On This Day: December 6th … Strange Holidays
Put On Your Own Shoes Day
Bartender Appreciation Day
Mitten Tree Day
St. Nicholas Day
Microwave Oven Day
National Pawnbroker’s Day
Miner’s Day
National Gazpacho Day
Alrighty, we had a day wear we only wear brown shoes, and it looks like a video needs to be made to teach people how to put on their own shoes. I would really not want to see a size 9 struggling to get into a size 6 or a man with a triple=wide foot trying to put on a pair of stiletto heels (unless that’s his fetish). The video would be short, simply saying, “You put each foot into a shoe and ties the laces. After you do that, go to the bar, have a drink, and tell the bartender he/she is a great person. After which, on the way home, stop at a store and buy a Hungry Man dinner, put it in the microwave and call it a day.”
With that out of the way, I shall move on.
National Gazpacho Day
If you like your soup chilled then Gazpacho is for you. It’s a flavorful soup that cooks serve cold. Gazpacho is typically a tomato-based vegetable soup. Originating in the southern Spanish region of Andalucía, Gazpacho is widely consumed in Spanish cuisine, usually during the summer months.
The original Spanish recipe includes stale bread, tomato, cucumber, bell pepper, onion, and garlic. Other ingredients include olive oil, wine, vinegar, water, and salt.
Following is the typical method of preparing gazpacho:
Washing vegetables
Peeling tomatoes, garlic, and onions.
Chop all vegetables (traditionally pounded with mortar) and process in a food processor.
Add the soaked bread.
Blend part of the processed contents until liquid, depending on desired consistency.
Blend in chilled water, olive oil, vinegar, and salt to taste.
Add remaining processed ingredients.
Garnish as desired.
Mitten Tree Day
First things first—no, you do not decorate your tree with mittens. If you do, see a doctor to get whatever is wrong with you—fixed. This is geared to the young kids.
Mittens, we have all used them in our lives, some of us probably still do. They are our favorite things to use when making snowballs or making a snowman. They keep our hands warm from the cold and crunchy snow that we pick up and throw at each other, and are a good way to make sure our hands are colorful against the bright whiteness of the snowy ground.
Created by school teachers as a way to have a fun Christmastime activity for the children to make while they were in school. Others would claim that the holiday was created because of a book with the title “The Mitten Tree” which was written by author Candace Christiansen, in the book the main character Sarah is bundling up to walk through the cold winter weather, and on her trek she sees a group of children placing their mittens on a small dead tree.
No matter where the origin for the holiday came from, children will always enjoy making little mitten trees. But what about mittens? Where do they come from?
Mitten is derived from the Old French word mitaines; which was an old pet name for a cat, because back then mittens were made of animal fur.
The earliest mittens known to man date back to around the year 1000 A.D. and originally were used as sheaths for gloves since mittens did not have any separate finger openings to allow finger mobility. They were believed to have been made out of wool due to the discovery of a woolen mitten found in the harbor area of Dorestad in the Netherlands, determined to be from the 8th or 9th century AD based on surrounding archaeological evidence.
St. Nicholas Day
There really was a Christian Saint Nicholas. He lived in the country of Greece, just a couple hundred years after the birth of Christ. This day is in honor of Saint Nicholas and his life.
Saint Nicholas became a priest, and later, a Bishop of the early Catholic Church. True to the Christian concept of giving up belongings and following Christ, St. Nicholas gave up all of his belongings. He was well known for giving to needy people, especially children.
There are many stories and tales of him helping out children in need.
The practice of hanging up stockings originated with Saint Nicholas. As the ancient legend goes, Saint Nicholas was known to throw small bags of gold coins into the open windows of poor homes. After one bag of gold fell into the stocking of a child, news got around. Children soon began hanging their stocking by their chimneys "in hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there."
It wasn't until the 1800's that the spirit of St. Nicholas' life evolved into the creation of Santa Claus. This happened in America. Santa Claus emerged (or evolved) from the stories and legends of St. Nicholas. Santa Claus was kind and generous to children. Unlike "St. Nick", Santa Claus is largely a non-religious character.
But you know something? If dear old Santa would lay off the pork rinds and greasy food, and start doing the Jenny Craig diet, he wouldn’t complain so much about getting stuck when going down or up the chimney.
More strange holidays are coming!