Happy National (Fill in the Blank) Day!

Thank God my week is winding down. I'm really looking forward to coming home tomorrow night, cracking open a bottle of Abita (provided I stop and buy some on the way home), kicking back and watching cartoons.

In my not-so-humble opinion, Friday is a holiday in and of itself. But if you need a more kosher reason to celebrate, Friday, July 29th is also Cheese Sacrifice Purchase Day AND Bratwurst Day AND the French "Pardon of the Birds" Day AND all of the other July 29th holidays listed here!

Of course, I've heard complaints that most holidays are just excuses for greeting card companies, candy makers and other retailers to push their wares at full price. I even buy into that theory a little bit, which is why Paul and I exchange Christmas gifts around New Year's Day, after we've had time to poke through the post-holiday markdowns.

But if you think Corporate America has come up with some pretty lame holidays, check out these links with confirmed bizarre daily, weekly, and monthly celebrations:

• Holidays on the Net's Daily Holidays of 2005 (you have to pay to see the weekly/monthly holidays)
• Brownielock's Official Daily/Weekly/Monthly holidays (she claims they're all validated)
• ThinkQuest's Bizarre Holidays list (by date AND category [food, science, etc.])
• Holiday Insights (plus info on creating your own holiday)
• All-Yours Cards for strange holidays (where the cheese sacrifice graphic is from)
• Tulane's list (plus the essay "Why Are There So Many Holidays?")
• Everyday is a Holiday! (if you want to view more than one month at a time)
• And a list of bizarre holidays from around the world -- search by month or country in the drop-down menu on the left
  

I, of course, include the last link because if you missed Finland's wife-carrying championships in early July, you can still make Bosnia-Herzegovina's 450-year-old bridge jumping event July 31.

So I propose a toast...

Here's to today, because it's bratwurst day and cheese sacrifice day and the last day of National Salad Week and almost the last day of National Baked Beans Month. But most of all, here's to today because it's Friday, and that's reason enough for me to celebrate.