Surely you've heard someone say, "You learn something new every day".
What, exactly, does anyone learn on any given day? It may be a bit of information or a new skill. Or, perhaps, a new way of doing, expressing or simply looking at, something one has always known. For better or worse, we might learn something about our selves or someone else.
Sometimes it seems that I learn every day is a holiday or feast day I've never heard of before. Maybe it has to do with my Catholic upbringing: I don't think any religion has more feast days or saints' days. It wouldn't surprise me to know that I never even knew about most of them!
Just for the heck of it, I checked to see whether there's a
"Saint Justine Day". Sure enough, the 7th of October is the day on which Santa Giustina di Padova is commemorated. Like many other saints, Giustina was canonized for converting someone prominent (Cyprian, the pagan magician of Antioch) and her martyrdom. Hmm...I'm not sure I want to martyr myself for anything. As for conversions...well, I converted myself: I used to be a guy named Nicholas. I know, that's not the kind of conversion the College of Cardinals has in mind.
(By the way, St. Nicholas Day is tomorrow. Yes, it's the 6th, not the 25th, of this month!)
So, is there a holiday today?
Turns out, there is, in the cycling world--at least a part of it. If you're not part of it, that's not the only reason you haven't heard of this holiday: After all, Global Fat Bike Day was proclaimed for the first time only three years ago.
Now, while I don't envision myself becoming a Fat Bike rider (as distinguished from a fat bike rider) and thus won't celebrate, I am glad the holiday is being observed as it is. You see, it hasn't been taken over by any commercial enterprise: It's a grass-roots day, as Earth Day was in the beginning. And, unless Fat Bikes become a major part of the bike market, that's probably how the holiday will remain.
Today is Saturday. So, in two years, this holiday will fall on Tuesday. (Next year is a leap year.) Will they call it "Fat Bike Tuesday" and ride up and down the streets of New Orleans? Bon temps rouler, as they say in "The Big Easy".
What, exactly, does anyone learn on any given day? It may be a bit of information or a new skill. Or, perhaps, a new way of doing, expressing or simply looking at, something one has always known. For better or worse, we might learn something about our selves or someone else.
Sometimes it seems that I learn every day is a holiday or feast day I've never heard of before. Maybe it has to do with my Catholic upbringing: I don't think any religion has more feast days or saints' days. It wouldn't surprise me to know that I never even knew about most of them!
Just for the heck of it, I checked to see whether there's a
"Saint Justine Day". Sure enough, the 7th of October is the day on which Santa Giustina di Padova is commemorated. Like many other saints, Giustina was canonized for converting someone prominent (Cyprian, the pagan magician of Antioch) and her martyrdom. Hmm...I'm not sure I want to martyr myself for anything. As for conversions...well, I converted myself: I used to be a guy named Nicholas. I know, that's not the kind of conversion the College of Cardinals has in mind.
(By the way, St. Nicholas Day is tomorrow. Yes, it's the 6th, not the 25th, of this month!)
So, is there a holiday today?
Turns out, there is, in the cycling world--at least a part of it. If you're not part of it, that's not the only reason you haven't heard of this holiday: After all, Global Fat Bike Day was proclaimed for the first time only three years ago.
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| A "fatty" on a trail in Killington last year. |
Now, while I don't envision myself becoming a Fat Bike rider (as distinguished from a fat bike rider) and thus won't celebrate, I am glad the holiday is being observed as it is. You see, it hasn't been taken over by any commercial enterprise: It's a grass-roots day, as Earth Day was in the beginning. And, unless Fat Bikes become a major part of the bike market, that's probably how the holiday will remain.
Today is Saturday. So, in two years, this holiday will fall on Tuesday. (Next year is a leap year.) Will they call it "Fat Bike Tuesday" and ride up and down the streets of New Orleans? Bon temps rouler, as they say in "The Big Easy".
