The bizarre National UK Days to add to your diary

We take a look at some of our national days, from the unusual to the poignant and practical.

National Days UK

by yours |
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Did you know that there's a National Day for just about everything you can think of? Here in the UK, we have a National Day for everything from Hot Cross Buns to National Awkward Moments Day! We've rounded up some of the most bizarre days here in the UK for you to mark in your diary.

National food days

No one knows why the national day for hot cross buns – traditionally eaten at Easter – is in September. One theory is that it’s the brainchild of a flour company keen to have a second opportunity in the year to sell their buns.

National days relating to food are among the most popular and almost every type of food you can imagine – from vinegar to tapioca – has its own hallowed day of celebration.

Many of these days were created by companies to increase their sales while it was President Reagan who declared July 19 National Ice Cream day in the US – which has since travelled to the UK – to support the dairy industry.

Some national food days, however, have a less corporate background including National Doughnut Day, celebrated on the first Friday of every June, created by Salvation Army volunteers to raise morale of soldiers during the First World War by giving them doughnuts fried in the soldiers’ helmets.

Talk like a pirate day

If you ever needed an excuse to ‘shiver me timbers’ or to tell someone to walk the plank, save it for International Talk Like a Pirate Day, celebrated every September 19.

It was created by friends John Baur and Mark Summer in 1995 when they were playing a game of racquetball and for fun, started talking to one another in pirate speak. Having enjoyed themselves so much, they decided they needed a whole day of the year to practice. While it was initially something they did among friends, in 2002 humour columnist Dave Berry wrote about their tradition and the day has since enjoyed a cult following.

National Punctuation day

September 24 is the day to complain about commas and get apoplectic about apostrophes for National Punctuation Day celebrating the correct use of punctuation.

Newsletter writer Jeff Rubin started the day after his wife Norma got so fed up with him moaning about punctuation misuse, she told him to do something about it.

Just do nothing day

When there’s a national day for everything you can possibly think of, of course there has to be a day for nothing at all. Observed on January 16, it was created in 1973 by journalist Harold Pullman Coffin as an unofficial holiday to give people “a day where they can just sit without celebrating, observing or honouring anything.”

National Just Do Nothing Day

National Draw a Bird Day

In 1943 a seven-year-old British girl Dorie Cooper went to the hospital to visit her uncle who’d lost a leg in the war. At his bedside, Dorie asked him to draw her a bird. Giggling at his limited art skills she nevertheless promised to hang the picture in her room.

From then on, other soldiers in the hospital started drawing birds for Dorie and soon there was bird art all over the hospital wards. Three years later Dorie was tragically killed by a car and her coffin was filled with the soldiers’ bird pictures. Ever since, Dorie’s birthday on April 8 has been marked as National Draw a Bird Day where people are encouraged to draw a bird as a way of finding the joy in life’s simple pleasures.

Did you know? Any company or organisation can apply to create a national day for free at nationaldaycalendar.com. Of some 18,000 applications, only 30 are approved every year

National Retro Day

Every February National Retro Day takes us back to a time before smartphones and the internet. Every generation looks back and asks, “Remember when?”

This celebration indulges our love for the good old days while remaining in the present. The organisers encourage us to do something retro to mark the day, from swooping our hair into a beehive to getting out the old roller skates!

Some more of our favourite national days

National Awkward Moments Day (March 18)

National Hug a Plumber Day (April 25)

Lost Sock Memorial Day (May 9)

National Speak in Sentences Day (May 31)

National Play Monopoly Day (November 19)

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