May 22, 2017

Today we celebrate:

Sherlock Holmes Day - Created in 2014 by fans of Sherlock Holmes mysteries, this is a day to celebrate the great detective by reading his stories, watching his movies, solving some mysteries on your own or in some other way immersing yourself in Sherlock Holmes. This day was chosen for celebrations because it was on this day in 1859 that the Great Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, author and creator of Sherlock Holmes, was born.

Harvey Milk Day - Harvey Milk was a gay rights activist who was assassinated back in 1978.  He was born on this day in 1930 and was the first openly gay person to be elected to public office in California.

World Goth Day - This is a day for the goth aficionados of the world to get together and spread awareness of the goth lifestyle. This day began in 2009 in the United Kingdom and has since been spreading around the world.

Canadian Immigrants Day – This is a day to celebrate immigrants to Canada and recognize the contributions they have made to that great country. Celebrate by participating in a lively discussion about the Canadian immigration policy and your experiences with Canadian immigrants.

National Maritime Day – On this day in 1819, the SS Savannah, an American sailing ship/sidewheel steamer, set sail and became the first steamship in the world to cross the Atlantic Ocean. Although most of the distance was not covered using steam power, it was still a historic event.

Buy A Musical Instrument Day – Have you always wanted to learn a musical instrument and never got around to it? Well this is the day to get an instrument and get started. If you don't want to spend the money to buy a new one, you can always get a used instrument that is just as good as a new one, or you can rent one for a while to see if you like it.

International Day For Biological Diversity – Created by the United Nations General Assembly in 1993 to increase awareness and understanding of biodiversity issues. Biodiversity is the variety of life in a particular habitat. December 29th was the date originally chosen for celebration because that was the date of the beginning of the Convention of Biological Diversity. However, in 2000, the date was changed to today partly because many countries have a large number of celebrations already around that time of year and it was difficult to plan and carry out appropriate celebrations for this day.

Declaration Of The Bab Day – On this day the Baha'is celebrate from sunset tonight to sunset tomorrow night. They are celebrating the origins of their faith which began in 1844 when Siyyid Ali-Muhammad announced that he was the bearer of a Divine Revelation, which would prepare humanity for the arrival of the Promised One which has been foretold by almost all the world's religions.

National Vanilla Pudding Day – A simple, but delicious dessert. I tend to prefer vanilla over chocolate and you can mix other things in to get other flavors like strawberries or ice cream or bananas. Yum, I'm making myself hungry.

Accountant's Day or Accounting Day – Today is a day to celebrate the number crunchers in our lives. Some people just “get” numbers, and everything associated with them, easier than others. For some, addition is a daily challenge. Accountants, on the other hand, can whiz through math problems and multi-million dollar budgets in moments. Give them a hand today, because if they can do it, we don't have to. The first Accounting Day may have been held in 1972 but that is not for sure. This day is always celebrated on a Monday in May, but there doesn’t seem to be much rhyme or reason as to which Monday.

Victoria Day – The last Monday before May 25th is a federal Canadian Public Holiday in honor of Queen Victoria's birthday. This has been a holiday for Canada on different days around the 24th of May, (the Queen's actual birthday) since 1845 but was finally put on this Monday format in 1953.