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| Photo by Ralph Daily via Wikimedia Commons |
by Peggy Robin
August is a nebulous month -- it’s not well defined. You don’t automatically think of a particular activity or celebration associated with it, And now that so many schools start up in August (no more waiting for Labor Day), August is neither entirely a summer break month nor a fall semester month. More troubling is its lack of an iconic holiday. No one’s decorating the house for any special reason, or planning a 3-day weekend around a government-approved day off. Lots of people aren’t even around for half the month – it’s the biggest vacation time of the year -- so you can’t count on getting anything done; yet there’s no uniformity to the absences, which often leaves you with an up-in-the-air feeling about all kinds of things.
August need not be this way: any of the commemorative days below could be turned into an August holiday. There’s one for every day of the month….and I didn’t make up a single one of them. Here’s what we have for the first half of the month. (I will be back next week with a list of August occasions from the 16th to the 31st):
August 1: Lughnasa – the ancient Druidic harvest festival
August 2: Ice Cream Sandwich Day
August 3: National Watermelon Day
August 4: The Night They Invented Champagne
August 5: National Underwear Day – Go to Times Square on this day and get a free pair of underwear!
August 6: Imagine Peace Day – Yoko Ono is the driving force behind the commemoration of this day.
August 7: National Lighthouse Day
August 8: Sneak Some Zucchini Onto Your Neighbor’s Porch Night
August 9: Book Lovers’ Day
August 10: Lazy Day
August 11: Babe Ruth/500 Day – Babe Ruth hits his 500th home run.
August 12: Middle Child’s Day
August 13: Left Hander’s Day
August 14: V-J Day
August 15: Indian Independence Day
Happy Whatever-Whatever-You-Want-to-Celebrate, Everyone!
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Still Life With Robin is published on the Cleveland Park Listserv and on All Life Is Local on Saturdays.
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