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30 Offbeat Holidays You Can Celebrate in May
From Star Wars Day to National Tap Dance Day, the month of May is full of delightful, offbeat holidays you should be celebrating.
May 1: Lei Day
You've heard of May Day, but this is the Hawaiian equivalent. Celebrate the islands' culture with lei-making contests, Hawaiian food and music, and even the crowning of the Lei Queen.
May 1: Mother Goose Day
Founded in 1987 by Gloria T. Delamar in conjunction with the publication of her book, Mother Goose: From Nursery to Literature, this is a day to "re-appreciate" the old nursery rhymes.
May 1: New Homeowners Day
One could argue that getting out of the rental game is a celebration in itself, but here's a holiday for brand-new homeowners anyway. (A Risky Business-style dance party would be one good way to party with all that room.)
May 2: Free Comic Book Day
Ever since 2002, the first Saturday of May has seen participating independent comic book stores across the country hand out their wares for free. Over 3 million comic books are given away each year.
May 3: National Two Different Colored Shoes Day
For people who want to practice a safe level of nonconformity.
May 4: Star Wars Day
May the fourth be with you!
May 4: International Respect For Chickens Day
You might appreciate them for the sustenance they provide, or you might appreciate them so much that you don’t use them for sustenance. Either way, celebrate the chicken today.
May 6: No Homework Day
We assume this applies to kids and adults alike.
May 7: National Cosmopolitan Day
We love a holiday with a built-in way to celebrate: in this case, with Carrie Bradshaw's favorite cocktail.
May 8: No Socks Day
The pitch for this holiday cites the lighter load of laundry foregoing socks will create. This seems specious at best—how big are your socks?— but let's all hope it will be sandal weather by this point, in which case you can and should definitely go without socks.
May 9: National Babysitter’s Day
Because, let's be real: their job isn't always easy.
May 9: National Train Day
National Train Day celebrates when the "golden spike" was driven into the final tie in Promontory Summit, Utah, to connect the Central Pacific and Union Continental railroads, creating a country unified by 1776 miles of train track.
May 10: Stay Up All Night Night
Staying up all night pretty much always leads to some great stories.
May 11: Eat What You Want Day
The best holidays encourage you to break some dietary rules and this one might be the best of all because it encourages you to break all of them.
May 12: National Limerick Day
Observed annually on the birthday of English author Edward Lear, whose 1846 A Book of Nonsense helped bring the lyrical form to popularity.
May 13: InterNational Hummus Day
Give us all the food holidays.
May 14: National Underground America Day
Underground America Day honors those who make their homes not just on Earth, but in it. It was invented by architect Malcolm Wells in 1974 and those who wish to celebrate can do so by doing things like riding the subway, burying treasure, eating root vegetables, or thinking about moles.
May 15: National Bike To Work Day
We can't promise you won't arrive to the office slightly sweaty, but we can give you permission to skip the gym after completing your cycling commute.
May 15: National Pizza Party Day
Party is a relative term, by the way. You and a pizza is definitely a party.
May 16: Biographer's Day
This is celebrated annually on the anniversary of the 1763 meeting in London between James Boswell and Samuel Johnson, which launched one of the most famous author-subject relationships and produced the biographies Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides and Life of Samuel Johnson.
May 16: Mimosa Day
What would brunch be without them?
May 18: International Museum Day
On this day, the entire planet celebrates museums and all the amazing things they have to offer—many of them via virtual tours.
May 20: Eliza Doolittle Day
Today is a good day to channel your inner Eliza (either before or after the etiquette lessons—the choice is yours).
May 22: National Maritime Day
A Presidential Proclamation issued in 1933 made this day an official holiday dedicated to recognizing the maritime industry. It is set to coincide with the date in 1819 that the American steamship Savannah set sail on the first ever transoceanic voyage under steam power.
May 22: World Goth Day
They may act like they don't want/need/care about having a day in the calendar, but come on, everyone wants to be celebrated.
May 23: World Turtle Day
Celebrate by reading 20 things you didn't know about sea turtles right here.
May 24: International Tiara Day
Who's a pretty princess? Anyone who wants to celebrate Tiara Day. May 24th was chosen as the date to celeberate this piece of headgear because it also happens to be the birthday of Queen Victoria.
May 25: National Tap Dance Day
The perfect day to put on your dancing shoes.
May 25: Towel Day
To honor celebrated author Douglas Adams, fans carry around a towel all day. The tradition is a nod to a passage in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy about the importance of towels: "A towel, [The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy] says, is about the most massively useful thing an interstellar hitchhiker can have." Good enough for us.
May 30: Loomis Day
This is a day to honor Mahlon Loomis, an oft-forgotten Washington D.C.-based dentist who received the first U.S. patent on a wireless telegraphy system in 1872—before Guglimo Marconi, who is credited with inventing the first radio, was even born.