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Did you know that there's a retail holiday bigger than Black Friday and Cyber Monday combined
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Hi, I'm Erin McCarthy, editor-in-chief of MentalFloss.com. Singles Day is celebrated in China on November 11, and it's a behemoth of a day for online sales
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The story goes that the holiday originally started at Nanjing University in China as a way for students to celebrate being single
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11-11 represents four individuals. It became a cultural phenomenon, and retailers couldn't resist getting a piece of the pie
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encouraging people to treat themselves in a celebration of singledom. Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba pushes sales the hardest, and they're definitely getting results
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In 2019, the company sold over $38 billion worth of goods in 24 hours
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For comparison, Cyber Monday sees about $9.4 billion in sales. And that's just the first of 18 bizarre holidays you're going to want to put on your calendar
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for 2020. National Catfish Day sounds like one of those random holidays that are invented by PR firms
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and calendar makers. You know, like Chocolate Chip Cookie Day, National Lasagna Day, or National
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Chocolate Parfait Day, all of which I celebrate, by the way. The difference is National Catfish
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Day is a real national observance in the U.S., as declared by President Ronald Reagan in 1987
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But it's not to celebrate just any catfish. In his proclamation, Reagan said, quote
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farm-raised catfish have come a long way from their bottom-feeding ancestors. National Sleepyhead Day in Finland is more fun for some than others
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As tradition goes, on July 27, the last person in the house still sleeping gets woken up with
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a bucket of water to the face. The city of Nantali goes even further, recruiting a celebrity
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sleepyhead to throw into the sea. Do you love Tom Hanks? Of course you do. So you'll definitely
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want to celebrate International Tom Hanks Day on the Saturday that falls closest to April 1st
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When a few students at Western Michigan University created this day in the early 2000s
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they were really just looking for a reason to spend the day watching some sweet Tom Hanks movies
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while drinking rum and Dr. Pepper. That's a Forrest Gump reference. The day really took off
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when Hanks himself caught word of it and sent the students some memorabilia. The students promptly
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auctioned it off to benefit one of Hanks' favorite charities, and now thousands of dollars in
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donations roll in every year, both online and at Tom Hanks Day parties from Los Angeles to London
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My personal favorite Tom Hanks movie is The Green Mile. Leave yours in the comments
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November 23rd is Saint Clement Day but not many people celebrate it like they used to Pope Clement I is the patron saint of metalworkers and blacksmiths so to kick off old Clems night revelers of old would fire the anvil meaning they would pack gunpowder into a hole
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in an anvil, then strike it with a hammer to create an explosion and send the whole thing
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flying into the air. Sounds super safe. Before the Macy's parade took New York City by storm
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Ragamuffin Day was all the rage. Celebrated on Thanksgiving, the day was marked by children
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dressing up in rags and wandering through the street to ask adults, anything for Thanksgiving
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The reward was typically candy, apples, and pennies. The holiday died out for a couple of
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reasons, from the popularity of the Macy's parade to society frowning on the practice
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Von Steuben Day commemorates Baron Friedrich von Steuben, a Prussian military leader who
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helped George Washington turn his ragtag volunteer army in need of a shower, name that musical
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into disciplined soldiers. Some cities still commemorate his contributions in mid-September, with Oktoberfest-style beer tents and parades. Fun fact, the parade in Ferris Bueller's Day Off
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was actually Chicago's Von Steuben Day Parade. Here's another American history throwback
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A holiday called the 8th, occurring, appropriately enough, on January 8th. It was a holiday
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commemorating the American victory against the British in the Battle of New Orleans during the
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War of 1812. According to some historians, up until the Civil War, the 8th was celebrated with
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almost as much enthusiasm as the Fourth of July. Carving pumpkins? Child's play
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Carving radishes? Now that takes talent. On December 23rd, residents of Oaxaca, Mexico celebrate Noche de Rubanos, or Night of the Radishes
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People there have been sculpting oversized radishes since the 1800s, when merchants created
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the carvings to attract shoppers to their market stalls. Today, more than 100 people contribute intricate radish art to the festivities every year
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Sometimes you need to celebrate the little things, which is exactly what Bonza Butler
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Day does. It occurs monthly when the number of the month matches the number of the day—January 1
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February 2, March 3, and so on. Bodacious Bonza Butler Day happens when the year also matches—December 12, 2012, for example
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The idea was hatched by Elaine Fremont in 1985 and named by an Australian student
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Bonza is Australian slang for super, while butler is slang for something excellent
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Devil's Spit Day, also known as Michaelmas, is said to be the day when the archangel Michael
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defeated the angel Lucifer. According to one tradition, the fallen angel literally plummeted from heaven and hit the
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floor of hell, landing in a patch of thorny blackberry bushes. Injured and angry, he spat on the berries and cursed the fruit
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There also a version that says he peed on the bushes so choose your own adventure Either way now you know why blackberries are out of season in the fall As far as holidays go Galactic Tick Day is a relatively new addition even though the reason for it is as old as the universe You probably know that the Earth revolves
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around the Sun in about 365 days, although a rather depressing 2014 study found that about
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a quarter of Americans thought it went the other way around, with the Sun orbiting the Earth
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What you might not realize is that the solar system itself, including the Sun, revolves around
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the center of the Milky Way galaxy. In 2016, a group of scientists decided that this was
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a trip worth celebrating, too. Unfortunately, this solar system-wide revolution takes about
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225 million years to complete, which would severely limit the festivities. So, they decided
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to celebrate the galactic tick instead, a period of time equal to roughly 8 ten millionths
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of a percent of those 225 million years, or one centiarch second. Of course, you and I
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know what a centiarch second is, but for those who might be confused, the sun travels around the
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center of the galaxy in an approximate circle, which is 360 degrees. Each degree can be divided
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up into 60 equal pieces, called arc minutes. Each arc minute can, in turn, be divided into 60 arc
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seconds. Because of the massive timescale involved in the solar system's loop, even an arc second
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takes over 170 years to complete. So the creators of Galactic Tic Day took it a step further and
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divided each arcsecond by 100, a centiarchsecond, which they call a tick, like the ticking hand of
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a clock. This tick takes roughly 633.7 days to happen. The holiday's founders chose to
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retroactively start the clock on October 2, 1608, the day when Hans Lippershey filed the patent for
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his telescope. All of that means that the next Galactic Tick Day is on March 21, 2020
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You've heard of Christmas in July traditions before, no doubt, but Christmas in August at
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Yellowstone National Park is a little different. Back around the 1930s, employees at Yellowstone
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held Christmas festivities in the summer. There are different explanations offered for this
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tradition, but it probably had something to do with the fact that many of the workers were seasonal employees hired for peak tourism and wouldn't be around come December. The park has
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carried on the tradition over the decades, with employees and guests alike t trees, caroling, and visiting with St. Nick himself, all on August 25th. White Day on March 14th is
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celebrated in Japan and has spread to other East Asian countries. But to fully understand
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this holiday, we have to back it up a month to Valentine's Day, when it's traditional
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for East Asian women to give men chocolates. Significant others receive expensive chocolates
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and coworkers, bosses, and relatives get cheaper treats. Sadly, it was a one-way street. Women
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didn receive anything in return Until 1978 when a Japanese confectionary reasoned and rightly so that women deserved gifts too The holiday was originally deemed Marshmallow Day with men
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encouraged to give the fluffy stuff. Eventually, it was expanded to refer to any white gift
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even those that simply came with white packaging. It's no Valentine's Day in terms of sales
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but White Day still rakes in around $500 million for retailers every year
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World Emoji Day on July 17th has only been around since 2014
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but it's enough of a thing that the Empire State Building was lit up emoji yellow to celebrate the
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day in 2017. Other Emoji Day celebrations have included Apple announcing new additions to their
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already robust emoji lineup, and folks around the world attempting to set the world record for most
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people dressed as emojis. As for personal celebrations, could you communicate exclusively
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an emoji on July 17th? Yes. Should you? Bean Throwing Day, more properly known as setsabun, is observed on February 3 in Japan
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It's part of ushering in spring and getting rid of bad spirits. And to do so, revelers pelt a
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senior family member with roasted soybeans. A senior male member of the family will sometimes
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dress up as a demon to make the meaning behind the ritual more tangible. The beans are said to
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bring good luck and drive out evil. Plus, have you ever tried throwing beans at someone? It's a
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blast. On a larger scale, Setsepoon has become a very commercial affair, including sponsored
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televised events complete with appearances by celebrity sumo wrestlers. If you visit Lopuri, Thailand on the last Sunday in November, prepare to do a lot of
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monkeying around. That's when Lopuri celebrates the Monkey Buffet to honor the thousands of
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macaques that live in the area and are thought to bring good luck. Locals prepare artful pyramids
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of watermelon, durian, pineapple, and more for the monkeys to enjoy — up to two tons
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worth. Fun fact, according to a 2007 report in the American Journal of Primatology, long-tailed
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macaques in Lopori Thailand use human hair as if it were dental floss. And finally, the German
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version of Father's Day, Fader Tag, or Manertag, Man's Day, isn't odd in theory. After all
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dads deserve their due. But instead of going out to eat at a terrible chain restaurant and giving
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their dad something that will disappear into the closet for all eternity, Germans celebrate by
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giving them a day out. Manor Tog could include a pub tour, a group bike ride accompanied by a
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beer wagon, or a raucous day in a beer hall. All way better than another tie, for sure
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Our next episode is about weird old clubs and organizations. If you know of an obscure group
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league, or association, leave it in the comments for your chance to be featured in that video
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It'll be up on January 15th. Be sure to subscribe here and hit the little bell so you don't miss it
