On This Day: February 25th … Strange Holidays
Pistol Patent Day
Tolkien Reading Day
Waffle Day
National Clam Chowder Day
National Chocolate Covered Nut Day
National Chili Day
National Toast Day
This getting to be like a roller-coaster ride. One day not enough, the next, too many. Up. Down. Up. Down. Only going to do three of these as I don’t think toast day refers to actual toast, but I could be wrong, but we’ll find out. And what self-respecting, gun-toting hunter wouldn’t have a license since the patent on the pistol came to be, I just don’t think the wording, “this patent allows people to walk around with an AK Assault rifle at will” was in the patent. And lastly, Tolkien, who happens to be in my top ten author list. And here we go.
National Toast Day
So once again, I am proven wrong. This actually is about toast and not toasting someone.
This holiday was first celebrated in 2014. It was created by the Tiptree World Bread Awards in the U.K that year but has since spread around the world. Now people all over the world, including the United States, celebrate this holiday dedicated to toasted bread.
Toasting bread is such a simple concept, that it’s almost impossible to put a finger on a particular day on the calendar and say that day was when toast was invented. After all, bread is approximately 8,000 years old, and we’re sure that many people over those thousands of years have toasted their bread over a fire.
So we’re going to have to turn to the written record and use that as the historical starting point for toast. And the first written reference to toast appears in a recipe for stewed onions stewed in stale beer and oil. This recipe was called Oyle Soppys and it was printed in 1430. In this recipe, it was recommended that this soup be served with toasted bread that has been cut up. Okay, that might be more like croutons, but we can count it as toast anyway.
Here is a link for an Oyle Soppys recipe: Ingredients are near the end of the page. The above picture is what it looks like.
http://giveitforth.blogspot.com/2015/12/harleian-ms-279-oyle-soppys-oil-sopps.html
A few quick tidbits on toast.
Approximately 75 million Americans are believed to eat toast every day.
The first electric toaster was invented back in 1905. This toaster was called El Tosto.
The first automatic toaster was invented in 1926. It was called the Toastmaster One-A-One.
The word toast comes from the “Tostare” a Latin word that unsurprisingly means “To Toast.”
Pistol Patent Day
Samuel Colt invented the revolver, a pistol with multiple chambers for bullets. He patented this gun in Europe in 1835, and in the United States in 1836.
In order to get a pistol patent, you must have a new design for a gun. Pull out your pistols from your locked gun safe, and examine them closely. Is there some way they could be improved, or altered? I'm sure you can quickly whip up an original design for a pistol, and lay down the permit application fees and such, right? If not, how can you participate in this day? .... Of that, all I can say is contact your local county registrar’s office,
Maybe you could create a gun that responds like Siri does, on command. “Load. Cock hammer. Fire. No! Not at me, you idiot!“
Tolkien Reading Day
If you have never read him, try starting now for you will be taken to places never before imagined. This is fantasy at its very finest that not even Harry Potter could surpass (my own opinion and I did like the series).
J.R.R. (John Ronald Reuel) Tolkien was an English writer, poet, philologist (study of languages), and university professor. He was best known as the author of the classic works: The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, The Silmarrillion, Roverandom, and Farmer Giles of Ham.
However, he has published more than 30 books, several posthumously. The author has sold more than 150 million copies of The Lord of the Rings trilogy and that number continues to grow.
Today encourages you to explore the writings of J.R.R. Tolkien and learn more about the author, and the fabulous worlds he created. With over 30 published works, he had a lot to say and not just about hobbits, though many are on medieval order.
The Tolkien Society created this observance in 2003 to encourage the readings of J.R.R. Tolkien. They chose this date because it matches the fall of Sauron in Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings.
More strange holidays are coming!