A Day to Celebrate the Role of Television in Connecting and Informing the World On 21st November, we commemorate World Television Day, a UN-designated day recognising television’s critical role in... Read more
HAVE FUN: WORLD UFO DAY
Unidentified Flying Objects: A Holiday in (Interstellar) Transit
Let’s take a moment to think about the great holidays of the world: Christmas, Thanksgiving, World UFO Day. Yes, you read that correctly. In a galaxy not so far away, on a planet very close by, there exists a day (or rather, two days) dedicated to those mysterious blips in the sky that have captivated humans since the first caveman looked up and thought, “Well, that’s not a bird.”
World UFO Day is a celebration dedicated to the hypothesis that the truth is out there. But in true UFO fashion, even this holiday doesn’t adhere to our earthly conventions of time. Unlike your run-of-the-mill holiday, World UFO Day is celebrated on both June 24th and July 2nd. Why? Because when it comes to extraterrestrials, why limit yourself to one day when you can baffle people across two?
June 24: The Day Kenneth Arnold Didn’t See Birds
Our first date, June 24, is in honor of a fateful day in 1947 when a pilot named Kenneth Arnold saw something peculiar over Mount Rainier. Now, Arnold wasn’t your average starry-eyed dreamer; he was a respectable businessman and a pilot, the kind of person who, when he said he saw a chain of nine high-speed objects zooming like saucers skipping on water, you sort of believed him.
Arnold’s sighting sparked a wave of public fascination and the term “flying saucer” took off faster than, well, a flying saucer. So naturally, the logical thing to do was to mark this day as World UFO Day. Because nothing says, “I might have seen a spaceship,” quite like setting aside an entire day for skywatching and rewatching “The X-Files.”
July 2: Roswell’s Greatest Hit
Not to be outdone, July 2 also demanded a piece of the intergalactic pie. This date commemorates the infamous Roswell Incident of 1947, when something (insert your favorite conspiracy theory here) crashed in New Mexico. Depending on who you ask, it was either a weather balloon, a top-secret military experiment, or little green men with a penchant for desert landscapes.
Roswell became synonymous with UFO lore, spawning movies, TV shows, and a tourism industry that’s out of this world. July 2 was chosen to celebrate this pivotal event, ensuring that the topic stays alive in the collective consciousness of those who swear that the government knows more than it’s letting on (which, let’s be honest, is a pretty safe bet regardless of the subject).
Two Days are Better than One
Now, some might argue that having two days for the same holiday is overkill. But to them, I say: Why stop at two? We’re dealing with cosmic phenomena here! Have you ever tried scheduling a meeting with extraterrestrials? They operate on a different calendar system entirely. We’re lucky they agreed to just two days. Think of it as the Earth-bound equivalent of interstellar jet lag.
Besides, with two days to celebrate, it doubles our chances of actually spotting a UFO. The skeptics can laugh all they want, but when the mothership finally does land, those of us celebrating on both June 24 and July 2 will be the ones ready with welcome banners and homemade cookies (because who’s to say aliens don’t have a sweet tooth?).
Conclusion: Keep Watching the Skies
So, why do we celebrate World UFO Day on both June 24 and July 2? Because the universe is a big place, and sometimes you need more than one day to get your point across. It’s a time to ponder the mysteries of the cosmos, to share stories of strange encounters, and to keep one eye on the skies and the other on your favorite alien-themed TV marathon.
In the end, World UFO Day is less about proving the existence of extraterrestrials and more about celebrating the curiosity and imagination that make us human. And who knows? Maybe one of these days, we’ll get an invitation to the biggest party in the galaxy. Until then, keep watching the skies – and don’t forget the cookies.
