When is National Absurdity Day?
National Absurdity Day is November 20th.
What is National Absurdity Day?
It makes no sense. That’s actually the point though. National Absurdity Day celebrates the unexpected, the incompatible, and the downright weird.
Absurdity doesn’t match. It doesn’t fit. It’s incongruous, like a man wearing a suit and a bunny mask. ‘Absurd’ comes from the Latin word absurdus, which means out of tune. It can be disturbing, but it can also be hilarious.
In literature and on the stage, philosophical absurdism portrays life as meaningless and humankind’s fate as struggling for meaning in an indifferent universe. This movement became more popular after the atrocities of World War II, but absurdist elements appeared in literature as early as the late 1800s, like in Lewis Caroll’s Alice in Wonderland.
So throw on a jet pack, and dive into the weird.
Fun facts for National Absurdity Day!
- Vending machines kill more people than sharks, and people kill more sharks than vending machines.
- A glass ball can out-bounce a rubber ball.
- Between its discovery and its demotion from ‘planet’ to ‘dwarf planet,’ Pluto never finished an orbit around the sun. (Just because he couldn’t finish the lap? Rude.)
- Saudi Arabia imports camels from Australia.
- Charlie Chaplin lost a Charlie Chaplin look-alike contest.
- Until 2016, the Happy Birthday song was copyrighted.
How to celebrate National Absurdity Day:
- Do something absurd. Pick a whacky outfit. Fill your day with nonsensical actions and bizarre statements.
- Throw an absurd party. You could play games like pin the tail on the pancake, or toss red party cups off a balcony into a basket of Ping-Pong balls, or just create your own zany activities.
- Read an absurdist book or play, like Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, The Metamorphosis, or Waiting for Godot.
What’s the hashtag for National Absurdity Day?
Post your favorite absurdity factoids on social media with #NationalAbsurdityDay.