January 3rd, 2022

Fruitcake Toss Day

Letâ??s be honest: nobody really likes fruitcake, and nobody ever really eats it, either. Heavy, flavorless and always too sweet, fruitcake is one of our centuryâ??s biggest holiday jokes. So when Christmas is over, and youâ??ve taken the tinsel down, and thrown out the tree, what should you do with that old fruitcake that youâ??ve been using to prop open the door/to replace a missing limb/as a headrest? Fruitcake Toss Day has a â??fruitfulâ? answer (see what we did there?). The event, which is reported as having originated in Manitou Springs, Colorado, was created in order to help people get rid of unwanted fruitcake after Christmas.

The History of Fruitcake Toss Day

The earliest known fruitcake recipe from ancient Rome lists pomegranate seeds, pine nuts, and raisins that were then mixed with barley. In the Middle Ages, honey, spices, and preserved fruits were added. Fruit cakes soon became popular all over Europe. Recipes varied greatly from country to country, depending on what ingredients were available as well as church regulations.In the 16th century, sugar from the American Colonies, paired with the discovery that it could help preserve fruits, created an excess of candied fruit, which further contributed to fruitcakesâ?? affordability and popularity. However, fruitcakes later became a bit of a joke due to their excessive sweetness and heaviness, as well as their lack of any real flavor. Nevertheless, giving fruitcakes during the holiday season has remained a tradition in many parts of the world.

Manitou Springs has hosted the Fruitcake Toss tournament every year since 1995. During the competition, fruitcakes are thrown, hurled, catapulted and cannoned into the air using a range of inventive devices. Those braving this event would be wise to remember to look up occasionally â?? a frozen fruitcake in the face is a formidable force when fired from an exercise-bike-powered cannon.

How to Celebrate Fruitcake Toss Day

The best way to celebrate this crazy holiday is simply to take part! Fruitcake Toss day is organized on the first Saturday of every January in Manitou Springs, and festivities are organized in the following manner:

Participants are expected to bring their own fruitcakes which should contain candied fruits, nuts and of course, flour, and not any inedible substances. The fruitcakes are inspected by the â??Fruitcake Toss Tech Inspectorsâ? before they are allowed to be used for competition to make sure they do not contain any substances hard enough to hurt a person that may get hit in the head with a flying fruitcake. However, you happen to forget your fruitcake at home, you may rent one on the spot.

The Distance Competition is about hurling a 2-pound fruitcake as far as possible. The winner is the person able to hurl the fruitcake the farthest. The distance is measured at the final resting spot of the fruitcake, not where it first hits the ground.

Catch the Fruitcake is played in groups of three team members who are required to catch fruitcakes tossed by their own devices. In this competition, the fruitcakes must be a minimum of 1 pound in weight to make sure nobody gets hurt trying to catch a them. The team that catches the most fruitcakes wins.

Accuracy with Targets is another great way to take part in the competition but not get as messy. Targets are placed out in the park at distances of 75 feet, 125 feet and 175 feet at varying angles. The goal is for each team to land in or as close to as many targets as possible.

Have a great time at Fruitcake Toss Day, but donâ??t forget to keep your eyes on the sky above you!


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All details taken directly from provider content at http://www.daysoftheyear.com/days/fruitcake-toss-day/

Chocolate Covered Cherry Day

Just in case you haven’t indulged enough over the festive and new year periods, Chocolate Covered Cherry Day is an excuse to break open another box of cherry liqueurs and dig right in! The idea behind chocolate-covered cherries is incredible simple: chocolate is delicious. So are cherries. So one day someone said, “Why not combine the two and make something even better?” and the chocolate-covered cherry was born!

The History of Chocolate-Covered Cherry Day

Chocolate covered cherries were introduced to the world by Cella’s Confections in New York in 1929 and were an immediate hit, quickly becoming famous the world over. Years later, in 1985, Cella’s Confections was bought from the Masarik Family by Tootsie Roll, though the family is still part owners of the product. Today, almost 90 years after they were made for the first time, Cella’s chocolate covered cherries are famous the world over for their liquid center and extra gooey taste.

How to Celebrate Chocolate-Covered Cherry Day

The best way to celebrate Chocolate-Covered Cherry Day is, of course, to make your own chocolate-covered cherries. Over the years since the first chocolate-covered cherries appeared at Cella’s, there have been tens if not hundreds of recipes for the sweet, each just a little different, but each unique.

The recipe we’ve decided to provide is a bit of a twist on the original idea, because we’re adding one more ingredient to the mix: marzipan. And we’re going to tell you how to make the marzipan, too! And to those of you who may be saying, “It was supposed to be a recipe for chocolate-covered cherries!”, we say: let’s be honest, nothing in this world has ever been made worse by adding marzipan to it!


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All details taken directly from provider content at http://www.daysoftheyear.com/days/chocolate-covered-cherry-day/

Humiliation Day

When : Always January 3rd

Humiliation Day is not a day to humiliate someone. Rather, it should be viewed as a time to recognize the negativity of humiliating someone, or a group of people.

Perhaps too many people associate humbleness with humility. So, they think today is a day to be humble. Being humble is good virtue. Humiliation is a negative impression placed upon someone....which is not so good.

Let's all use this special day, to remind us to avoid humiliating anyone for any reason.


Origin of Humiliation Day:

Our research did not discover the originator, nor the reason for Humiliation Day on January 3rd.

We did discover a Canadian Humiliation Day on July1st. This was created in 1923 by Chinese Canadian immigrants in Canada to draw attention to the Canadian governments' ban on immigration of Chinese to the country.


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All details taken directly from provider content at http://holidayinsights.com/other/humiliationday.htm

Drinking Straw Day

Can you imagine drinking a milkshake without a straw? Or how anyone would manage a juice box? How many soft drinks would you have spilled on yourself in dark movie theaters if it werenâ??t for straws? I think we can all agree drinking straws have changed our lives for the better enough to deserve their own holiday, and thatâ??s exactly what Drinking Straw day is about: celebrating the invention and patenting of the (paraffin-covered) paper drinking straw!

The History of Drinking Straw Day

The straws man ever used were made by the Sumerians, and were probably most often used for drinking beer, which at that time contained many solid byproducts of the fermentation process. Thousands of years later, in the 1800s, the rye grass straw became popular because it was cheap and soft. Unfortunately, it also had the tendency to turn to mush in liquid. One day, while drinking a mint julep, inventor Marvin C. Stone became especially frustrated by strawsâ?? shortcomings, as the taste of the rye mixed with that of his drink, giving it a grassy taste. He then patented the modern drinking straw in 1888. The first straw Stone made was just paper wound around a pencil to make a thin tube, and he then slid out pencil out from one end and applied glue between the strips. This was already a great improvement on the rye grass straw, as it did not impart any flavor onto the drink being consumed. Stone later further refined his invention by building a machine that would coat the outside of the paper with wax to hold it together, so the glue wouldnâ??t dissolve in the Bourbon he liked to drink.

How to Celebrate Drinking Straw Day

One way to celebrate Drinking Straw Day would be to spend the entire day drinking all liquids via strawsâ??your morning orange juice, afternoon mineral water, you evening wine and so on. One thing to watch out for here, however, is the fact that sucking any liquid into your mouth via a straw heats the liquid up by a few degrees, and thatâ??s why hot drinks, such as coffee or tea, should not be drunk using straws, as that could lead to scalding your mouth.

Another great way to celebrate this holiday would be to learn to make the drink that that inspired Marvin Stone to create a new kind of straw in the first place: the mint julep. Then, sit back, sipping your drink through a straw and be grateful it does not taste like rye grass! Cheers to Marvin C. Stone, ladies and gentlemen!


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All details taken directly from provider content at http://www.daysoftheyear.com/days/drinking-straw-day/

Festival of Sleep Day

When: Always on January 3rd

No, you are not dreaming. But, perhaps you should be. Festival of Sleep Day is today. It is an opportunity to sleep in, snooze, doze, nap, and catch 40 winks.

We feel this is the perfect date for Festival of Sleep Day. The holidays are over...Wow, weren't they exhausting! It's cold and snowy.... time to hibernate. And, why not re-charge the batteries as a new year of school and work begins?

Festival of Sleep Day is a favorite holiday to catch up on a little sleep. Whether its all day, a full 8 hours, or just a power nap, enjoy the day sleeping. Cozy up in bed on the couch, or any other comfortable place. Oh.... don't forget your favorite stuffed animal.  It's okay to sleep alone, sleep alone or with someone else. We do not recommend groups sleeps.

Caution: Sleeping at work is not recommended, today, or any day. The only exception is for mattress testers.

Warning #2: The Surgeon General has determined that sleeping is good for your health.


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All details taken directly from provider content at http://www.holidayinsights.com/other/festivalofsleep.htm

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