July 19, 2014

Today we celebrate a variety of things from cars to martyrs, drinks to deserts:

National Daiquiri Day - Cocktails made with rum and lime juice among other ingredients that you can add to make it just right for your taste.

Flitch Day – A flitch is the meat cut from the side of an animal or fish. These days you usually only hear it when a side of salted or cured pork is being referred to as a flitch of bacon. There is a VERY old tradition (rarely heard of these days except in certain parts of England), that a married couple that can swear that they do not regret getting married for a year and a day after the wedding are given a flitch of bacon.

Myanmar Martyr’s Day - This is a  somewhat complicated day which I learned about from the Holidays, Festivals, and Celebrations of the World Dictionary by Cherie Abbey.  The United States government refuses to recognize the military government of Myanmar, or their name, so they still call this country Burma, which was it’s name until 1989.  Burma briefly won independence, first from the British in 1942 with the help of the Japanese, then from the Japanese with the help of Allied forces in World War II.  Both of these victories were achieved under the leadership of a man named Aung San.  After WWII, the British granted independence to Burma in 1947.  Shortly after, on this day in 1947, Aung San and his cabinet members were assassinated during one of their Executive Council meetings.  The man responsible was arrested and executed.  Ever since that day, the people hold a moment of silence for Aung San and the family members of the assassinated men decorate their graves with wreaths.  In 1962, there was a military coup and the democratic republic was no more.  However Aung San’s daughter (who was 2 years old when her father was killed) has been fighting for human rights and a democratic government for many years enduring persecution from the present government.  She won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991.

National Woodie Wagon Day – Back in the 1940's and until 1951, car makers used wood to accent the outside of automobiles. Today we celebrate this American symbol of a casual lifestyle on the third Saturday in July. I'm not too certain why this sort of decoration on your vehicle indicates a casual lifestyle so perhaps someone out there can enlighten me on this.

National Raspberry Cake Day – The perfect dessert to go with your bacon, don't you think?  Some say this day is celebrated on July 31st so I’ll add it to that day as well.

Toss Away the “Could Haves” and “Should Haves” Day – Celebrated on the third Saturday in July, this is a day to write down your “could haves” and “should haves” on a piece of paper and throw it away into the garbage. Things like, "I should have gone to college for Library Science instead of computers because I really wanted to be a Librarian, not a computer programmer." Make a resolution to never live in the past and wallow in your regrets. You can't change anything that has happened, you can only chose to make life better today.

To celebrate everything in one day, have a daiquiri and some raspberry cake while you make your “could haves” and “should haves” lists so that you can throw it away.  Then drive your woodie wagon around the neighborhood until you find which of your neighbors is eligible to receive a flitch.  Then tell them all about the Myanmar Martyrs.