PRPG:

5 Weird April Holidays You Ought to Celebrate

March 31, 2017

Spring has sprung, and so have these silly and obscure “holidays.”

April 1: International Tatting Day
It’s also April Fool’s Day, and it would be a pretty nasty prank if you convinced somebody that “International Tatting Day” was the day they’re supposed to get a tattoo. In reality, it’s a celebration of something that’s just about the complete opposite of applying ink to skin with powerful needles. Tatting is the delicate, skillful art of making things out of lace, such as doilies.

April 9: Name Yourself Day
If you’ve never liked your name—or you’ve always wanted one more exciting—today is your day to make a change. The creators of this holiday encourage one and all to give themselves a brand new first, middle, or last name (or any combination thereof), for this one day only. (For what it’s worth, every April 9, Uncle John changes his name to “Brad Hunkley.”)

April 15: Rubber Eraser Day
Let’s hope nobody made any mistakes on their federal income tax return—which are usually due on or near this day in the United States. But if they do, hey, there’s always the rubber eraser, one of the most common uses for rubber since it was first harvested from rubber trees in Brazil and exported to the U.S. in the 1770s.

April 17: National Cheeseball Day
Obviously, the way to observe this cheesy holiday is to eat cheese balls. But exactly how you celebrate it is your call—do you down those crispy, Cheeto-like cheeseballs, or do you go for the nut-covered, creamy cheeseball, the kind served with crackers?

April 21: Kindergarten Day
On this day in 1782, German educator Friedrich Froebel was born. He’s the inventor of kindergarten, creating the extra year of “starter” school for five-and six-year-olds in 1837. Froebel’s initial idea of a half day was adopted throughout the west as a near-standard part of educational systems, although many districts now offer a full day of coloring, story time, and fingerpainting.