As you may have noticed, the cat on the front page of this website changes daily, with notices about what “national day” is being celebrated. There’s some sort of promotion that falls on every single day of the year. So, where do these days come from and who makes up these weird holidays? These so-called holidays aren’t just about marketing. Some of them have been created as a joke, like "International Talk Like a Pirate Day." There are several avenues for creating a holiday that people will widely accept and salute. Many websites and books profess to be the original and most authoritative source for national days, but the two top sites these days are the National Day Calendar and NationalToday. If you don’t have a brand to promote — or $5,000 — and you simply have a fun idea you think will resonate, you can always petition elected officials to declare a holiday in your interest. There's nothing to stop you from making up your own holiday — you just have to know how to market it.
