Many people are aware of the trendy “National Days,” such as National Girlfriend Appreciation Day, National Black Cat Awareness Day and National Donut Day, but they are oblivious to the mindlessness that many of these unofficial holidays represent.

Take the September national days, for instance. The month blasted off with National Acne Positivity Day, National Hotel Employee Day and National College Colors Day, then hit a rock when much more concerning holidays were thrown into the mix, like National Felt Hat Day, National Ants on a Log Day and National Chicken Boy’s Day. Oh, and we cannot forget about National Rhyme (Nor Reason) Day and no, that was not an intended pun, it is the actual holiday’s name. 

Though years back, a few unofficial holidays like National Ice Cream Day might have been fun, the concept has been blown out of proportion in today’s world. The list of these silly, and most of the time meaningless, days goes on and on. It is surprising that no one genuinely wonders about who comes up with them to begin with.

Marlo Anderson started the National Days Calendar, which was originally a blog about potential national holidays. At the bottom of the automated email, it is signed “Smiles, Marlo Anderson. Founder, National Day Calendar.” He describes himself as a serial entrepreneur, which is quite accurate being that he has whipped up an abundance of miscellaneous days for all to celebrate from scratch. 

Some have argued that these unofficial holidays have made all the difference because they give everyone something to look forward to each day and also make the outspoken feel included. They are also heavily used as a marketing technique. For example, specific authors who write about censorship are releasing new books during Banned Books Week, Sept. 12 through 18, at their advantage. McDonald’s is advertising Sept. 18 as National Cheeseburger Day where they will be giving away free cheeseburgers with customer purchases, too. This is similar to the well-known free donuts given out by Dunkin’ on National Donut Day.

This all may be true. However, now we are talking about big wig companies using national days to their own greedy advantage. The number of national days that are nothing but a mere joke outweighs those which actually matter, as well. 

I am not sure about you, but I will not be celebrating National Fried Rice Day on Sept. 20. However, I may do something for National Voter Registration Day on that same date. Awareness months are more meaningful than National Days, but that is a story for another time. 

If only we could have come up with such silly ideas, then we could be sitting in a pool of money as we add something like “National Hotdog Day” to the calendar, instead of borrowing an obscure amount of loans from the government to pursue a degree and eat ramen noodles while we study our nights away.

Many people are aware of the popular “National Days,” but they are often unaware of the foolishness that many of these unofficial holidays represent.