January 18th - Winnie the Pooh Day, Jazz Day, and Pat Pineapple Day

HOW I CELEBRATED

For Winnie the Pooh Day, which is technically incorrectly titled, as though the first book was called "Winnie the Pooh", the text has Christopher Robin correcting the narrator and saying it's not Winnie THE Pooh, it's Winnie THER Pooh. No explanation is given on what 'ther' means, though. Anyway, for Winnie the Pooh Day, I celebrated in what was probably the most exhausting way for any of the holidays so far, I actually read an omnibus hardcover edition of the original Pooh stories by A.A. Milne cover to cover. That's about 344 pages of Pooh, for those who don't know. Great stories, mind you, but I really shouldn't have decided to read the whole damn thing in one day. My baby sister also watched a few Winnie the Pooh movies this morning as I started my reading in the same room. I wish that I could also say that I did something related to the production of Winnie the Pooh that local theater group the Eastpointe Players is putting on, but sadly I didn't make cast when I auditioned for it.

For much of the time spent reading, and much of the day in general whether reading or not, I celebrated Jazz Day as well. As is probably self-evident, that means that I have had various types of jazz music on all day, from ragtime, to fusion, to bebop, to other sub-genres I'm not sure of the name of. A slight selection of some of the bands/artists included in this musical binge include Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong, Steely Dan, Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, John Coltrane, and Frank Sinatra (though Ol' Blue Eyes tended to bounce between pop and jazz, a lot of his stuff still counts in my opinion).


Today's third holiday was the Discordian celebration Pat Pineapple Day. This had a much simpler expression on my part than the others, I just had some pineapple pieces with breakfast.

HOW OTHERS MIGHT CELEBRATE

Hopefully for Winnie the Pooh Day, no one reading this blog will go as far overboard as I did. Simply sharing one or two of the stories as a family or reading them on your own should suffice. Watching one of the Disney features (preferrably an old one, but that's your choice, not mine) would be a good option as well.

Jazz Day is a pretty simple one as well. In fact, all three of today's are. Any celebration of jazz music, be it performance or listening (or a mix of the two) is perfect.


Pat Pineapple Day's celebrations as far as I was informed when I discovered it are simply to consume or do something made from, or based off, pineapples.


HISTORICAL/CULTURAL SIGNIFICANCE

After first being published in 1926, the children's book "Winnie-the-Pooh" by A.A. Milne and along with its sequel "The House at Pooh Corner" from 1928, it has spawned a multi-billion dollar line of animated movies, cartoon series', etc. after the rights were purchased by the Walt Disney corporation (first in 1966 for the short "Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree" and countless times afterward), as well as the original stories charming parents and children alike worldwide. At some unknown point, Milne's birthday became officially recognized as Winnie the Pooh Day in honour of his most famous creation.

I have found no background on why today is Jazz Day, so I am under the assumption that it's just another one of those made up holidays.

Pat Pineapple Day is a Discordian holiday. Not being in on the texts of whatever the Discordian holy book is called, and thus unable to find it online, I am unaware of this day's significance. I do know, however, that a person(?) in their belief system was called Pat Pineapple and that's who this day is named for.

UNOFFICIAL THEME SONG

For Winnie the Pooh Day I'm torn between the song "Winnie the Pooh" written by the Sherman Brothers and at least excerpted in some form in every single animated feature I've seen about him and "House at Pooh Corner" by Loggins and Messina.
Jazz Day, being named for a style of music is obviously unable to have a single theme as it is beyond subjective as to what the ultimate piece of music in said style is, though the most performed would be "In the Mood" popularized by the Glenn Miller Orchestra, though my personal tastes are pressuring me to say the entirety of "A Love Supreme" by John Coltrane. This is basically a "pick your own" day, so whatever jazz piece you like best is your pick.

FOOTNOTES

-There are twenty official Winnie the Pooh stories at this date, though the third official book is slated to be published this October 6th. These are not lost stories written by A.A. Milne, but rather a completely new collection.

-I'm kicking myself for skipping Daniel Webster's Birthday. I could easily have celebrated by telling the story usually referred to as 'The Devil and Daniel Webster' at Trixie's Poetry Night... oh well.

Other Holidays and observances on this date include:
-First day of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity
-Thesaurus Day
-Paryaya Day at Udupi (falls on even-numbered years, as such it did not occur today)
-Royal Thai Armed Forces Day
-Feast of the Cross (Eastern Orthodox Catholicism)
-Feast of the Confession of St. Peter (Eastern Orthodox, Angelican, and Lutheran)
-Daniel Webster's Birthday
-Catholic Feast Days for St. Athanasius (Eastern Orthodox), St. Cyril of Alexandria, St. Margaret of Hungary, St. Prisca, and St. Volusianus