calendar and celebrate in your own way.

Copy link to share

Mark your calendar and celebrate in your own way.

Copy link to share

Mark your calendar and celebrate in your own way.

Copy link to share

Remembrance for Raud the Strong (a Norwegian chieftain whom Olaf Tryggvason killed for refusing to convert. The end of a metal horn was put down Raud's throat; a poisonous snake was then put into the horn and the other end heated to drive it along...).

Copy link to share

Mark your calendar and celebrate in your own way.

Copy link to share

Mark your calendar and celebrate in your own way.

Copy link to share

Thorrablot: This holiday began the Old Norse month of Snorri. It is still observed in Iceland with parties and a mid-winter feast. It is of course sacred to Thor and the ancient Icelandic Winter Spirit of Thorri. On this day, we should perform blot to Thor and invite the mighty Asaman to the feast.

Copy link to share

Today is National Strawberry Ice Cream Day! The ice cream we know and love today evolved from ancient flavored ices. As early as 3000 BC, people in China served their guests sweet juices mixed with ice or snow.

While fruity ice cream flavors are still popular today, vanilla and chocolate are the clear favorites. According to a survey conducted by the International Ice Cream Association, strawberry is the third most popular ice cream flavor, favored by 5.3% of the population.

Did you know that Dolley Madison served strawberry ice cream at President Madison’s second Inaugural Ball in 1813? Treat yourself to a delicious bowl (or two) to celebrate National Strawberry Ice Cream Day!

Copy link to share

If there's a day to celebrate New Years and to make resolutions for the upcoming year, then there should be a day to ditch those resolutions. That's the reason for today.

If you haven't broken or given up all of those New Year's resolutions, you're doing better than most of us. Maybe, you're well along the way to accomplishing them. Maybe, a few are already checked off on your list. Good for you!

For many of us, New Years resolutions are hanging heavily over our heads. They have become a burden, and perhaps were not such a good idea after all.

Then...... of course, there's the Ne Years resolutions that have already been broken.

 If you haven't accomplished, broken, or given up your New Year's resolutions, today is your chance to get out from under them.

Copy link to share

Thesaurus Day celebrates the birthday of the author of Roget's Thesaurus. Peter Roget was born on this day in 1779.

The Thesaurus has been an invaluable reference book for hundreds of years. Students and writers use it to improve the quality of their literary work. Do you remember how the book works? After High School, many of us forget. If you have forgotten, you're in good company.

The Thesaurus lists synonyms (words with the same or similar meaning) for words. It allows you to avoid repetition in writing and speeches.  It also lists antonyms...words with opposite meaning.

Enjoy today appreciating the value of the Thesaurus. If you haven't seen it in a while, take a moment to browse through it.

Copy link to share

Penguin Awareness Day, and World Penguin Day are great opportunities to learn about and appreciate one of the few natives of Antarctica. On these days, spend a little time learning about them.... a pictorial book or internet site is fun. You can also watch a documentary of these cute and popular, grounded birds.

These days are also a time to wear black and white---penguin colors. However, wearing a tuxedo in their honor is optional. It is also popular today to tell a penguin joke or two.

Copy link to share

How nice of you to visit our site today. I can see by your choice of websites, that you are an intelligent person. You are a kind and inquisitive person. I love the way you......Yes, it's Compliment Day. Today is a great opportunity to say something positive about the people you come into contact with. Everyone has good attributes. ...that's right....... everyone.It's a cinch to find compliments for family and loved ones, even for your Mother-in-Law. (Tip: She's probably a good cook.)Friends are friends because you see something good about them. Here's an easy compliment to a friend: "Wow, you're very intelligent...you choose your friends wisely".It's more challenging to compliment your boss or people you don't like. Take up the challenge, and find a compliment for them today, too.Remember: Mama said, "If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything". After a long search for something good, if you just can't find a compliment to them, then silence is golden.

Compliment Day is celebrated by offering sincere compliments to people you know. It is important that you are sincere. People will see right through insincerity, and you will do more harm than good.

How many compliments should you give out today? The common suggestion is five compliments. Yes, they should be to five different people.

Copy link to share

Opposite Day is a topsy, turvy day when everything you say, do, see, and hear are the opposite. If you say go left, you mean go right. If you say look up, it means look down. If you see your left foot...is it really your right?Yesiree, Bob. Opposite Day can be a whole lot of fun. It can also be very, very confusing. This special day is celebrated primarily among school children. Sponge Bob Square Pants even got into the act, with an episode containing the whimsical nature of this day.Thought for the Day: Opposites attract.

Copy link to share

Today is Bubble Wrap Appreciation Day! In the late 1950s, an American engineer named Al Fielding and a Swiss inventor named Marc Chavannes created Bubble Wrap. They were actually trying to come up with a textured, plastic wallpaper, but soon realized that their product had huge potential as a packaging material.

Fielding and Chavannes formed the Sealed Air Corporation and introduced Bubble Wrap to the public in January of 1960. Today, Sealed Air is a global Fortune 500 company and produces enough Bubble Wrap to stretch from the Earth to the Moon each year.

Did you know that in the past, Sealed Air has sponsored an annual Bubble Wrap Competition for Young Inventors? Kids competed to create the most innovative product using Bubble Wrap as the primary material. Past winners include a floating garden, a cell phone cover, a swing for children with movement disorders, and a transformable kite kit.

To celebrate Bubble Wrap Appreciation Day, join a social media group for Bubble Wrap fans or enjoy popping an entire roll of Bubble Wrap bubbles!

Copy link to share

Fun at Work Day is a day to have fun at work for once. Ideally, work should be fun. But normally, work is not intended to have fun. It's intended to get work done. You're a very lucky person, if you if you can get work done and have fun doing it. The lucky souls in this situation, love their job.  

People young and old love Kazoos. Kazoo Day celebrates the the joy of this musical instrument.

Alabama Vest of Macon Georgia made the first Kazoo in the 1840's. Actually, he conceived the Kazoo, and had Thaddeus Von Clegg, a German clockmaster make it to his specifications. 

Commercial production of the Kazoo didn't occur until many years later in 1912. Manufacturing was first started by Emil Sorg in Western New York. Sorg joined up with Michael McIntyre, a Buffalo tool and die maker. Production moved to Eden, NY where the factory museum remains today.

Kazoos are easy to play. Simply hum a tune into the kazoo, and you're an expert. Kazoos can be played solo, or in groups. It plays a great tune both ways.

What do you do on National Kazoo day? Why, play the kazoo, of course.

Copy link to share

On this day in 1861, Kansas Territory officially became a state in the Union. Some fun facts about Kansas:
1.Kansas has 105 counties
2.Kansas is the center of the 48 contiguous states
3.Kansas averages 50 tornadoes per year
4.Our state is named after the Kansa Indians which means “people of the wind.”
5.Kansas is the 33rd most populated state of the 50 states.

There is a saying: If you don’t like the weather right now, stick around for a minute; it will change!

Copy link to share

Also called 'Charming of the Plough/Plow' after the Anglo-Saxon spell and ceremony. Recorded as a regular feast only in Sweden, this blessing takes place January 31st. The name means 'Thing (assembly) of the Goddesses'. In Sweden, it was the first public moot/fair and market of the year; in Denmark, this is the time when the first furrows were ploughed in the field. This is a feast of new beginnings, at which the work in the fields for the growing season to come is blessed. For Charming of the Plough/Plow the equipment would be “charmed” as well as the field, and seed so that the crops would be in abundance. The Landvættir / land wights would be honored and thanked for their help in the planting, growing and eventual harvest.

Copy link to share