March is more than St. Patrick's Day: March 26 - 31: Part 6 of 6

March is full of lesser-known and even strange "holidays." Check out my previous articles to see what you may have missed!

Here’s what’s going on March 26 – 31:

March 26:

Make Your Own Holiday Day is the perfect day to celebrate whatever you’d like! The only guidelines are to make sure that your chosen topic for celebration is not already an official or unofficial holiday, and, of course, be courteous to your fellow humans.

Just FYI, “Joe Day” is taken, but I’m sure there are plenty of other things available.

Today, you can skip all the red tape and effort, and just declare Your Own Holiday!

It’s also Live Long and Prosper Day, which was created by Matt McCarthy in 2017 on Make Your Own Holiday Day. McCarthy’s purpose for this day is to encourage people to think about how they can live long and prosper. Whether it’s through exercise, eating right, or swearing off robbing banks, this is the day for self-improvement.

Leonard Nimoy portraying "Spock" from "Star Trek" fameKind PNG

For those of you who are cave-dwellers, the phrase, “Live Long and Prosper” was the catchphrase for Spock, Star Trek’s logical First Officer (among other titles), first played by Leonard Nimoy and most recently by Zachary Quinto.

March 27:

National Joe Day, mentioned above, was created by some Joe on Make Your Own Holiday Day. If you hate your given name, today is the day to change it, if only for 24 hours. Many people celebrate by just calling everyone, including themselves, “Joe.” Even the ladies.

Snoopy from the Peanuts comics as "Joe Cool"Clipart Library

Famous Joes include DiMaggio, Cool (see above), Namath, and of course, Biden.

March 28:

Something on a Stick Day is not just for corndogs and popsicles. There’s not much that you can’t get on a stick (or put it on a stick yourself).

There are marshmallows and hot dogs, which are excellent in front of a fire (keep it to campfires and fireplaces/pits, please), shrimp, anything at a party that you use a toothpick to eat, kabobs and anything else on a skewer, eating food with chopsticks, food samples at grocery stores, and "Jose Jalapeno on a STEEK," which was made famous by comedian Jeff Dunham.

March 29:

National Mom and Pop Business Owners Day is a day to celebrate the small businesses in your community that help enhance town/city appeal and convenience. This day is for the “homegrown” folks that established small businesses with their own blood, sweat, and tears.

The creation of this day is credited to Rick Segel in Poinciana, Florida. According to research, he is quoted as saying, “This holiday was created to honor the business that my parents started on March 29, 1939, in Everett, MA. It was a hat shop called ‘Ruth’s.’ It later developed into a woman’s specialty clothing store and moved to Medford, MA, increasing in size to 10,000 square feet with over $2 million dollars revenue until it closed in 1997," Segel explained.

It is not an easy job to keep a “Mom and Pop” business open when companies like Wal-Mart, Costco, and others may carry some of the same products for less money. This is because they have deep pockets and an endless supply of employees. So, today, make sure to visit a local small “Mom and Pop” store, and even if you just buy a stick of gum, feel good about supporting a local business, and keep shopping locally whenever possible in the future. You never know what great stuff you’ll find!

March 30:

It’s time to celebrate Turkey Neck Soup Day! If you’d like to join in on the festivities, make some soup from your own recipe, or look it up for more tasty suggestions.

But Turkey Neck Soup sounds gross to many folks. If you’ve never tried it, you may be pleasantly surprised, as turkey necks are full of flavor, and can be boiled to make soup stock, to which you can add your favorite veggies, other meats, or ice cream! [Just kidding about the ice cream, but who knows? It could be yummy!]

The origin of this “holiday” is unknown, but the first sightings of it on the internet date back to 2015. Maybe it was Joe making his another holiday.

March 31:

Bunsen Burner Day honors the birthday of the inventor of the Bunsen burner, chemist Robert Wilhelm Eberhard von Bunsen from Germany, who was born on March 31, 1811.

If you have never used a Bunsen burner, picture a hollow metal tube, about as big around as a regular candle. Gases and oxygen are combined to produce flammable gas that comes out of the top. The burner may be lighted in a number of ways, but the safest is to use a spark lighter, which can be found in chemistry labs and at chemistry supply stores.

So, when you are bored or have some time today, think about the Bunsen burner. Perhaps you could write a letter to it and then burn it…with a Bunsen burner, of course.

A Bunsen BurnerPixabay

So, that's it for March, y'all! Thank you for reading and I'll be back with some interesting "holidays" in April.