Tuesday, October 7th is National LED Light Day. Now, I know that probably sounds made up, but I promise it’s real. In fact, there are a ton of obscure and seemingly random “national holidays” that actually get a lot of attention. Like, did you know that National Pickle Day is on November 14th?  Or that National “Take a Wild Guess” Day is April 15th? There is a whole list of these holidays! So, ever curious, I wondered why and how all of these exist. What does it take to declare a National Holiday? Could someone like you or me simply decide to create a new one? And who is doing this?! 

The answers to these burning questions lay below. 

How Do You Declare a Holiday? 

Now, to declare a Federal holiday, you would need to petition congress to pass a law establishing it, which is then signed by the President. Presidents can also declare one-time federal holidays via executive order, usually for specific occasions like a former president's funeral. 

However, to create your own unique holiday or a day of observance for a cause or brand, you can register it with websites like National Day Calendar, which recognizes and shares these days with the public. This website also has great search tools to allow you to find what National Holidays already exist so you can celebrate them, Plus, this tool can also help you figure out if the new holiday you want to create already exists.  

The Origin of National LED Light Day 

As I mentioned, National LED Light Day is observed on October 7—the same day Isamu Akasaki, Hiroshi Amano, and Shuji Nakamura received the Nobel Prize in Physics for the development of blue light-emitting diodes. The holiday itself was first recognized by an LED developing company called Bridgelux in 2016, who submitted the holiday to the National Day Archives. And while it isn’t a federally recognized holiday, National LED Light Day is celebrated across a handful of websites and, of course, by LED manufacturers/suppliers.  

The goal of the holiday was to celebrate the creation of LED lights, how they are used in everyday life, as well as the numerous advantages that LED lights can have on the environment.  

The Most Popular (and strangest) National Holidays  

National Margarita Day | February 22nd  

Lots of people love margaritas, (a cocktail consisting of tequila, triple sec, and either lime or lemon juice). It is not certain when the classic margarita was invented, but it is believed to have been sometime in the 1930’s or 1940’s. Today, the margarita is the most common tequila-based cocktail in the U.S. The margarita rose in popularity partly due to the 1977 Jimmy Buffett song “Margaritaville.” 

No one really knows who the creator of this holiday is, as many bartenders claim to be the inventor. One of the most well-known is a gentleman named Todd McCalla, who claims to have founded National Margarita Day to spread his love for margaritas around the world. He has his own website dedicated to this special day. The wild thing is, he isn’t even a bartender.  

National Dishwasher Appreciation Day | March 9th  

You’d think that this is a holiday to celebrate dishwashers—the machine. But actually, this day is for saying thanks to the human dishwashers that clean up after us, both in restaurants and at home! The National Day archives says that doing the dishes is often ranked high as one of the least favorite chores in American households, which I guess is why we have a holiday for them. 

No one knows who invented this holiday, but my guess is that it was invented by a spouse somewhere who was feeling underappreciated for doing the dishes every day and was trying to garner some praise.  

National “Create a New National Day” Day | June 21st  

This holiday is a little on the nose, but it gets the point across. Created by the National Day Archives, the day is meant to shine a light on how easy it is to declare a holiday for yourself. The website walks you through the process, which is quite simple. There is a registration fee and verification process to ensure that your new day complies with the terms and conditions, but once processed, your new day will appear on the National Day Archives website.  

National Dog Day | August 26th  

Arguably, the most important day of the year—aside from National LED Light Day of course. National Dog Day was created by Pet & Family Lifestyle Expert by the title “Ms. Paige.” According to Ms. Paige, it was developed to bring attention to the value of dogs and to encourage the adoption of dogs.  

“There are one million dogs a year that are put down at shelters in the U.S. while waiting for adoption,” the founder explains. There are many other national days relating to dogs. In fact, National Day Archives has a separate category just for dogs. Some of these include: National Boop Your Dog Day, National Mutt Day, and Thankful for My Dog Day. Oddly enough, the only two breed specific dog days are National Welsh Corgi Day, and National Bulldog Day. 

National Coffee Day | September 29th  

National Coffee Day was first celebrated in about 2005, but it did not take off as a holiday until September 29, 2009, declared by the Southern Food and Beverage Museum in New Orleans. The day was marked as a holiday to kick off the inaugural New Orleans Coffee Festival. 

According to the National Coffee Association, Americans consume around 400-517 million cups of coffee daily, with 66% of adults drinking coffee each day and an average of about 3 cups per coffee-drinker. This is roughly 164 billion cups per year. I guess it’s easy to see why there is a holiday for this drink.  

Celebrate Every Day 

According to the National Day Archives, there is at least one holiday that falls on each day of the calendar year. You could probably find a reason to celebrate something every day if you wanted to. And who knows, maybe we’ll kick off National Sunco Day soon to give you something else to celebrate.  

In the meantime, October 7th will stick as the day to celebrate Sunco and all of the ways in which LEDs can make life better. You can also celebrate by snagging some LED recessed lights for your home or LED panel lights for your office.