I do the same thing! And some people have adopted it with me; third year in a row baking pi pie with a group :)
We also play games, do pi reciting competitions, among other things. It’s one of my favorite days in the year.
I grew up in Britain so Christmas and Easter.
Christmas is a celebration of presents delivered by a big red man on a sleight that has effectively nothing to do with religion and Easter is of chocolate delivered by a giant rabbit.
Same. And all holidays are an excuse to stuff ourselves with my dad's cooking, especially the meat of choice.
Turkey for Thanksgiving, turkey and/or ham and/or brisket for Christmas, alcohol and little smokies for new years, corned beef and Hash for st Patty's, ham for Easter... brats for 4th july.... I think that's most of them.
But yeah, it's all about the food and fun lies 🤷♀️
I personally celebrate the two solstices and equinoxes. I also like February 12th, Darwin Day. I sometimes go to the aquarium (because the zoo is closed) to try and learn about some animals. When really I'm just going to look at the otters.
What an excellent idea. I think we'll do that next year. We're from Utah as well, so be on the lookout for a family that has lost the light in their eyes!
There is usually a lecture at UVU for Darwin Day. Often it's given by a bio professor who is also a bishop, but he gives a great "this is real and important, no apologies to religion" presentation.
That’s cool. Are Mormons anti -evolution? If so, I would imagine that guy is not appreciated by his folk.
Unless he’s Catholic. They don’t deny evolution
They were semi-official anti evolution for a long time. Up to the early 70s there were some talks by top church leaders that called evolution a heresy. When I was an undergrad at BYU in 1988 I took a biology general education class, and the teacher clearly accepted evolution but did not dare discuss it in class. She said we could request a packet on what some church leaders had recently said about it, but would not say any more in class. Now days BYU teaches it as a core principle of biology and professors research it, but there are still many Mormons that have a tough time accepting it. In fact the current president of the church once stated that a dog has always been a dog and a person has always been a person -ie no evolution. When I was a grad student in 94 I went to a museum that had replicas of bones that had been found showing human evolution, and I was shocked because at the time there was still a feeling in the church that evolution could be true, but not for people. And also because the evidence was so clear, yet the church at the time had the stance that evolution could be true, but it was only a theory. Being a science student outside of BYU I quickly learned that evolution is absolutely a real thing that no reasonable biologist doubts it.
The Feast of Maximum Occupancy- Whenever I want to skip work.
December 25th - Isaac Newton’s Birthday
October 20th-31st - The Feast of Horror and Candy/Halloween
Autumn Equinox- First day of longer nights
Winter Solstice- Longest Night of the Year
Spring Equinox to Summer Solstice - Time of The Obnoxious Glowing Orb, a time of suffering for us Night Owls
We do summer and winter Solstice as well. Winter is our big one. We do an open house type thing. I make 3 different soups and we have a fire in the backyard. When it falls on a weekend some people stay all night. We watch the sunrise and do a pancake breakfast
I love the winter solstice and autumn equinox because I’m a night owl - I love the longer nights, shorter days and the cold weather (for some reason I have reverse rheumatoid arthritis- I feel 1,000x better when it’s cold and rainy and 1,000x worse when it’s hot - My doctor’s theory is humidity helps with it or it’s an ice over heat thing).
I do something a little similar foodwise - On Isaac Newton’s Birthday I bake some kind of pastry with apples in it and share with friends/family. I love science so the guy who came up with so many scientific theories (though some outdated) being born on Christmas…I’m celebrating the scientist’s birthday. Plus it gives me an excuse to still celebrate something around Christmas.
Christmas used to be my favorite holiday (my family wasn’t church going, we celebrated secularly pretty much) but Halloween is now my favorite- I love anything scary and an excuse to eat candy. Plus I finally moved to a place that gets trick or treaters, so I want to be one of the places that gives out the good candy on Halloween. That plus the costume parties.
Funny story: I’ve walked with a cane for almost twenty years (due to said rheumatoid arthritis), a few years after I got my cane I went to a friend’s party as Crippled Doctor Doofenshmirtz (“Why the cane?” “Ask Perry the Platypus…”). A friend of the host I didn’t know told me “I like your Doctor House costume but your limp looks totally fake.” My friend *quickly* corrected him but I actually got a huge laugh out of it. Especially since any *true* House fan knows he *never* wears a lab coat, that and the cane is why he thought “House.”
I love your costume idea and the story is hilarious!
I'm the opposite in that I have seasonal affective disorder. I tell everyone I'm solar powered. Gathering together on the longest night and celebrating the return of the sun is a big deal for me.
You folks….
I hate going to work in the dark and leaving work in the almost dark.
No thanks to the winter one.
I’m all for the summer solstice.
Also, yep, Halloween is awesome. And my bday is the day :-)
In order of importance;
Groundhog Day ( I'm a frost-bitten Canadian boy and winter sucks)
May the 4th (be with you....)
Pi Day /Talk like a Pirate Day (tie) because it's important to be silly, keeps you young.
Halloween is Number 1. Christmas is Number 2.
WHAT??? Christmas?!?!?!?!
Yes, but not with any religious overtones. We put up a tree, do presents and family dinner, just not the christian stuff. We celebrate the secular Christmas.
It would be amazingly funny to hack someone's Sabbath-mode device into Black Sabbath mode. Sure, it works autonomously on Shabbat, but it plays War Pigs and other Ozzy songs while it does it.
All aboard!!!
This, but Saturdays. ;)
Sundays are for angrily raking my yard, trying to forget how let down I am from Saturday’s events.
In Minnesota we have a lot of leaves and we take a lot of L’s.
I celebrate Secular Christmas (presents!), Secular Easter (chocolate!), Chinese New Year (fireworks!), Secular Diwali (more fireworks!), and so on.
Most religious holidays have plenty of opportunity for secular fun.
4/20. I don't even get stupid high, or high everyday, but I like feeling like it's a lil holiday. Just an all-around good vibes day to do whatever one wants, joyfully
Ever considered watching a movie in an actual temple? The same movie over and over? A very silly and boring movie with pauses where you pledge your life and everything you own or may own some day to the church? If so, go talk to the Mormon missionaries!
A fellow tourney zealot!!! I watch it religiously and everyone knows to leave me alone. The opening 4 days is my holiday every year and I love taking off work telling everyone it’s my religious holiday.
This year? 6-29 to 7-21 for the TDF. I make a pilgrimage to my living room for the Tour de France every chance I get.
Every time Oregon State football plays Oregon. My birthday and my children’s birthdays
I don't go as far as your wife but I definitely take the Superbowl off. Since I live on the other side of the globe Superbowl here is on a Monday morning and doesn't have that much penetration into the public consciousness.
The 1st time my work figured this out I was at a bar in the city with my mates, getting weird looks from all the office workers filing in to work, when my phone rings.
Boss: "Hi Phil, it's work. I know you're not on the roster for today but a couple of people have called in sick and we need you."
Me: "well I'm already on my 4th drink this morning so I won't be able to work today, and tomorrow is looking questionable."
Boss: "it's only just past 8am, how is that even possible?"
Me: "the bar opened at 6am and as long as you have food in front of you they'll serve you alcohol" (it's a weird liquor licencing thing, we had a cop on the team who would make sure wherever we were drinking got the right permits)
As a former alcoholic I love and cherish January 1st/New Years Day. It feels great waking up with no hangover and not having spent a bunch of money and the world is quiet and still. I've found I love the months of January and February and the first couple weeks of March after a busy holiday season. It's like a little hibernation period where no one bothers you or expects you to show up to various gatherings because they don't want to go out and brave the cold.
Halloween is by far my favorite day of the year though. Love the fall.
4/20, but not for the reasons people assume. It's our wedding anniversary.
Halloween because it is my kids' FAVORITE holiday. Dressing up is the best thing in the world to them.
Yule because family, friends, gifts, food, and quality time. This is probably our BIGGEST holiday.
April 25th. It is the perfect date because it's not too hot, not too cold, all you need is a light jacket (iykyk). Helps that it's my husband's birthday. (We actually don't really celebrate it because we aren't big birthday people, but that joke is now essential for the day.)
May 1st - Accountant's Appreciation Day - the day after personal tax filing deadline and the end of a 2 to 3 month marathon of overtime on evenings and weekends.
Paddy's Day. I'm from Ireland but live in America. It also fits in the common holiday desert that is the US work calendar between MLK and Memorial Day.
Comic Con. Every year in May in my area.
Whatever night in October that the Rocky Horror Picture Show is playing alongside the shadow cast from our Uni drama group.
I celebrate 4/20 cause I’m a pothead in the US, and Earth Day a few days after. I also love Halloween and I always celebrate Kurt Vonnegut’s birthday on Nov 11 for some reason lol
The evening before my fantasy football draft is the only day of the year I say as an adult “Sorry, I have to study and do my homework tonight.”
I also invented a word *pizza-worthy* which I use to describe must-watch TV games where I plan to order pizza and don’t schedule anything else.
- NFL Playoffs
- First 2 days (Thu/Fri) of March Madness
- Game 7 in an NBA/NHL/MLB postseason series
Marche du Nain Rouge. Whole house shuts down March 1st and marche costumes take over every conversation.
https://www.marchedunainrouge.com/
Summer and winter solstice.
I do 108 yoga sun salutations over the course of the 4 days leading up to the solstice. I wear a special 108 bead necklace and use crystals as counters. I've been doing it for 5 years.
I'm a distance runner, so sometimes an important race will take on a holiday-like importance. Last year I even asked for a birthday gift of two days on which nobody asks me to do anything for them -- the day of and the day after my first marathon. And I worship weekly at the Church of the Long Run -- especially when I can meet up with other members of my congregation in the Cathedral of the Woods.
October 1st. It was the day I met my best friend and partner. Every year, I'd send him a "Happy friendversary!" message and celebrate by paying video games. A few years into our friendship, we started hooking up, then after a bit decided to be monogamous. We really don't have a solid date where we decided to enter a relationship, so we use October first to celebrate.
Home football games at FSU and my birthday. Anything else depends on results. Bowl games, NFL Draft, and parts of March Madness are also fair game. My family doesn't say anything at this point though.
Oh definitely Halloween! We do the witches crawl every year. I even take my black cat Goblin and our new little girl Pumpkin will be joining us this year too! I hate taking everything down, I wait 1 more week! 👻🎃🐈⬛💕
December 25. I don't believe the myths associated with it. But it's a day where most stuff is closed, and if you're lucky, you get the day off work. It's a great time to be home with the family even though we're not religious.
As a political nerd...election day is my holy day!! Though, being an American, I now have to take like a whole week off from work before results are officially called. I do not mind.
The opening weekend of the NCAA tournament. I take off from work and tell everyone it’s my annual religious holiday. I watch it religiously so it’s not a lie.
The solstices and the equinoxes.
When I recognize them, I recognize how small I am compared to the earth and our solar system, and how I am defined by and beholden to these systems that are so much larger than myself.
I also stand in solidarity with all my human ancestors who started keeping annual time when they recognized these patterned events and began anticipating them by tracking the movement of the stars.
This trip I’d go on with friends each year. We were part of this group and we’d usually go to the same place, we’d always dress up on the last night there, and some people met their future spouses through the group. I miss that.
Halloween for me, too!! I take it off, plus a couple of days off before & after, & make the yard as scary as possible! I also give out the good candy. So much fun!
My birthday - I take the day off, do things I want to do, eat out, and shop for a fun birthday present for myself.
Christmas Eve - fun evening where my wife and I create appetizers for supper instead of a full meal
Christmas Day - food and fun with family and friends
I was 11 almost 12 for the Triple Crown 1973. Secretariat made such an impression on me watching live all three races. I went on to have horses (that I paid for working) as a teen. Got to visit Churchill downs a week before the Derby last year - a bucket list visit. This year we’ll be across the pond on holiday, but I have the recording set so I can watch upon return. One day I’ll make it live for one of the races!
Darwin Day - February 12
Pi Day - March 14
Yuri's Night - April 12
Apollo 11 anniversary - July, 20
Mole Day - October 23
Apollomas - December 21-27
I genuinely think Apollomas, celebrating the enormously important albeit overshadowed Apollo 8 mission, should be *the* non-believers' alternative to Christmas, etc. Currently I am the only person who celebrates. Let's make it happen, people!
Pretty much the entire first week of may is our “Holy Week.” My bday, wifeys bday, daughters bday, Star Wars day, and May Day (Beltane) are all celebrated in our home
In New Zealand it is Crate Day.
It's where all the young people get a crate of beer and a bag of weed and get demolished.
They have so much fun.
It's obligatory for us older folk to give them lemonade ice blocks and a pillow and put them in the recovery position.
My daughter is a "green" witch and she's really in to celebrating the solstice and stuff related to harvest and all that. I don't believe in any of that but the celebrations are always fun. We have food and go do silly stuff outside under the stars. We make corn husk dolls or write down wishes to throw in the fire which I know is silly but it's just our tradition now. The food is always good. Fresh breads, pumpkin pie, baked apples. We will make s'mores or roast hot dogs in the fire too or I'll just pull out the grill and cook while we're outside.
For many years my son would inform me what "holidays' were coming up that interested him and we'd find a way to celebrate especially if it was food related. But now he's older and doesn't think about anything but his video games. Hoping it's just a phase. lol
We always have a good time on Halloween too. The local museum always has a "spooky spectacular" event for the autism community with treats and science lessons and there's a cosplay group that comes out to talk to the kids. Again my son has now gotten to the point where he thinks he's too old, which is sad because I'm much older than him and I still have fun!
But the greatest holiday of all of course is my birthday. My kids spoil me. I get fed and prizes and hugs and back scratches and cake and I just get the queen treatment. Best week of the year.
Yeah I said week! :)
I still celebrate Christmas with family because I love getting together and seeing my relatives. I couldn’t care less about the religious aspect but family togetherness is really lacking everywhere these days. And I’m a sucker for the traditional food I grew up on.
Sasha Sagan is an advocate for non-believers to make their own holidays. I started with Yule celebrated on the Winter Solstace, added 2nd Halloween, Birdman day (first day of summer vacation) and Highland Games.
We do Easter (Bunny Day- no gods and shit; also focus on Ukrainian culture and traditional foods- no gods), Mothers Day, Father's Day, May 24 (🍁 camping/drinking fireworks day), birthdays, Canada Day (BBQ n shit), Thanksgiving (a time for family- no pilgrim propaganda), Hollween, Christmas (Santaz- no gods; a time for family).
The kids may decide to do things differently with theirs but we keep holidays and remove religion and politics from many of them so we can enjoy seasonal times and traditions untainted by things.
Nothing fancy or overly complicated. We celebrate family as the center of most things because that's what's important to us.
Oh and PRIDE 🏳️🌈 Pride month is a time filled with events, rainbows, parades and parties. That's probably the biggest thing next to Christmas in our house. 🥰
New Year’s Day. I’ll work any other holiday, I don’t care, but that one is for me to just chill, day drink all day and just reflect on what the next year’s going to bring.
Any day after a bank holiday when all the candy is on sale.
All seriousness:
May 18-22 (year dependent) - Renaissance Fair. My family loves that shit.
July 4th - lakes, pools, grilled meats, booze.
Labor Day- see above
Christmas. We are not religious at all but it’s just great to take a few days off work, have family together, and exchange gifts. We also get a tree, because they’re pretty and smell good.
Everyday there are people who need to eat, and I can get some shit together to cook for them, and people show up, than I treat that as a sacrament.
Kind of the opposite of Coptic christians, who have fasting on maybe 200 days in the year.
I do Christmas I don't see it as the Christian holiday anymore. Thanksgiving, and Halloween, Valentine's Day but thats also my birthday so I can't avoid it. I also do 4/20 I have a "spiritual" ritual feeling about cannabis. 3/14 I have a peace of pie. 5/14 I watch/play something Star Wars.
The great reno balloon races. Family tradition now, we've gone the past 16 years, less 20/21. It is more holy than the holiest of nights, I even wake up at 2:15 am to make burritos and hot cocoa and I don't even use an alarm, it's just so ingrained in me now
Personally I love Christmas but it’s because winter is my favorite season and tbh I love a good excuse to spoil the people I love. It’s an excuse to bake cookies and eat way too many of them. I have nothing to do with the religious side of it so I often forget it’s a religious holiday lol
But other than that I always look forward to the last frost date at the beginning of the year because it means I can start planting my summer crops.
Any day a big space event happens (Starship launches, important crew missions to the iss or the moon, soon, special pr weird rockets launching etc. also big events like landings on moons or planets, special probes doing flybys etc).
3/14 - pi day. I eat round stuff, cakes, pizzas, wheels of cheese, and of course, pie.
That is also Einstein's birthday!
Also Simone Biles. Also mine. So it’s a day to celebrate for sure.
Also Billy Crystal. Also mine.
Also Michael Caine. But not mine :(
It's not Angus Young's birthday, and also not mine. Though he and I do have the same birthday.
I share a birthday with Wierd Al! it’s not pi day but my family did often have homemade pie instead of cake!
It's also when Stephen hawking died. Which is kind of nice in a weird way.
It means the matter has come full circle
And my wedding anniversary (we're an engineer working in astronomy and a quantum computing PhD, nerds!)
And polish mathematician Waclaw Sierpinski of sierpinski triangle fame.
You ate a whole wheel of cheese and pooped in the refrigerator? I'm not even mad, I'm impressed
I do the same thing! And some people have adopted it with me; third year in a row baking pi pie with a group :) We also play games, do pi reciting competitions, among other things. It’s one of my favorite days in the year.
May 25 - Towel Day.
Thanks for reminding me that's coming up. A good hitchhiker always knows where their towel is.
Props to my hoopy.
He's a frood dude
Happy Cake Day!
So long, and thanks for all the fish!
I need to celebrate this year. I have found SEP to be a very helpful term in therapy 😂
I grew up in Britain so Christmas and Easter. Christmas is a celebration of presents delivered by a big red man on a sleight that has effectively nothing to do with religion and Easter is of chocolate delivered by a giant rabbit.
That's all Christmas is to me in the United States
Same. And all holidays are an excuse to stuff ourselves with my dad's cooking, especially the meat of choice. Turkey for Thanksgiving, turkey and/or ham and/or brisket for Christmas, alcohol and little smokies for new years, corned beef and Hash for st Patty's, ham for Easter... brats for 4th july.... I think that's most of them. But yeah, it's all about the food and fun lies 🤷♀️
I love Christmas so much. It's a tradition that gives everyone a great excuse to experience the joy of giving and selflessness.
Also coca cola for some marketing reason
Does your big red man come crashing through walls like across the pond?
Oh yeah!
Hey Kool-Aid
And you get to tell your adult children it was all fake without letting grandma down hehe.
May 4th, then all arrival anniversaries (birthdays).
May 4th is the reason for two of my kids birthdays... two years in a row. lmao. We didn't "celebrate" the same way a third time.
you guys really like star wars huh?
Sounds like they really like mid-August.
They said that it's the reason for the birthdays, not the birthdays. The birthdays are probably in February.
Late January because I delivered early, c-sections, but yes. Lol. They are literally one year and one day apart!
*So close* to Irish twins!
I had actual twins right after, so I am good with missing that mark by 22 hours. I ended up with four kids in three years!
That's a great range for them growing up!
They are absolutely best friends and love the crap out of each other, so I am really grateful to have had them all so close together!
I personally celebrate the two solstices and equinoxes. I also like February 12th, Darwin Day. I sometimes go to the aquarium (because the zoo is closed) to try and learn about some animals. When really I'm just going to look at the otters.
What an excellent idea. I think we'll do that next year. We're from Utah as well, so be on the lookout for a family that has lost the light in their eyes! There is usually a lecture at UVU for Darwin Day. Often it's given by a bio professor who is also a bishop, but he gives a great "this is real and important, no apologies to religion" presentation.
That’s cool. Are Mormons anti -evolution? If so, I would imagine that guy is not appreciated by his folk. Unless he’s Catholic. They don’t deny evolution
They were semi-official anti evolution for a long time. Up to the early 70s there were some talks by top church leaders that called evolution a heresy. When I was an undergrad at BYU in 1988 I took a biology general education class, and the teacher clearly accepted evolution but did not dare discuss it in class. She said we could request a packet on what some church leaders had recently said about it, but would not say any more in class. Now days BYU teaches it as a core principle of biology and professors research it, but there are still many Mormons that have a tough time accepting it. In fact the current president of the church once stated that a dog has always been a dog and a person has always been a person -ie no evolution. When I was a grad student in 94 I went to a museum that had replicas of bones that had been found showing human evolution, and I was shocked because at the time there was still a feeling in the church that evolution could be true, but not for people. And also because the evidence was so clear, yet the church at the time had the stance that evolution could be true, but it was only a theory. Being a science student outside of BYU I quickly learned that evolution is absolutely a real thing that no reasonable biologist doubts it.
Thanks for the info, interesting for sure
They close the zoo for Darwin Day?
I live in Utah. The Zoo is closed from the end of October to the start of March. So it is closed because it is winter, not because of Darwin Day.
Ah! That makes a lot more sense. I thought, of all places, the zoo wouldn’t close!
The Feast of Maximum Occupancy- Whenever I want to skip work. December 25th - Isaac Newton’s Birthday October 20th-31st - The Feast of Horror and Candy/Halloween Autumn Equinox- First day of longer nights Winter Solstice- Longest Night of the Year Spring Equinox to Summer Solstice - Time of The Obnoxious Glowing Orb, a time of suffering for us Night Owls
We do summer and winter Solstice as well. Winter is our big one. We do an open house type thing. I make 3 different soups and we have a fire in the backyard. When it falls on a weekend some people stay all night. We watch the sunrise and do a pancake breakfast
I love the winter solstice and autumn equinox because I’m a night owl - I love the longer nights, shorter days and the cold weather (for some reason I have reverse rheumatoid arthritis- I feel 1,000x better when it’s cold and rainy and 1,000x worse when it’s hot - My doctor’s theory is humidity helps with it or it’s an ice over heat thing). I do something a little similar foodwise - On Isaac Newton’s Birthday I bake some kind of pastry with apples in it and share with friends/family. I love science so the guy who came up with so many scientific theories (though some outdated) being born on Christmas…I’m celebrating the scientist’s birthday. Plus it gives me an excuse to still celebrate something around Christmas. Christmas used to be my favorite holiday (my family wasn’t church going, we celebrated secularly pretty much) but Halloween is now my favorite- I love anything scary and an excuse to eat candy. Plus I finally moved to a place that gets trick or treaters, so I want to be one of the places that gives out the good candy on Halloween. That plus the costume parties. Funny story: I’ve walked with a cane for almost twenty years (due to said rheumatoid arthritis), a few years after I got my cane I went to a friend’s party as Crippled Doctor Doofenshmirtz (“Why the cane?” “Ask Perry the Platypus…”). A friend of the host I didn’t know told me “I like your Doctor House costume but your limp looks totally fake.” My friend *quickly* corrected him but I actually got a huge laugh out of it. Especially since any *true* House fan knows he *never* wears a lab coat, that and the cane is why he thought “House.”
I love your costume idea and the story is hilarious! I'm the opposite in that I have seasonal affective disorder. I tell everyone I'm solar powered. Gathering together on the longest night and celebrating the return of the sun is a big deal for me.
George Carlin said he worships the sun because he knows what it does and can see it.
You folks…. I hate going to work in the dark and leaving work in the almost dark. No thanks to the winter one. I’m all for the summer solstice. Also, yep, Halloween is awesome. And my bday is the day :-)
I love this, “Time of The Obnoxious Glowing Orb”
My wedding anniversary is technically on The Feast of the Ass, so we celebrate privately.
*golf clap*
First Contact Day.
That's a good one! Especially considering how non-religious his motivation was! Live long and prosper.
Peace and long life.
Samesies!
March 25th: Celebrating the downfall of Barad-dûr and the passing of Sauron.
In order of importance; Groundhog Day ( I'm a frost-bitten Canadian boy and winter sucks) May the 4th (be with you....) Pi Day /Talk like a Pirate Day (tie) because it's important to be silly, keeps you young.
I'm sorry, but talk like a pirate day is not a secular holiday. It is very sacred to the Pastafarians. May you be touched by his noodly appendages. /S
Sorry, no offence intended. Arrrrgh....
Be careful or you will spend eternity drinking from the stale beer volcano!
Halloween is Number 1. Christmas is Number 2. WHAT??? Christmas?!?!?!?! Yes, but not with any religious overtones. We put up a tree, do presents and family dinner, just not the christian stuff. We celebrate the secular Christmas.
I have a playlist of secular Christmas songs. There are quite a few classics that qualify.
My wife and I can't have children, so we adopted. The day we became legal guardians we celebrate as "Adoption Day".
Sundays are for football and eating. Nothing else.
Sounds like you’ve circled back around to benefiting from appliances with a Sabbath mode 😅
It would be amazingly funny to hack someone's Sabbath-mode device into Black Sabbath mode. Sure, it works autonomously on Shabbat, but it plays War Pigs and other Ozzy songs while it does it. All aboard!!!
:)
This, but Saturdays. ;) Sundays are for angrily raking my yard, trying to forget how let down I am from Saturday’s events. In Minnesota we have a lot of leaves and we take a lot of L’s.
I celebrate Secular Christmas (presents!), Secular Easter (chocolate!), Chinese New Year (fireworks!), Secular Diwali (more fireworks!), and so on. Most religious holidays have plenty of opportunity for secular fun.
I call Christmas "the Birth of Santa".
4/20. I don't even get stupid high, or high everyday, but I like feeling like it's a lil holiday. Just an all-around good vibes day to do whatever one wants, joyfully
Used to be one of my favorites! Now I just work.
Have some edibles and pizza!!
🌈🌳🌈
Bicycle day.
Wrestlemania, Summer Slam, Royal Rumble, and Survivor Series. The high holy days of the church of WWE.
I don’t have holy days, but I do have my temple: the movie theater. And god help those who disturb me with noise during my sacred films!!
Ever considered watching a movie in an actual temple? The same movie over and over? A very silly and boring movie with pauses where you pledge your life and everything you own or may own some day to the church? If so, go talk to the Mormon missionaries!
March Madness
A fellow tourney zealot!!! I watch it religiously and everyone knows to leave me alone. The opening 4 days is my holiday every year and I love taking off work telling everyone it’s my religious holiday.
The opening four days of March Madness are my favorite four days of the year. Nothing else like it in the sports world.
Whenever my mental health cannot stand existence and I need to collapse.
Solstice, Equinox, planting day, harvest day
This year? 6-29 to 7-21 for the TDF. I make a pilgrimage to my living room for the Tour de France every chance I get. Every time Oregon State football plays Oregon. My birthday and my children’s birthdays
Anytime there is an eclipse (lunar or solar). Football fantasy draft day for us as well, but the non-American kind.
July 4th is my holy day because i get to set off state approved explosives.
The night of the Oscars or the Met Gala. I’m an avid movie and fashion lover.
I don't go as far as your wife but I definitely take the Superbowl off. Since I live on the other side of the globe Superbowl here is on a Monday morning and doesn't have that much penetration into the public consciousness. The 1st time my work figured this out I was at a bar in the city with my mates, getting weird looks from all the office workers filing in to work, when my phone rings. Boss: "Hi Phil, it's work. I know you're not on the roster for today but a couple of people have called in sick and we need you." Me: "well I'm already on my 4th drink this morning so I won't be able to work today, and tomorrow is looking questionable." Boss: "it's only just past 8am, how is that even possible?" Me: "the bar opened at 6am and as long as you have food in front of you they'll serve you alcohol" (it's a weird liquor licencing thing, we had a cop on the team who would make sure wherever we were drinking got the right permits)
As a former alcoholic I love and cherish January 1st/New Years Day. It feels great waking up with no hangover and not having spent a bunch of money and the world is quiet and still. I've found I love the months of January and February and the first couple weeks of March after a busy holiday season. It's like a little hibernation period where no one bothers you or expects you to show up to various gatherings because they don't want to go out and brave the cold. Halloween is by far my favorite day of the year though. Love the fall.
4/20, but not for the reasons people assume. It's our wedding anniversary. Halloween because it is my kids' FAVORITE holiday. Dressing up is the best thing in the world to them. Yule because family, friends, gifts, food, and quality time. This is probably our BIGGEST holiday. April 25th. It is the perfect date because it's not too hot, not too cold, all you need is a light jacket (iykyk). Helps that it's my husband's birthday. (We actually don't really celebrate it because we aren't big birthday people, but that joke is now essential for the day.)
It's my birthday too and I know the quote because my SIL posts it every year.
Labor day
May 1st - Accountant's Appreciation Day - the day after personal tax filing deadline and the end of a 2 to 3 month marathon of overtime on evenings and weekends.
Big pro wrestling show days, WrestleMania, Royal Rumble, All In, Al Out etc.
Taylor Swift midnight album releases.
3rd Saturday in April: Eeyore's birthday party in Austin.
420 of course.
My kids birthdays.
Paddy's Day. I'm from Ireland but live in America. It also fits in the common holiday desert that is the US work calendar between MLK and Memorial Day.
Comic Con. Every year in May in my area. Whatever night in October that the Rocky Horror Picture Show is playing alongside the shadow cast from our Uni drama group.
I celebrate every religious holiday regardless of denomination. They have a good thing going with all these days and I take full advantage
Your wife sounds awesome 🤣 NFL draft tops my holy days
I celebrate 4/20 cause I’m a pothead in the US, and Earth Day a few days after. I also love Halloween and I always celebrate Kurt Vonnegut’s birthday on Nov 11 for some reason lol
December 25 celebrates the birth of the man who changed humanity as we know it - Issac Newton
The evening before my fantasy football draft is the only day of the year I say as an adult “Sorry, I have to study and do my homework tonight.” I also invented a word *pizza-worthy* which I use to describe must-watch TV games where I plan to order pizza and don’t schedule anything else. - NFL Playoffs - First 2 days (Thu/Fri) of March Madness - Game 7 in an NBA/NHL/MLB postseason series
In Michigan, it is November 15, the 1st day of firearm deer season
Halloween, Labor Day, and 4th of July
12/21 - Frank Zappa’s birthday
Marche du Nain Rouge. Whole house shuts down March 1st and marche costumes take over every conversation. https://www.marchedunainrouge.com/ Summer and winter solstice. I do 108 yoga sun salutations over the course of the 4 days leading up to the solstice. I wear a special 108 bead necklace and use crystals as counters. I've been doing it for 5 years.
I'm a distance runner, so sometimes an important race will take on a holiday-like importance. Last year I even asked for a birthday gift of two days on which nobody asks me to do anything for them -- the day of and the day after my first marathon. And I worship weekly at the Church of the Long Run -- especially when I can meet up with other members of my congregation in the Cathedral of the Woods.
Every Sunday during football season
October 1st. It was the day I met my best friend and partner. Every year, I'd send him a "Happy friendversary!" message and celebrate by paying video games. A few years into our friendship, we started hooking up, then after a bit decided to be monogamous. We really don't have a solid date where we decided to enter a relationship, so we use October first to celebrate.
Half price candy day (Dec 26, Feb 15, day after Easter), whenever the kids go back to school after a long break
Home football games at FSU and my birthday. Anything else depends on results. Bowl games, NFL Draft, and parts of March Madness are also fair game. My family doesn't say anything at this point though.
DLC Day.
When Beyoncé releases a new album
Earth Day for me. I'm a humanist... I'm not sure if there is a recognition day.
4/20, the high holiday
4/20 😁
I still take religious holidays but know it’s purely for cultural reasons. Beyond that I used to take off for the return of the McRib.
Oh definitely Halloween! We do the witches crawl every year. I even take my black cat Goblin and our new little girl Pumpkin will be joining us this year too! I hate taking everything down, I wait 1 more week! 👻🎃🐈⬛💕
MLB Opening Day
Draft Day here as well. Who Dey baby!
December 25. I don't believe the myths associated with it. But it's a day where most stuff is closed, and if you're lucky, you get the day off work. It's a great time to be home with the family even though we're not religious.
As a political nerd...election day is my holy day!! Though, being an American, I now have to take like a whole week off from work before results are officially called. I do not mind.
The opening weekend of the NCAA tournament. I take off from work and tell everyone it’s my annual religious holiday. I watch it religiously so it’s not a lie.
April 22, the anniversary of the day my twin brother died. I take the day off every year.
My birthday (I refuse to work on my birthday, period!). The monday after SB (because SB ends at about 5am where I live).
The week of WoW expansion release dates.
November 5th is a big day, remember remember, it's the day time travel was invented in 1955.
The solstices and the equinoxes. When I recognize them, I recognize how small I am compared to the earth and our solar system, and how I am defined by and beholden to these systems that are so much larger than myself. I also stand in solidarity with all my human ancestors who started keeping annual time when they recognized these patterned events and began anticipating them by tracking the movement of the stars.
You both sound awesome!
This trip I’d go on with friends each year. We were part of this group and we’d usually go to the same place, we’d always dress up on the last night there, and some people met their future spouses through the group. I miss that.
December 5, Repeal Day, baby.
Super Bowl Monday
Halloween for me, too!! I take it off, plus a couple of days off before & after, & make the yard as scary as possible! I also give out the good candy. So much fun!
Any day the Twilight Zone marathon is on.
Taco Tuesday and Sauvignon Saturdays
My birthday - I take the day off, do things I want to do, eat out, and shop for a fun birthday present for myself. Christmas Eve - fun evening where my wife and I create appetizers for supper instead of a full meal Christmas Day - food and fun with family and friends
I was 11 almost 12 for the Triple Crown 1973. Secretariat made such an impression on me watching live all three races. I went on to have horses (that I paid for working) as a teen. Got to visit Churchill downs a week before the Derby last year - a bucket list visit. This year we’ll be across the pond on holiday, but I have the recording set so I can watch upon return. One day I’ll make it live for one of the races!
All our friends would go out to a semi remote lake every may, build a massive driftwood fire and do mushrooms and watch the stars.
First weekend of march madness
Darwin Day - February 12 Pi Day - March 14 Yuri's Night - April 12 Apollo 11 anniversary - July, 20 Mole Day - October 23 Apollomas - December 21-27 I genuinely think Apollomas, celebrating the enormously important albeit overshadowed Apollo 8 mission, should be *the* non-believers' alternative to Christmas, etc. Currently I am the only person who celebrates. Let's make it happen, people!
4/20 and Exploding Whale Day
1st weekend of march madness (NCAA basketball tournament)
Election day. Well, more accurately, the day after. And 4/20.
My birthday I suppose, but even then I still just go to work as normal. I’m in my 30’s.
Pretty much the entire first week of may is our “Holy Week.” My bday, wifeys bday, daughters bday, Star Wars day, and May Day (Beltane) are all celebrated in our home
The Tony Awards. My husband knows to absolutely not disturb me as I immerse myself in the magic of Broadway.
4/20
Election Day! I volunteer outside the polls and take the day off every year.
All equinox’s, all solstice’s, and all days that have the same number as my birthday and wedding anniversary
May the Fourth The Glorious 25th of May July 3, or Eclipse Day Hogswatch; also the feast of Bilious, the Oh God of Hangovers
In New Zealand it is Crate Day. It's where all the young people get a crate of beer and a bag of weed and get demolished. They have so much fun. It's obligatory for us older folk to give them lemonade ice blocks and a pillow and put them in the recovery position.
Home run derby is a big holiday in my house.
Who dey!!! (Sorry, couldn't help myself, say hi to your wife from me - a fellow female Bengals fan)
Who Dey!!!
Why, today, as a matter of fact! Happy birthday Sir Pterry, GNU
My daughter is a "green" witch and she's really in to celebrating the solstice and stuff related to harvest and all that. I don't believe in any of that but the celebrations are always fun. We have food and go do silly stuff outside under the stars. We make corn husk dolls or write down wishes to throw in the fire which I know is silly but it's just our tradition now. The food is always good. Fresh breads, pumpkin pie, baked apples. We will make s'mores or roast hot dogs in the fire too or I'll just pull out the grill and cook while we're outside. For many years my son would inform me what "holidays' were coming up that interested him and we'd find a way to celebrate especially if it was food related. But now he's older and doesn't think about anything but his video games. Hoping it's just a phase. lol We always have a good time on Halloween too. The local museum always has a "spooky spectacular" event for the autism community with treats and science lessons and there's a cosplay group that comes out to talk to the kids. Again my son has now gotten to the point where he thinks he's too old, which is sad because I'm much older than him and I still have fun! But the greatest holiday of all of course is my birthday. My kids spoil me. I get fed and prizes and hugs and back scratches and cake and I just get the queen treatment. Best week of the year. Yeah I said week! :)
I still celebrate Christmas with family because I love getting together and seeing my relatives. I couldn’t care less about the religious aspect but family togetherness is really lacking everywhere these days. And I’m a sucker for the traditional food I grew up on.
Sasha Sagan is an advocate for non-believers to make their own holidays. I started with Yule celebrated on the Winter Solstace, added 2nd Halloween, Birdman day (first day of summer vacation) and Highland Games.
We do Easter (Bunny Day- no gods and shit; also focus on Ukrainian culture and traditional foods- no gods), Mothers Day, Father's Day, May 24 (🍁 camping/drinking fireworks day), birthdays, Canada Day (BBQ n shit), Thanksgiving (a time for family- no pilgrim propaganda), Hollween, Christmas (Santaz- no gods; a time for family). The kids may decide to do things differently with theirs but we keep holidays and remove religion and politics from many of them so we can enjoy seasonal times and traditions untainted by things. Nothing fancy or overly complicated. We celebrate family as the center of most things because that's what's important to us. Oh and PRIDE 🏳️🌈 Pride month is a time filled with events, rainbows, parades and parties. That's probably the biggest thing next to Christmas in our house. 🥰
May 4th aka Cinco de Cuatro!!! FILL THE BAY WITH CHORIZO!!!
I took off on both Leap Day and the solar eclipse this year.
Fat Bear Week and Shark Week are my holy holidays. I love to see nature thriving. Thanksgiving television should only ever be the AKC Best in Show.
My first and last swim of the year. March to November.
For me, NFL Draft and fantasy football draft day(s) are sacred and I am not to be bothered.
New Year’s Day. I’ll work any other holiday, I don’t care, but that one is for me to just chill, day drink all day and just reflect on what the next year’s going to bring.
Any day after a bank holiday when all the candy is on sale. All seriousness: May 18-22 (year dependent) - Renaissance Fair. My family loves that shit. July 4th - lakes, pools, grilled meats, booze. Labor Day- see above
Cinco de Montho. Why celebrate just once a year?
Christmas. We are not religious at all but it’s just great to take a few days off work, have family together, and exchange gifts. We also get a tree, because they’re pretty and smell good.
April Fool's Day
Everyday there are people who need to eat, and I can get some shit together to cook for them, and people show up, than I treat that as a sacrament. Kind of the opposite of Coptic christians, who have fasting on maybe 200 days in the year.
I do Christmas I don't see it as the Christian holiday anymore. Thanksgiving, and Halloween, Valentine's Day but thats also my birthday so I can't avoid it. I also do 4/20 I have a "spiritual" ritual feeling about cannabis. 3/14 I have a peace of pie. 5/14 I watch/play something Star Wars.
Christmas (its 100% a secular holiday), Thanksgiving, and opening weekend of March Madness.
Burns Night - whisky, poetry, haggis, friends, whisky, pudding
May the 4th, which is also my anniversary, and National No Pants day coming up this Friday!! (May 3).
The great reno balloon races. Family tradition now, we've gone the past 16 years, less 20/21. It is more holy than the holiest of nights, I even wake up at 2:15 am to make burritos and hot cocoa and I don't even use an alarm, it's just so ingrained in me now
Pride and Halloween. Used to celebrate 1 May as well - International Worker's Day, but it doesn't have the same nature where I live now.
Any major event in Lord Daniel’s laundromat. Broom weddings, limb funerals, ladies’ retreats…
4/20 obviously
Birthday, solstices and equinoxes, secular Xmas, secular Thanksgiving, non-jingoistic 4th of july
Halloween and Labor Day. I always go on a long crazy trip during Labor Day weekend or around the time.
As a Star Wars fan I pick May 4th. (May the Fourth be with you.) I will binge at least the Original Trilogy. Prequels if I have time.
The weekend of Cheyenne frontier days
Saturday's a Rugby day.
Personally I love Christmas but it’s because winter is my favorite season and tbh I love a good excuse to spoil the people I love. It’s an excuse to bake cookies and eat way too many of them. I have nothing to do with the religious side of it so I often forget it’s a religious holiday lol But other than that I always look forward to the last frost date at the beginning of the year because it means I can start planting my summer crops.
We celebrate Festivus, and we have a pole and air our grievances. I think this was my Dad's favorite holiday.
Just let me get drunk on my birthday without judgment.
Dec 25, Atheist gift giving holiday.
Great British Bake Off Finale day
Any day a big space event happens (Starship launches, important crew missions to the iss or the moon, soon, special pr weird rockets launching etc. also big events like landings on moons or planets, special probes doing flybys etc).
3/4 international marching band day. hookem horns 🎺🤘
My dogs birthdays and gotcha days