It is universally recognized that many important events and holidays should be celebrated around the world. However, many other national days share a designation on the calendar with these truly important events. Although having a National Nacho Day on Nov. 6 may be fun and harmless, it does not actually raise awareness or shed light on anything of importance.
According to Dictionary.com, a holiday is, “A day fixed by law or custom on which ordinary business is suspended in commemoration of some event or in honor of some person.”
However, many national days do not align with this intended purpose, and stray away from the true meaning of a holiday.
Dia De Los Muertos was celebrated on Nov. 1, 2023. To our surprise, this important cultural day is shared with 13 other national days. We found most of these days to be useless. This day for celebrating the lives of loved ones who have passed away is also National Calzone and National Vinegar Day. We asked ourselves: what about calzones and vinegar is deserving of a national day? Nothing. Despite calzones and vinegar being widely popular foods, there are more important events to be recognized. We believe that trivial and meaningless national days like these should not be celebrated on the calendar.
Another example of this was Veterans Day, a day where we as a nation honor those who have served in the armed forces. This day, Nov. 11, is also National Sundae Day. Small and insignificant holidays like this diminish the brevity of such a profound federal holiday.
Although we believe the nature of most national holidays is absurd, we are not discounting the truly important and necessary national holidays that exist. National days like World Kindness Day and National Stress Awareness Day have significant societal meaning and can help people dealing with specific challenges be recognized. These types of days should be kept on the calendar as they seek to inspire positive changes. However, holidays that do not meet this criterion should no longer be nationally recognized.
With over 2,000 national days throughout the year, we must contemplate which events and topics are worthy of celebrating or recognizing, and which are not and should not hold a place on the calendar. Instead of throwing a bunch of arbitrary topics on the calendar to be recognized, we must take a step back and realize that there are crucial issues that must be addressed as national holidays. Believe it or not, there are more important events to be recognized than candied orange peels.
