February 28, 2015

Today we celebrate:

World Sword Swallowers Day – Celebrated on the last Saturday of February, this day is the 8th annual World Sword Swallower's Day begun by the Sword Swallowers Association International (SSAI) and co-sponsored by Ripley's Entertainment. Celebrations will take place beginning at 1:30pm this afternoon and will consist of sword swallowing as I'm sure you were able to guess.  There will be a simultaneous Big Swallow at 2:28:15pm because that time exactly matches the date.  Last year they had 44 sword swallowers who swallowed 89 swords at 14 Ripley's Believe It or Not Odditoriums. Sword Swallowing has been practiced for more than 4,000 years, according to SSAI President Dan Meyer.

Open That Bottle Night –  Also celebrated on the last Saturday in February, this day was created by Dorothy J. Gaiter and John Brecher in the year 2000. It acknowledges that all wine drinkers save a special, favorite or very expensive wine, for a very special occasion but few people ever find an occasion special enough to warrant opening that bottle. So give it up and open it today. Get some friends together to enjoy it or save it all for yourselves.

Floral Design Day – This day was created by Governor Weld of Massachusetts as a way to celebrate Carl Rittner's birthday. Mr. Rittner founded The Rittners School of Floral Design in Boston and has spent years imparting his skills and knowledge of floral design to his students and fellow lovers of floral beauty. For thousands of years, people have used flowers to create beautiful works of art and to bring color and beauty to places where you don't usually find it naturally.

National Tooth Fairy Day – Once again we have a discrepancy here as some believe that the Tooth Fairy should be celebrated today and others believe that celebration should take place on August 22nd. Well, the Tooth Fairy works incredibly hard, if you think about it. Do you have any idea how many children lose teeth every day? Way too many for me to think about. So maybe she should have two days to celebrate. Let's all do her a favor today and not lose any teeth so maybe she can have a day of rest today.

Rare Disease Day – Celebration is probably not the best term for what people do on this day. It is really a day that is more about raising awareness of rare diseases and trying to raise money for research to find cures for them. Unfortunately, since rare diseases affect only a small percentage of the population, there isn't the same level of financial support for research that you find with the diseases that affect more people such as breast cancer and heart disease. This means that progress on fighting these diseases is slow, which is heartbreaking for the families that are profoundly impacted.

National Chocolate Souffle Day – I have seen a reference to the possibility that the first souffle recipe appeared in 1742, in France. They were fairly common by the mid 1800's and could be found in most any cook book. They do indeed have a tendency to collapse when removed from the oven so you have to be really, really careful. You can make them without chocolate, but I don't personally recommend it.

National Public Sleeping Day – The general public is desperately sleep deprived. I talk to some of my friends who routinely get only three or four hours of sleep every night and I am amazed that they manage to remain vertical all day. But many of these sleep deprived individuals have learned to grab a few zzzz's wherever and whenever they can. Go into any train station or airport or bus depot and you are almost guaranteed to find someone sleeping. Park benches and public libraries are another good place to see some snoozers. This is a day to join the crowd, wherever you are....at your desk, in a restaurant, in a parking lot, (Please don't try to sleep while you're driving, but if you're parked, it's quite okay.) wherever you can find a place to rest your weary head, close your eyes and have a catnap.

To celebrate today, have a public nap wherever you find a place to sit or lean, head to the nearest Ripley’s Believe It or Not Odditorium for the festivities before you head home to make chocolate souffle for dinner along with that special bottle of wine you have opened.  Then create a small floral art piece and leave it by your pillow for the tooth fairy tonight instead of a tooth and go online to find a way to support rare disease research.