Today is Sunday, June 25 and there are only 183 days until Christmas.  Is that Christmas music I hear in the background?  Today we remember the birthdays of Henry (Hap) Arnold, Lord Louis Mountbatten and Ziggy Talent.  On this day in 1178 five Canterbury monks reported something exploding on the Moon, in 1788 Virginia became the 10^th state to ratify the US constitution and in 1941 FDR issued Executive Order 8802 forbidding discrimination.  In Gibraltar it is Spring Bank Day, in Mozambique it is Independence Day, in Virginia it is Ratification Day and in the US it is National Catfish Day and National Strawberry Parfait Day.

Every week I list the various holidays and always include the National Holidays here in the US.  I have always wondered about these days and decided that this would be a good time to do some research on them.  National Catfish Day is a national observance celebrating “the value of farm-raised catfish.”  The day was designated in 1987 by President Ronald Reagan, who issued a Presidential Proclamation after the US Congress called for the day to be established in House Joint Resolution 178.

National Strawberry Parfait Day is a day to enjoy strawberry parfaits.  Researchers have been unable to find a creator for the day or the origin, but they were able to determine that it has been celebrated for years.  There are a number of other National Days that are like this.  There is National Creative Ice Cream Flavors Day, National Mojito Day, National Tapioca Pudding Day, National Hammock Day and National Vinegar Day as examples.  These days are celebrated each year, but research has been unable to come up with a creator or origin for them.

Another interesting example is National Chicken Boy Day. Each year on September 1st, people across the United States recognize National Chicken Boy Day in honor of his September 1 ceremonial birthday. Standing 22 feet tall and holding a bucket of chicken, this fiberglass statue of a boy with a chicken head stands along Route 66.  Named after the former 1960s Chicken Boy Restaurant, he is also known as the “Statue of Liberty of Los Angeles”.

The iconic statue remained in place at the restaurant until the owner died in 1984.  At that time, Chicken Boy was given to Los Angeles art director, Amy Inouye, and was placed in storage until a suitable location could be found.  Some twenty years later, Chicken Boy was moved to his new home at Inouye’s design firm.  The result of the restoration of Chicken Boy was a community effort and donated funds.

A famous landmark on historic US Route 66, Chicken Boy was recognized by California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger with the Governor’s Historic Preservation Award in 2010.  Other awards it has received are:

Community Beautification Grant, City of Los Angeles, 2005-2006.

California Preservation Foundation, Three Minute Success Story, 2009.

 Highland Park Heritage Trust Preservation Award, 2009-2010.

 Commendation, City of Los Angeles, 2009.

Commendation, California State Assembly, Sacramento, California, 2010.

The most interesting part of this particular National Day is that no one has been able to come up with the creator or origin of the day!

I did not spend the time going through the entire year looking up each day, but I did find a few days that had a known creator and/or origin.  An example of that, and a new favorite of mine, is National Nude Day, July 14.  This day is a way to keep cool on a hot summer day.  Nudists around the world celebrate the day and take it seriously.  The founder of the day is unknown; however, it has origins in New Zealand.  Another day is National Prosecco Day on August 13. It was founded by Riondo Prosecco to celebrate the sparkling summer months.  Riondo Prosecco earned #1 Prosecco in Italy in 2010 by Il Mio Vino Magazine.  There is also Talk Like a Pirate Day on September 19.  This day was founded in 2002 by John Baur and Mark Summers.  The story of how it started is amusing, but long.  If you are interested, you can Google it.  One more day is National Clean Out Your Refrigerator day on November 15.  This day was created by home economists at Whirlpool Appliances.  It was suggested as a way to prepare for the upcoming holidays.

This should give you a lot of not real valuable information that you can use at summer parties and barbecues that will cause people to look at you strangely and ask where you got that from.  Feel free to mention where you read it.  They have no idea who I am and will simply shake their heads and go get another drink.

This week our fact tells us that a Michigan state law states that a wife’s hair legally belongs to her husband.  Does that mean it is his responsibility to see that it is cut and styled and kept clean?  Does he get to pick the color?  I imagine the more important question, at least from the wife’s standpoint, is why?  Once again I am left wondering what could possibly have led to this legal head scratcher.

I continue to notice that people from various countries have read my blog.  I would love to know how you came across it.  When you see it is it in English or does it translate for you.  Please make a comment to let me know.  Thank you.