Ok, I have to apologize for
this week's edition of Fun Friday Facts being late. I forgot it was
Friday yesterday. I thought it was Thursday all day. I blame it on lack of nicotine and general stress.
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| Grrr. |
As you know, it's February,
that bleakest and most depressing of months. Nothing good happens in
February. It too cold, it's too dark, and it doesn't even have any
good holidays (and if you just said, “What about Valentine's Day?”
you are hereby banned from the blog). Even its spelling is f*cked up.
It's almost as if February wants us miserable.
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| And don't say Fat Tuesday either because LENT. ~ Infrogmation of New Orleans |
Thankfully, February is also
the shortest month, and always will be, in spite of that leap year
bullsh*t it keeps trying to pull on us. So, as crap as it is, it
could be worse. We only have to deal with February for 29 days this
year, and then we can move on and life will be oh so much brighter.
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| No one likes you, February. |
Being the kind, generous,
compassionate, and all-around awesome person that I am, I couldn't
just let you all suffer through February without trying to cheer you
up first.
1) Did I just say February has
no good holidays? I was wrong.
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| Gasp! |
25 February is World Sword Swallower's Day, which is appropriate, because that's exactly what I
feel like doing by the last week of February. To celebrate, sword
swallowers will gather at Ripley's Believe It or Not! Odditoriums
across the world at 2:25 PM, to swallow swords.
Sword swallowers will also
perform at nursing homes, hospitals, and orphanages throughout the
day, to entertain the old, sick and alone in the world.
Not only are sword
swallowers just plain good folks, they also want some recognition for
their collective contributions to medical science. In 1868, German
Dr. Adolf Kussmaul developed the first rigid endoscopy techniques
with the help of a sword swallower. In 1906, Welsh doctors enlisted
the help of a sword swallower to perform the first esophageal
electrocardiogram. Sadly and unjustly, the names of these sword
swallowers have been lost to history.
Sword swallowers also use
the occasion to raise money for esophageal cancer research and
contribute to the Injured Sword Swallower's Relief Fun. According to
Sword Swallower's Association International (SSAI) and Ripley's
Believe It or Not!, World Sword Swallower's Day is in February
because February is National Swallowing Disorders Month.
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| I'll just let that sink in for a minute. |
2) February is also Black
History Month, Electrical Safety Awareness Month, Termite Awareness
Month, National Pet Dental Health Awareness Month, Low Vision
Awareness Month, Body Awareness Month, Heart Disease Awareness Month,
National Cancer Prevention Month, Heartworm Awareness Month, Sinus
Pain Awareness Month, School-Based Health Center Awareness Month,
Safety Awareness Month, Age-Related Macular Degeneration Awareness
Month, and National National Awareness Month Awareness Month, but you
know, we ran out of months loooooong before we ran out of things to be aware of.
3) Groundhog Day was two days
ago, but you knew that, cause you've seen the film. I spaced it this
year (the holiday, not the film), but those groundhogs don't know what they're
talking about anyway. The National Climactic Data Center has given
the groundhogs an accuracy rating of 39%.
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| What do you expect from a rodent? |
Apparently, the tradition originated with Pennsylvania Germans in the 18th century.
It may have its roots in ancient European pre-Christian practices. I
wished they'd called it Whistlepig Day, but maybe that's just me.
4) 29 February is Sadie Hawkins Day, or the day when women are allowed to propose to men. At least,
that's what I've always heard. I've already mentioned how I feel
about these kinds of carryings on.
The folk tradition of female proposals during the leap year supposedly dates back as far as 5th
century Ireland, although it doesn't begin to appear in historial
records until the 19th century. Some traditions allowed
women to make their proposals on any day of the leap year, while
others restricted them to 29 February or another specific day in
February. The women in question may have been obligated to wear
breeches or a red petticoat (remember, this is the 19th
century), so that they didn't take any poor fellas unawares. The men
may have been asked to pay recompense – anything from a kiss to a
small sum of cash to material goods such as fabric or gloves – if
they were so bold as to refuse the poor lady's proposal.
5) The name “Sadie Hawkins Day” originates from a November 1937 L'il Abner comic strip.
In the strip, character Hekzebiah Hawkins cooks up a plan to marry
off his butt-ugly daughter, Sadie, a 35-year-old spinster. Somehow,
he convinces all the unmarried men of his town to take part in a
footrace. After the men are given a fair head start, Sadie sets off in their pursuit. The one she catches and drags over the
finish line will be legally bound to marry her.
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| But what do pistols and bear traps have to do with it? |
The other spinsters decide
this is a f*cking great idea and the event becomes an annual
occurrence in the fictional town of Dogpatch.
Al Capp, the L'il Abner
artist, had no way of knowing how deeply his funny little plot would
resonate with the young people of the nation. In 1938, Morris Harvey
College borrowed the idea to host the first Sadie Hawkin's dance, to
which young ladies were encouraged to ask young men for dates.
Remember, this was a novel idea for 1938.
By 1939, more than 200
colleges across the nation had hosted similar events. Capp, who had
intended to use the idea once and move on, became inundated with fan
mail, as well as yearly missives from colleges, churches and
community organizations, begging to know when the next Sadie Hawkins
Day would be so that dances could be planned in advance. At length,
Capp set the date on the first Saturday after 9 November. The tons of
approving fan mail he received moved Capp to repeat a Sadie
Hawkins-themed strip every year – for forty years.
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| Let's end on this note. |
