Welcome to our series sharing Unique Holidays: May 24th, 2022. I would like to ask you to check out the holidays being celebrated today and let me know which holiday you most want to celebrate and why. Charlie and I think we will visit our local Zoo and study the Otter this morning allowing us to celebrate World Otter Day. Would you like to join us as we can bring a towel along to wipe off the seats we sit on when we have our brown bag lunches.
National Missing Children’s Day
National Missing Children Day is your chance to play a part in finding missing or exploited children. There’s a whole lot of reasons why a child goes missing and, none of the reasons are good.
Child abductions can happen to any child, in any family. No one is immune to child predators and we don’t say this to scare you. We say this to help promote awareness and education to help you guard against missing children.
The U.S. Department of Justice estimates more than 50,000 children are victims of non-family abductions annually.
What you can do:
- Review and enforce child protection and safety awareness with your children.
- Always be ever vigilant
- Establish neighborhood watch groups
- Become involved in your community
- Report anything suspicious
- Maintain records of your children including up to date photos, and fingerprints.
History and Origin of National Missing Children Day:
The roots of National Missing Children’s Day goes back to the 1970s and 1980s. A number of high profile child abductions revealed no organized plans and efforts to find missing children. The first case was Etan Patz who disappeared from a New York City street while on his way to school, on May 25th, 1979.
In 1983 President Ronald Reagan proclaimed May 25th National Missing Children’s Day. Since then, U.S. Presidents have annually marked this holiday.
Welcome to National Brown Bag It Day. Did you know the brown bag has been around for a long, long time but it seems like just yesterday, everyone was “brown bagging it”, or taking their lunch to work or school in a brown paper bag. My how times have changed. Nowadays, very few people brown bag ;unches.
If you extend this line of thought to include in the definition of “brown baggers”, this would include people who carry their lunch in a lunch bucket or a lunch pail back in the day, which would include most people.
Then, somewhere along the way, Brown Bagging your lunch grew out of style. Busy, working moms did not have the time in the morning to pack a good lunch. School lunch programs were initiated or expanded, to the point where almost all kids bought their lunch at school after all, bringing your lunch is not considered “cool”.
Today is the perfect day to go “retro” if only for a day, and brown bag your lunch. Nostalgia aside, there are good reasons to brown bag our lunches. Including brown bagging can savie you a lot of money, over buying lunch on a daily basis. Next home made or foods packed from home always taste better. In addition Mom or Dad can pack a lunch that is more healthy and nutritious. If we can only get people to look at brown bagging as being the “cool” thing to do.
National Brown Bag It Day. is the prefect holiday to go back in time and brown bag our luch beecause it is a special holiday, which will be the “cool” thing to do, if only for a today.
History and Origin of National Brown Bag It Day:
We found no historical information on the origin of this holiday and the author is anonymous.
This holiday appears to be very recent, dating back to approximately 2013.
This day is called a “National” day but we did not find any congressional records or presidential proclamations for this holiday.
National Towel Day – in the UK
Towel Day is a tribute to British author Douglas Adams (1952-2011) a well known author, scriptwriter, essayist, humorist, satirist and dramatist. This holiday was established by Douglas Adams very loyal fans, and is popular in The United Kingdom. Towel Day was created to honor Adams, and as a celebration of his many works.
To understand the meaning of Towel Day, one must know The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, an original radio series comedy aired in England. The towel was introduced in the radio series in 1978 then a follow-up book explained the importance and usefulness of towels to hitchhikers.
Celebrate Towel Day by carrying a towel with you and you can further enjoy this holiday, by reading Adams’ book: The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.
History and Origin of National Towel Day:
Fans first celebrated this holiday on May 25th, 2001, two weeks after Adams’ death which was May 11th, 2001.
This holiday originated in the United Kingdom and we have not found any proclamations from Parliament or Government leaders establishing this as a true “national” holiday. Nor, has the Queen of England made any proclamations on this that we are aware of.
Today is the day to tap the keg or crack open a bottle and celebrate National Wine Day.
People have been drinking Wine since the early days of man. Did you know there are plenty of references to Wine in the Bible. Wine has been around for thousands of years.
There are many varieties of Grapes, giving us the opportunity to enjoy, hundreds of different varieties of Wines. Wine is made from Fermented Grapes. Wine is easy to make and as a result, there are many home Vintners.
While you don’t have to drink Wine today to celebrate this holiday, the holiday certainly wouldn’t be as much fun without a glass of Wine.
It is so easy to celebrate National Wine Day using these ideas:
- Have a glass of Wine.
- Go on a Wine Tour.
- Make home made wine.
- Have a Wine variety that you have never tried before.
History and Origin of National Wine Day:
We found no historical information on the origin of this holiday and the author is anonymous.
But, we certainly can imagine how this holiday came to be. Imagine being at a party with the Wine flowing. After a few glasses, someone declares National Wine Day into existence.
This holiday is called a “National” day but we did not find any congressional records or presidential proclamations for this day.
World Otter Day – Last Wednesday in May
World Otter Day was created to celebrate the Ootter. This day is intended to raise awareness of the importance of Otters to the environment. The holiday is also to make people aware of the Otters declining populations and the reasons why. Did you know there are thirteen species of Otters. All thirteen species are on the Red List of Endangered species. It is important to know why Otters numbers are declining, and do what you can to help to stabilize and increase Otters populations.
With the exception of North America, where Otters population is fairly stable, Otters are decreasing in numbers all around the world. OOtters numbers have become vulnerable due to a number of reasons, including:
- Loss of habitat
- Pollution of habitat
- Trapping by humans for Otter pelts
- Otters can be a pest to homeowners along Waterways, and damaging to businesses including hatcheries and commercial Fish ponds. Otters, can fall victim to illegal hunting and trapping.
- Otters are sometimes killed by automobiles on roadways.
Otters are Aquatic Mammals with webbed feet, making Otters excellent Swimmers. If you’ve ever seen Otters live in the wild, at a Zoo, or on an Animal Nature Show, I’m sure you’ll agree that Otters are cute lovable creatures. Otters are members of the Weasel family, and dwell on every Continent, except Antarctica and Australia.
Otters can be found in a wide variety of Waters, including Lakes, Ponds, Rivers Streams, estuaries, Marshlands and Wetlands. Otters spend most of their time in the Water. Did you know Otters live up to 16 years. Otters are Carnivores. Otters diet consists of Fish, Crawfish, Mollusks, Frogs, small Reptiles, and Mammals. A hungry Otter will also eat Birds, small Beavers and even Muskrats.
Otters are smart animals and Otters are known to use small rocks as “tools”, to break open hard shells of Clams and other Mollusks. Otters make their home by digging holes along river banks and Otters have also been known to make their den under porches and decks, making Otters a nuisance to homeowners.
An Otter’s den is called a “Holt” or a “Couch”.
World Otter Day is celebrated in over twenty Countries around the World. On this holiday, Nature Preservation Groups provide educational programs and research. programs to protect Otters. Armed with this information, you can do your part to protect Otters, and help to preserve Otters natural habitat. You can also support organizations that strive to do research on Otters and influence governmental policies.
History and Origin of World Otter Day:
This holiday was established in 2014, by the International Otter Survival Fund (IOSF) in the UK. It is a “World” holiday event, Otters exist on all Continents except Antarctica and Australia. All 13 species of Otters are vulnerable and at risk for survival.
Thank you,
Glenda, Charlie and David Cates
