Holidays (literally, originally, “holy days”) and other special days can serve a variety of purposes.

• They can serve as spiritual teaching tools.  (This was one of God’s primary purposes for instituting His holidays:  “And it shall be, when your children say to you, ‘What do you mean by this service?’ that you shall say, ‘It is the Passover sacrifice of the LORD, who passed over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt when He struck the Egyptians and delivered our households.'” -Ex. 12:26-27)
• They can serve as academic teaching tools.  (Who was Christopher Columbus?  Might not Columbus Day be a good opportunity to look that up?  How about the history of the war(s) that Grandpa served in, on Veteran’s Day?  Or how ’bout using National Metric Week to teach our children some math?)
• They can break up the routine and help us to enjoy life.
• They can provide opportunities (or excuses, if you prefer!) for families to have fun and spend time making memories together.
• Some of them can make us laugh.  (“Yell ‘Fudge!’ at the Cobras in North America Day”?!)
• They can provide something to write about.  Whether you’re blogging, journaling, or doing some other type of writing, holidays — especially the bizarre ones — can jump-start the creative process.

So, to help you prepare to celebrate some new holidays this year, here are some resources that might be useful:

• Chase’s Calendar of Events (2011 Edition) (This is considered the authority on the dates of the more unusual holidays.  It is generally available in the reference section of most libraries.  Or you might be able to find a good deal on an older edition, if that would suit your purpose.)
• Brownielocks (This is the best, closest thing to Chase’s that I’ve found online.  Well, actually, Chase’s has an online edition (X feed), but that only lets you know what’s going on for the current day.)
• Every Day a Holiday (This book is designed for celebrating some of those “fun” holidays with children.  ‘Though far from comprehensive, it suggests holidays for each month and offers suggestions for celebrating each one.)
• Putting God Back in the Holidays (This has suggestions for some major holidays — like Thanksgiving — but also for some “lesser” holidays like Labor Day.  Please note that I have not actually read this one yet; I’ve just seen some reviews and been intrigued by it.)
• Celebrations of Faith (This is not strictly “holidays,” but offers ideas for celebrating various spiritual and life milestones.)
• God’s Appointed Times (This is about the biblical holidays, and of the ones I’ve read, it’s my favorite “overall” one, so far. It does a good job, in my opinion, of summarizing the biblical origin, Jewish tradition, and some possible ways of celebrating each one, without being a million pages long. Others really like A Family Guide to the Biblical Holidays and/or Celebrating Biblical Feasts, but I didn’t personally find either book as useful. If you’re adding to your biblical holidays library, they’re worthwhile additions, but neither one would be my first choice.  The Feasts Of The Lord is another resource I would love to have, but I have not yet read it.)