Monthly Spotlight: Holidays!

National Honey Month

National Honey Month, initiated by the National Honey Board in 1989, marks an important time for honey producers and beekeepers across the nation. In the United States, honey collection season typically concludes in September as bees begin to secure their hives and prepare for winter. In the spirit of celebration, here are a few fun, crazy facts you may not have known about bees, beekeeping, and honey!

• There are nearly 20,000 known species of bees throughout the world
  • 4,000 of which are native to the United States
• A single-worker honeybee produces approximately 1/12 of a teaspoon of honey in her lifetime.
  • That means around 22,700 bees are needed to fill a single jar of honey!
• Although Utah’s official state emblem features a beehive and enjoys the nickname “The Beehive State”
  • The 2016 top 10 honey-producing states include North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana, California, Florida, Texas, Minnesota, Michigan, Louisiana, and Georgia.
• Honey comes in a variety of colors and flavors – including blue or purple!
  • States located in the southeastern region of the United States are known to produce purple honey.
  • Purple honey is an incredibly rare harvest – some beekeepers go their entire lives without ever encountering it.
    • There are many different hypotheses on how purple honey gets its color, but scientists still cannot reach an agreement on the cause
• An 8,000-year-old cave painting in Spain depicts honey harvesting, and we know it's been used for food, medicine and more by cultures all over the world since.
• Honey bees collect nectar to create honey and store it as food because it provides the energy for bees' flight muscles and provides heating for the hive in the winter.
  • Fortunately, honey bees will make more honey than the colony needs, so it is necessary for beekeepers to harvest the excess, which they bottle.
  • On average, a hive will produce about 55 pounds of surplus honey each year.
• Honey starts as flower nectar collected by bees, which gets broken down into simple sugars stored inside the honeycomb.
  • The design of the honeycomb and constant fanning of the bees' wings causes evaporation, creating sweet liquid honey.
  • Honey's color and flavor vary based on the nectar collected by the bees.
    • For example, honey made from orange blossom nectar might be light in color, whereas honey from avocado or wildflowers might have a dark amber color.

 Information from the American Farm Bureau Foundation for Agriculture and the National Honey Board.

Bison-ten yell Day -2nd

Bison-Ten Yell Day on September 2 is a wacky holiday that celebrates a number of things; the 200th birthday of an imaginary figure, the person who invented verbal signaling to yell at soldiers during war, the secret signals between football players, and the fact that if you say “Bison-Ten Yell” repeatedly, it sounds like ‘bicentennial.’ 

The phrase “Bison-Ten Yell” sounds similar to ‘bicentennial.’ The word bicentennial itself means the 200th anniversary. The reason behind the holiday can likely be attributed to someone who was born in 1813. But there is a catch; this ‘person’ apparently celebrates his 200th birthday every year. So, our imaginary figure is like the character Peter Pan, but with the same age being celebrated every year.

We’d provide the history of the day, except that this holiday is simply a goofball day, having no real purpose other than to serve as a pun. But the day does have some merit, as it honors the person who created war signals. Soldiers had to memorize the meanings behind verbal signaling or symbols. Does this sound familiar? N.F.L. players do the same. -National Today

Care Bears Share Your Care Day -9th

Care Bears are on a mission to spread caring and sharing around the world, and encourage fans to spread caring, sharing, love, friendship, acceptance, fun, and happiness to those you love every day! -Care Bears Official Website

Care Bears has been teaching children of all ages about sharing their feelings and caring for others for over 35 years. 

 In 2015, Care Bears, in collaboration with 10-year-old philanthropist Zach Kaplan and with the support of Leake & Watts, delivered 400 Care Bears plush toys to youngsters in New York City on the occasion of the inaugural celebration.

They also collaborated with around 300 bloggers known as Care Bears #ShareYourCare Ambassadors, who pledged to “spread the word, pay it forward, and keep the dialogue going to their own enormous audiences.” It just so happens that the holiday falls on the same day as National Teddy Bear Day. -National Today

Libraries Remember Day -11th

After the ghastly attacks on the Twin Towers on September 9, 2001, there were talks on its tenth anniversary regarding how to remember the victims and honor their memory. It seemed obvious that the most fitting memorial would be to build a public library on the site of what was the World Trade Center. Libraries represent knowledge and equal access to that knowledge. They also stand for freedom of expression, a celebration of diversity, preservation of heritage, and hope for the future. A library represents everything that stands firmly against terrorism, hatred, bigotry, and fanaticism. Thus, it was decided that on September 11, America would celebrate its public libraries.

Libraries Remember Day is celebrated by facilitating communication, fostering citizenship, promoting understanding, guaranteeing freedom of access to information, and welcoming everyone to the libraries as a symbol of freedom and fearlessness. In commemoration of the victims of the September 11, 2001 tragedy, Libraries Remember Day celebrates the role public libraries play in the preservation of a free society. Many public libraries across America remain open for the entire 24 hours on this day — the day starts at midnight and closes on the next midnight. Throughout the day, activities, remembrances, and performances take place at the libraries. -National Today

National Twilighters Day -13th

National Twilighters Day is a day to celebrate the cultural phenomenon that resulted from Stephanie Meyer’s Twilight book series.

When the books first began to be released on October 5, 2005, they quickly drew a crowd of fans. Many believe Twilight fans were just teenage girls like the main character, Bella Swan, but in reality, fans of the Twilight Saga are both men and women and come from all age groups.

On September 13, which is both main character Bella Swan and author Stephanie Meyer’s birthday, fans and VIPs alike will gather in Forks, Washington, for food, fun, and games. Those who cannot attend are invited to join in the celebration by wearing Twilight apparel and posting pictures to social media.

This day was created by April Tinnes, Patsy Harrison, Twyla Moore, and Cindy Stapp in 2019. Hashtags include #nationaltwilightersday and #stephaniemeyerday -National Day Archives

National Meow like a Pirate Day -19th

Ok, I know you're wondering how does one meow like a pirate? In short, you don't. 

So why do we have this holiday? It was actually created as a celebratory thank you to the cats that inhabited ships (pirate or otherwise) to help keep the rat issue down.

Were there really that many cats helping out on ships? Like enough to make a holiday specifically for that? Yes. Yes, there were.

Don't believe us? Take a look at the cats that have helped the military in the past:

• Muffin
• Wockle
• Bilgewater
• Veteran Princess "Pooli" Papule
  • She has three service ribbons and four battle stars
• Miss Hap
• Glamour
  • What happens at Camp Haan Wacs, stays at Camp Haan Wacs
• Honorable Kodiak Kat
• Whiskey & Soda
  • They were actually lion cubs and were donated to the Paris Zoo after the war
• Tiddles
  • Traveled more than 30,000 miles with the Royal Navy
• Simon
  • Honored with the Dickin Medal, the highest British award an animal can receive in war
• Private First Class Hammer
  • Joined a U.S. Army unit in Iraq in 2004 and has since found a home in Colorado
• Unsinkable Sam
  • He survived the sinking of 3 different ships in WW2

One last thing, IT'S NOT JUST THE MILITARY. Felicette the Space Cat was sent into space and brought back 15 minutes later and landed alive!

Batman Day -21st

Batman Day is celebrated on the third Saturday of September of every year and will be landing on September 21st, 2024. Follow @batman and visit the DC Batman Official Webpage to stay up to date on more activations and celebrations of Batman’s 85th anniversary taking place around the world this year. -DC Comics

To celebrate such a well-beloved superhero, here are some fun facts about the mysterious man thanks to IGN:

• Bruce Wayne's name comes from 2 real heroes
  • Robert the Bruce- a Scottish national hero
  • Mad Anthony Wayne- a hero of the American Revolution
• His online screen name is JonDoe297
• A 1943 TV serial called The Batman introduced the concept of the Batcave
• The University of Victoria in British Columbia, Canada once had a Batman course
• Batman could've been the Yellow Lantern
• Batman used to kill people
  • Though his no-killing stance is widely known today, Batman was originally a gun-toting vigilante who would not only shoot his enemies but throw them in vats of acid, break their necks with karate kicks, and hang them from Batplane.
• Andy Warhol helped make the first Batman movie
• Gotham City got its name from the phone book
  • Batman writer Bill Finger said he came up with the name Gotham City by opening up a phone book and randomly putting his finger on “Gotham Jewelers.”
• Ben Affleck is the only actor ever to wear both the Batman suit and the Superman suit in two different films
  • Batman V Superman and Hollywoodland
• The creation of Batman was inspired by Zorro, The Shadow, and Dracula.
• Robin died at the hands of the Joker and the Batman Fanbase
  • A call-in poll racked up 5,343 votes for him to die, narrowly eclipsing the 5,271 votes for him to survive.
• Batman Merged with Wolverine
  • A Marvel/DC comic book crossover in 1996 saw Batman merge with Wolverine, creating a new character named Dark Claw. His real name? Logan Wayne.

Hobbit Day -22nd

Hobbit Day is scheduled to fall on Bilbo's and Frodo's mutual birthday, the date of the Long Awaited Party (translated in text by Tolkien as September 22).  This is perhaps the oldest festal observance associated with Tolkien fandom.  The celebration actually predates the formal designation of the holiday.  A variety of names have been applied to the date and the celebrations.

In large part, Hobbit Day is usually taken up with fun activities - feasts, games, costume events, fireworks, and the like.  Hobbit Day is a virtually ideal holiday, incorporating attractive elements of several others: the masquerade fun of Halloween, the feast of Thanksgiving, the exchange of greeting cards and gifts associated with Christmas and birthdays, the picnic atmosphere of Labor Day and Memorial Day, the fireworks of Independence Day (or Guy Fawkes Day)... and the study and reflection associated with many commemorative days throughout the year. -American Tolkien Society