Truly, there’s no shame in admitting that, until just this second, you had no idea that May was International Respect for Chickens Month.
Who doesn’t love chickens and respect them an awful lot? But I’ll be plucked if they don’t have a lot of competition.
May is also the month for awareness of Neurofibromatosis, Domestic and Family Violence, Crohn’s & Colitis, Premature and Sick Babies, and Mindfulness.
And, reading this, you may be somewhat disconcerted to discover you’ve also missed whole weeks dedicated to Australian Dance, Motherless Daughters, Mothering, Multiple Chemical Sensitivity, Food Allergy Awareness, Motor Neurone Disease, Family Day Care, Hearts, Tourette Syndrome, Law, Volunteers, Families, State Education, and Schizophrenia.
Fortunately – even though little more than a week of May remains – there’s still more than two concurrent months’ worth of events ahead, including Spinal Health Week (now), National Palliative Care Week, Macular Degeneration Week, Week of Solidarity with the Peoples of Non-Self-Governing Territories, Kidney Health Awareness Week, Exercise Physiology Awareness Week, Global Action Week, International Building Safety Week and, last but most certainly not least, International Pickles Week.
As for designated days, well …
You may not find it terribly funny that you’ve missed World Laughter Day, can wash your hands completely of World Hand Hygiene Day, and not even Luke Skywalker can save International Star Wars Day.
The United Nations-decreed global two-day “Time of Remembrance and Reconciliation for Those Who Lost Their Lives during the Second World War” (May 8-9) could have been a tad overshadowed by the earlier Anzac Day.
Other possibly overlooked calendar highlights include World Belly Dance Day, International Museum Day, Telecommunications Day, Fair Trade Day, International Nurses Day, World Migratory Bird Day (definitely not for chickens), World Lupus Day, the International Day of Families, World Asthma Day, Ovarian Cancer Day, Free Comic Book Day, No Pants Day, International Firefighters Day, Lost Sock Memorial Day, Eat What You rWant Day, International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia, and Dance Like a Chicken (there they are again) Day.
And, you can’t even drown your sorrows about this because World Whisky Day is history, too.
If you need an excuse to don ugly leisure wear, you’re OK because, as befitting a symbol of total slackness, Tracky Dack Day can be observed at any time during the month.
Publication of this column also comes in the nick of time to celebrate End of the World or Rapture Party Day as first erroneously predicted by US evangelist Harold Egbert Camping to fall on May 21, 2011.
And, we can still pitch in generally for International Biodiversity Day (May 22) or shell out for a specific cause on World Turtle Day (May 23).
The message here is that – among the clearly flippant – most of these observances are born of attempts to raise awareness of serious and important topics including, most significantly, National Sorry Day (May 26).
Then there’s World Multiple Sclerosis Day (May 28), White Wreath Day to support family and friends of suicide victims and International Day of United Nations Peacekeepers (both May 29), 65 Roses Day for Cystic Fibrosis (May 30 and 31), and World No Tobacco Day (May 31).
But, if amid all that, you forget International Hug Your Cat Day (May 30), there’s no need to have kittens.
After all, tomorrow is another day.
