All - Leep Calendar

National Puzzle Day in the United Kingdom and the United States celebrates brain teasers. It's an opportunity to test your wit at problem-solving intellectually or spatially. Riddles have been around for thousands of years and can be found in every major world culture. The first commercially produced puzzle was a jigsaw puzzle created in 1767 and was map cut into pieces. Today, puzzles can be physical (like jigsaw puzzles or rubric cubes), written such as crosswords, Sudoku, and riddles, or electronic such as apps or games.

Africa

Jan

Sankashti Chaturthi (H): January 29

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In the Hindu faith, Chaturthi celebrates Lord Ganesha. Sankashti Chaturthi (Sankata Chaturthi) on the fourth day of Krishna Paksha (the dark lunar phase or the waning phase of the moon). If this Chaturthi falls on a Tuesday, it is called Angarki Sankashti Chaturthi. Devotees observe strict fasting during daylight until darshan (the sight of the moon). Prayers precede the breaking of the fast to Lord Ganesha. PLEASE NOTE: We use the Indian civil calendar, the official holiday calendar in India. The Hindu faith has many calendars, each specific to different regions and tribes, with dates and celebrations marked by differing positions of the sun, moon, and stars. Names of months and holidays and the corresponding dates in the Gregorian Calendar may vary widely from one calendar to the next. Determine the proper calendar before attending local events.

Africa

Jan

Seeing Eye Dog Day, Ntl. (1929): January 29

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National Seeing-eye Dog Day celebrates seeing-eye dogs. This day marks the anniversary of the creation of The Seeing Eye on January 29, 1929, the organization that pioneered seeing-eye dogs. Usually seeing eye dogs are Labrador Retrievers, Golden Retrievers, or German Shepherds since these are some of the most intelligent breeds capable of complex training. Additionally, these breeds tend to be calm, focused, friendly, and loyal. Dogs have been companions of humans with disabilities since ancient Roman times, and there are records of dogs leading the blind during that era. The first attempt to train dogs as eyes for human beings occurred in Paris in 1780 at the school for the blind. In 1788 Josef Riesinger, blind himself, successfully trained his Spitz to be his helper in Vienna, Austria. Guide dogs for the blind didn't take off until 1927 when Dorothy Eustis published an article in the Saturday Evening Post about her efforts in training dogs for the blind. It was read to Morris Frank, himself blind. Together Eustis and Frank went to Switzerland and trained the first official seeing-eye dog, Buddy. They established a school in Switzerland to train more dogs in 1928. Buddy was introduced to The Seeing Eye in Morristown, New Jersey, in 1929, and from there, seeing-eye dogs grew in popularity and utility.

Africa

Jan

Bell, Let's Talk Day (CA): January 30

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Focused on mental illness, Bell—Let's Talk was created in 2010 to raise awareness about the millions of Canadians struggling with mental illness and remove the stigma of discussing it. Bell—Let's Talk is also a national fundraising event for Bell Canada and its work in mental health.

Africa

Jan

Comics Festival, Angouleme (FR): January 30 - February 2

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The largest comics show in Europe, Angouleme Comics Festival attracts over 200,000 enthusiasts each year. The event began in 1974. PLEASE NOTE: Treat all televised and venue-specific events (sporting, concerts, trade shows, etc.) as estimated. Several factors can cause an event to move dates at the last minute, including weather, strikes, natural disasters, political upheaval, conflicting programming, pandemics, and current events. Because of this, always verify the event with the promotor before committing resources. LEEP often estimates dates based on the previous year's schedules, as the final dates are only a few months, weeks, or days before the event. If the date is known to be estimated, you will see an (est) following the date in the title.

Africa

Jan

Croissant Day, Ntl.: January 30

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National Croissant Day celebrates the airy pastry called the croissant. A popular legend says croissants first appeared in 1683 in Austria. At that time, the Ottoman Empire besieged the city of Vienna, Austria. Vienna weathered the siege. Tall tales suggest they celebrated victory over the Islamic empire with crescent-shaped pastries. Why a crescent? It's the symbol of Islam—or is it? Here's the problem with that legend. The crescent and star were not associated with Islam until the late 1700s (18th century) when the Ottoman Empire emblazoned their flag with the symbol. Before that, Islam had no universal symbol like the cross or fish in Christianity. The Star of David, likewise, is not an ancient symbol for Judaism. The Zionist movement adopted the star at the turn of the 20th century to represent its Jewish nationalist political movement. Prior, the star was a common symbol in various ancient pagan faiths, often representing the union of a man and woman. Back to the star and crescent. The star and crescent exist on artifacts dating back to the Bronze Age (3300 BC to 1200 BC). It is found on Roman coins, on pagan temples and within the symbols of the Knights Templar, and in various Christian iconography. So if the legend about 17th-century bakers in Austria is incorrect, where did croissants come from? Croissants are the children of a 13th-century bread called the Kipferi, a crusted yeast bread baked in a 3/4 circle. The baking style required to make a croissant incorporates layers of yeast bread with butter folded on each other, then twisted. This technique first appeared in the late 1830s in France at August Zang's Pastry shop in Paris, the Boulangerie Viennoise. Zang was Austrian, so Austria is part of the story. Zang took his light-layered creation and folded its ends toward each other, forming the now iconic crescent shape. By 1869, the croissant made its way to breakfast tables throughout France and had become a staple. The puff pastry received one more boost in popularity when Charles Dickens mentioned it in his periodical "All the Year Round" in 1872. Now you know the brief history of one of the world's favorite carbs, the croissant, and the origins of religious trademarks. With today being Croissant Day, why not indulge in one yourself?

Africa

Jan

Escape Day, Ntl.: January 30

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National Escape Day is your license to escape from what you are doing to do whatever you want to do. Situated at the end of January in the doldrums of winter, it is also the perfect time to plan your next vacation. Where would you like to be right now? Skiing down a mountain? Sailing Croatia? Basking in Bali? Today is your day to plan your escape and live it—even if it is only within your mind. There are many ways to celebrate this day, but the most important thing is to have fun.

Africa

Jan

Inane Answering Message Day, Ntl.: January 30

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Inane Answering Message Day eradicates the earth of boring electronic greetings and spicing things up—brought to you by the people at Wellcat.

Africa

Jan

Kings Birthday, (JO)(1962): January 30

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The King's Birthday in Jordan marks King Abdullah II's birth on January 30, 1962. The King's Birthday is a national holiday.

Africa

Jan

Plan Your Vacation Day: January 30

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Created to encourage Americans to begin planning their summer holiday, Plan Your Vacation Day is an awareness campaign by the US Travel Association. Tool kits are available on their website for the next year, starting in the fall.

Africa

Jan

Tropical Diseases Day, World Neglected: January 30

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Beginning in 2021, the World Health Organization (WHO) created World Neglected Tropical Diseases Day to raise awareness and resources to treat and prevent many tropical diseases. From WHO "Neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) are a diverse group of 20 conditions1 that are mainly prevalent in tropical areas, where they mostly affect impoverished communities and disproportionately affect women and children. These diseases cause devastating health, social and economic consequences to more than one billion people. The epidemiology of NTDs is complex and often related to environmental conditions. Many are vector-borne, have animal reservoirs, and are associated with complex life cycles. All these factors make their public-health control challenging. ------------------------------------- 1. NTDs include: Buruli ulcer, Chagas disease, dengue and chikungunya, dracunculiasis (Guinea-worm disease), echinococcosis, foodborne trematodiases, human African trypanosomiasis (sleeping sickness), leishmaniasis, leprosy (Hansen’s disease), lymphatic filariasis, mycetoma, chromoblastomycosis and other deep mycoses, onchocerciasis (river blindness), rabies, scabies and other ectoparasitoses, schistosomiasis, soil-transmitted helminthiases, snakebite envenoming, taeniasis/cysticercosis, trachoma, and yaws and other endemic treponematoses."

Africa

Jan

Up Helly AA (UK): January 30

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For all you Viking fans, the town of Lerwick, Scotland, has an annual celebration to close out the Yule season you'll love—Up Helly Aa. Up Helly Aa centers on the burning of a Viking Galley each year. In Nordic culture, this was done annually as a sacrifice to the sun god. It's both a festival and an impressive bonfire, the likes you'll never see again—until the next Yuletide. Held annually on the last Tuesday in January.

Africa

Jan

Backward Day: January 31

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Backward Day is an organic celebration with no sponsor, celebrated worldwide. The basic concept of today? Do everything in reverse. Eat dessert first. Call people by their last names. Read a book back to front. Back into your parking space. See how many palindromes you can identify (words spelled the same forward and back). You get the idea! Historically there is something called "Backwards Day," but there is no specific reason for designating January 31 to observe it. The original Backwards Day occurred in the Julian Calendar (45BC-1582), the predecessor of the modern Gregorian calendar. Day one of the Gregorian calendar is October 15, 1582 (though it would be the mid-1700s before it became the standard in Europe and the rest of the world). Because the Sun's rotation around the earth is just shy of 365 days, the way the Roman's dealt with this was to shift the calendar backward one day every 128 years. With the rise of Christianity, this became a problem. The vernal equinox determines Easter, and over centuries, the Julian calendar caused the vernal equinox to move backward by ten days. With its leap year every four years, the Gregorian calendar solved this problem. The Gregorian calendar also assured that the vernal equinox would always fall at the same time every year.

Africa

Jan

Bug Busting Day, Ntl. (UK): January 31

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National Bug Busting Day occurs three times per year in the United Kingdom: January, June, and October. It is a concentrated effort to stem the tide of lice infections within schools and the general population. Through the registered charity Community Hygiene Concern, the government teaches parents, educators, and pharmacists how to detect and stop the spread of head lice and provides affordable Bug Busting kits. Community Bug Busting Days were started by the late Dr. RJ Donaldson, affectionately known as Paddy. Dr. Donaldson demonstrated in the 1970s that an intensive detection/treatment campaign dramatically cut the prevalence of head lice. He was the tireless mentor of the Bug Busting Days organized by Community Hygiene Concern, taking a personal interest from 1986 in our development of wet detection methods in preference to less effective dry or damp methods. Today Bug Busting Days are organized in partnership with the Department of Health. Lice are a big problem in schools. Once they infect an individual, these parasites can be very difficult to get rid of. The following are some facts: The eggs of head lice usually take seven to ten days to hatch. Combing dry or damp hair with a fine-tooth comb is not a reliable way to detect lice. Metal combs are not suitable for louse detection because these combs are primarily nit combs. Lice caught between the tightly spaced teeth remain unnoticed against the metal and can be combed back into the hair unharmed at subsequent strokes. No studies prove that wet head lice grasp hairs more tightly, thus hampering their removal with a fine-tooth comb. Head-to-head contact is not necessary to catch lice—close contact is enough. Head lice are a community problem. Approximately 20% of head lice cases occur in people over 16 or under four years old.

Africa

Jan

Hot Chocolate Day, Ntl: January 31*

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What better way to warm up a cold winter day than with hot chocolate? National Hot Chocolate Day is embraced by many restaurants, confectioners, and fast food restaurants throughout the nation. At many, you'll find free hot chocolate by purchasing something.

Africa