All - Leep Calendar

Robert I Birch of Pun Corps created Trivia Day using numerology. For instance, Trivia Day is January 4 annually. The T and R of trivia correspond to the numbers 1 and 4. The day is a testament to the information collectors who always seem to have something interesting to say. Trivia Day continues despite the passing of its creator in 2005.

Africa

Jan

Bird Day, Ntl.: January 5

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Each year for three weeks during the Christmas season, the world's wild bird population (over 9,600 species) is counted. Today nearly 12 percent of these species face extinction. Threats to bird populations include illegal pet trade, pollution, habitat loss, disease, solar panels, and other technological advances. The Christmas Count began in the early 2000s and is the longest-running citizen science survey in the world. National Bird Day occurs on January 5 each year to mark the conclusion of the Christmas count and bring the focus away from wild birds to those kept in captivity within the United States, most of which are pets and native to other countries. The ultimate goal of National Bird Day is to increase the survival rate and well-being of the world's birds through public education and support for conservation. This event first ran in 2002.

Africa

Jan

Keto Day, Ntl: January 5

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First held in 2019, National Keto Day educates the public on the benefits of low carb, high protein diets. Throughout the week of this event, National Keto Day sponsor The Vitamin Shoppe® hosts several promotions and educational venues in-store and online.

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Jan

Parkash Utsav (S): January 5

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Parkash Utsav is the annual birth celebration of the Guru Gobind Singh Sahib on January 5. It was created in 2003.

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Jan

Screenwriters Day, Ntl.: January 5

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If you live in Los Angeles, you know the joke: Everyone has a business plan or screenplay in their back pocket. Screenwriters create the films and television programs we've come to love. National Screenwriters Day encourages anyone interested to use the month of January and produce your first screenplay. You can do it! The film "Rocky" was written in three days!

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Jan

Sydney Festival (AU): January 5-29

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The Sydney Festival is a major summer music and cultural festival in the nation of Australia's largest city, Sydney. It takes place on land previously owned by the first nation people of the Eora Nation, something the organizers take great pains to acknowledge, which makes the following ironically apropos. In 2022 the festival hit a rather painful snag, with over 40 performers and acts withdrawing due to a single sponsor: the nation-state of Israel and its government funding of the Sydney Dance Company's performance of "Decadance." Requests to drop the funding failed, and artists acted according to their conscience and withdrew. Why the commotion? It has to do with a single objective issue, Israeli apartheid. Protesters point to the endemic and increasingly draconian 54-year-long history of enforced policies and practices in the Occupied Territories and Israel's two-tiered legal system. This system includes laws that discriminate based upon race, origin, and faith within and beyond the Green Line. The creative community is not a big fan of national exceptionalism when it privileges one group of people over another. Impacting the pocketbook, boycotting is one of the few non-violent acts of protest that hit supporters where it counts. It led to the end of apartheid in South Africa, and boycotts effectively turned the civil rights movement around in the United States. In both cases, industry and business ultimately figured out it was better to support human rights than go against them if they wanted to stay in business. Though it did take several decades of pressure and boycotting in the US and South Africa, once the money men said no to racism and apartheid, the government had to support the movement and end the practices. See? Stop the money. End the political will to keep. End the practice. Simple. The festival includes music acts, theater, documentaries, symposiums, workshops, and exhibitors. It was first held in 1977 and has continued to grow ever since. The 2022 incident has sent a clear message to organizers worldwide, and whether it continues to resonate, only future years will tell.

Africa

Jan

Twelfth Night (C): January 5

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January 5 in Christianity is the Twelfth Night, though some denominations of Christianity mark the Twelfth Night on January 6. It is the final night of the twelve days of Christmas and occurs on the eve of the Epiphany.

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Jan

Whipped Cream Day: January 5

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National Whipped Cream Day is an unofficial event with no sponsor. It celebrates the light cream topping, served to kings in the 17th century that has come to top everything from fresh fruits to cakes and pies.

Africa

Jan

Anniversary of the Storming of the US Capitol (2021): January 6

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INSURRECTION AT THE US CAPITOL Today is the anniversary of January 6, 2021, storming of the US Capitol. For the first time since 1814, the US Capitol was attacked. In 2021, the assault was led by American rioters representing various groups, including white supremacists, QAnon conspiracy theorists, militias, anarchists, and Trump loyalists. Five people died when the rioters and the smoke cleared: four rioters and a police officer. The storming was planned on social media by various domestic hate groups, domestic terrorists, white supremacists, and attention seekers fueled by President Trump's refusal to accept election results and his Tweets encouraging participation. This alternate interpretation of election outcomes is a garrulous scheme initiated before 2016 by Mr. Trump, as the vanguard of his ego should he lose. At that time, he won the Electoral College. In 2020, despite a record-breaking turnout of voters, Mr. Trump lost the election to Mr. Biden by over 7 million votes, putting the Electoral College vote at 232 for Trump to 306 for Biden. Ratifying the Electoral College by Congress on January 6 following November's presidential elections is the final step in certifying a presidential election. THE WHY The rioters' aimed to stop the certification of the Electoral College by congress and prevent Mr. Biden from becoming the next president. They believed this would allow Mr. Trump, who lost the election, to remain in office, an objective equated with an in-house coup. Their belief that the election was rigged against Mr. Trump was carefully curated. It received enforcement through an echo chamber of right-wing media outlets and social media posts, nurtured by conspiracy theories, anger, and the perceived loss of societal privilege. They were primed, indoctrinated true believers, filled with fear, rage, and anger to burn. They needed a match to burst into flames. Mr. Trump supplied that match. He told his supporters that the only way he could lose the election was through fraud and that they needed to fight to take back their country and make it right. The president told them the media was their enemy and that COVID-19 was nothing to worry about. He told them Democrats were communists, Marxists, and socialists (though very few Trump disciples can define or differentiate each term). He told his believers and fans many things daily and month after month. His lies and distortions provided a narrative of victimization in repetitive soundbites, punctuated with fear, a sense of belonging and purpose that so many desperately needed. These scenarios, and their subsequent conspiracy theories, found traction with coronavirus lockdowns beginning in March 2020. Trump supporters received a steady diet of curated news for the next eight months. Messaging and confirmations meticulously inflamed passions, created doubt and promoted multiple conspiracy theories. It was a toxic stew on the edge of boiling over. By election day in early November, 46% of those identifying as Republican believed the election was being stolen from them and their beloved leader, Mr. Trump. They thought a coup was in the process due to voter fraud; for the cult members, there was no other explanation. What followed was a circus of 60 election lawsuits accusing voter fraud. Eventually, all but one case was dismissed. Three instances of voter fraud were identified in Pennsylvania, and all three were fraudulent votes for Mr. Trump. DOWN THE RABBIT HOLE The theatrics of the vote didn't end with lawsuits. In several key states, including Georgia, Arizona, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Nevada, officials found themselves and their families receiving death threats and enduring violence for doing their job. One group of white supremacists, urged on by conspiracy theories, set out to kidnap the Governor of Michigan. The FBI thwarted them, given the kidnapping was planned on social media. Rather than rectify the rhetoric, Mr. Trump embraced it, nurturing, massaging, and cultivating it through speeches, social media, and live, in-person rallies (in the middle of a pandemic). His followers embraced his denials and accusations as gospel. Primetime right-wing opinion entertainers enthusiastically fueled the farce, even as their news divisions increasingly deferred toward fact-based reporting. Discounting the rhetoric was considered a betrayal by many Trump supporters, who sought out increasingly radical information sources to feed their fantasy. By Christmas, many Trump acolytes and an increasing number of Republicans convinced themselves the election was rigged. Officials from various branches of government, the judiciary, and even foreign observers, certified the 2020 US election was one of the most secure in history. Other than a scattering of isolated instances, all attested there was no fraud. The election was fair. Mr. Trump lost, period. In the newspeak language of the MAGAverse, a loss was impossible. Mr. Trump's supporters, encouraged by the president, continued to refuse any result that did not conform to their narrative. As the New Year approached and the final certification of the election results by congress on January 6 loomed, calls for "Stop the Steal" grew, especially on social media. Mr. Trump invited his fans to gather in Washington DC on January 6 for a rally to do just that, tweeting, "Be there. It will be wild!". That would become the understatement of a decade. A DAY OF CHAOS AND ANARCHY Hundreds of thousands of people answered Mr. Trump's call, pouring into Washington DC with flags, signs, MAGA hats, and anger, IMMENSE anger. In addition, a significant portion of the rioters came armed, something the Secret Service would point out to the president. The president didn't care because the rioters were not there to harm him. This sentiment of the president would be revealed during the January 6 Committee Hearings in 2022, along with other evidence pointing to the president's direct involvement in orchestrating the insurrection. Rioters arrived with guns, knives, and other weapons, including Molotov cocktails and spears. Additional weapons included baseball bats, body armor, bullhorns, chemical weapons including pepper spray, smoke bombs, flash-bang grenades, IUDs, nooses, and at least two pipe bombs. The day began around 08:20, with the president tweeting his usual disproved voter fraud and victimization allegations. At the same time, his fans gathered at the Ellipse south of the White House. By 11:30, several Trump officials and supporters began warming up the crowd for the 'Save America Rally.' Hardcore members of his fan club, many armed, simultaneously gathered at the Capitol building. At 12:49, two pipe bombs were found, one at the Republican National Committee and another at the Democratic National Committee. Police have since speculated the purpose of the bombs was to divert police away from the Capitol building. At noon, Mr. Trump ascended the stage, devoting the next hour to promoting conspiracy theories, his victimization, disproved allegations, and debunked election theft assertions. The fawning crowd of supporters, true believers, and diehard fans loved it. As the US Congress took its seats in their respective chambers at 13:00, Mr. Trump whipped his fans into a cheer-filled frenzy. He urged them to march down Pennsylvania Avenue and 'Stop the Steal' by protesting the joint chamber ratification of the electoral college results. Typically, this is a tedious ceremonial procedure for finalizing the election results. While most of Mr. Trump's fans raucously enjoyed the president's speech, 1.2 miles away, militant supporters began executing their social media plan to storm the Capitol. At 12:53, militants overran the first of three barricades, breaching all three ten minutes later and chasing Capitol police officers across the lawn of the Capitol. At 13:10, Mr. Trump finished his speech, and attending fans made their way up Pennsylvania Avenue. Tens of thousands of people moved from the Ellipse to the Capitol, joining the thousands already there. The president returned to the White House, where he watched the spectacle on television, doing nothing for nearly four hours. Ultimately four insurrectionists and two police officers died, several from medical causes. One insurrectionist was shot and killed, attempting to breach the Capitol further. ____________ Mr. Trump first alleged voter fraud in 2015, leading up to the 2016 election. This charge was quickly forgotten when he won but would be resurrected again leading up to the 2020 election, which he lost by 8 million votes.

Africa

Jan

Apple Tree Day (US/UK): January 6

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Apple Tree Day is a British custom as ancient as Christmas and part of the celebration of Epiphany. Of distinction is the practice of wassailing, or apple howling. Wassail is a traditional word indicating drinking for someone’s health, or on Apple Tree Day, drinking for the apple tree’s health. Apple Tree wassails are sung to the apple trees, and festivities are held in apple orchards on Twelfth Night Eve and Twelfth Night between January 5-6. Celebrations include: Creating bonfires in apple orchards. Wrapping favorite trees in ribbons. Whacking apple trees while reciting poetry. Drinking hard cider and pouring a portion of the cider on the roots of the trees to encourage a good harvest in the coming year. Today it is most common for children to wassail in the apple orchard during the day with non-alcoholic cider. But, for adults, it remains a reason to gather around the apple tree with noisemakers and instruments (to wake up the trees from their winter slumber), swap stories, and drink lots of hard cider, sharing a little with the tree.

Africa

Jan

Bean Day (1884): January 6

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Today marks the anniversary of the death of Austrian scientist Gregor Mendel in 1884. Mendel is the founder of the modern field of Genetics and performed his work by studying beans and legumes. He is the person who identified and described what we now call dominant and recessive genes. Because he died in the late 19th Century, Mendel never realized the importance of his discoveries and work. He laid the foundation for 20th Century advances in therapies and medicines, agriculture, and science.

Africa

Jan

Carnival Season: January 6 - February 21

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Carnival Season runs from Epiphany through Fat Tuesday, and it is the festive period to let loose before the 40 days of penance known as Lent in the Christian calendar. If you plan to travel to predominantly Catholic countries, this is the ideal time of year to treat yourself to fun. Cover Image: Viajero Cool from Pexels

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Jan

Christmas (C)(AM): January 6

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Christmastide, or the 12 days of Christmas, lasts from Christmas through Epiphany, January 6. The Armenian Christian Church celebrates Christmas on the last day of Christmastide instead of the first.

Africa

Jan

Cuddle Up Day: January 6

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National Cuddle Up Day is your day to put the non-cuddling types in your life on notice and get them to step up their game. Or, you could cuddle up with a blanket on the porch before a fire or wherever your cuddle IQ takes you. Cuddling is an act of complete closeness and intimacy that even sex seems non-romantic and non-intimate compared to it. Cuddling is customary for most mammals and birds. At a primal, deep level, it provides comfort and joy. Cuddling displays and build trust and affection. The act of cuddling releases feel-good hormones, including Oxytocin and others in the brain. Cuddling makes us happier and relieves stress.

Africa

Jan

Epiphany (C): January 6

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Epiphany, or the 12th day of Christmas, marks the official end to the festive season known as Christmastide. Epiphany is the day that the three wise men (magi), following the star of Bethlehem, came upon Jesus Christ, Mary, and Joseph in the manger. It is also the day years later when John the Baptist baptized Jesus in the Jordan River. In the West, Christians began celebrating the Epiphany in 361 AD.

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