National Nothing Day is an "un-event" proposed in 1972 by columnist Harold Pullman Coffin, and observed in the United States annually on January 16 since 1973, when it was added to '' Chase's Calendar of Events''.

Status and purpose

It is not actually a

public holiday A public holiday, national holiday, or legal holiday is a holiday generally established by law and is usually a non-working day during the year. Sovereign nations and territories observe holidays based on events of significance to their history ...

, as that requires an

act of Congress An Act of Congress is a statute enacted by the United States Congress. Acts may apply only to individual entities (called private laws), or to the general public ( public laws). For a bill to become an act, the text must pass through both house ...

. Its purpose is:

to provide Americans with one National day when they can just sit without celebrating, observing or honoring anything.

It is sponsored by Coffin's National Nothing Foundation, registered in Capitola, California and has been advocated for by the

YouTuber A YouTuber is an online personality and/or influencer who produces videos on the video-sharing platform YouTube, typically posting to their personal YouTube channel. The term was first used in the English language in 2006. Influence Influe ...

Ephemeral Rift.

Clash with Martin Luther King Jr. Day

In the United States, the third Monday of every January has subsequently been inaugurated as Martin Luther King Jr. Day which falls between the 15th and 21st. This means that January 16 now falls on a public holiday in approximately a seventh of all years (most recently in 2017), effectively usurping the very nature of National Nothing Day.

Similar ideas

In contrast, the Realist Society of Canada (RSC) has a religious holiday called THABS ( "There has always been something" Day, pronounced ). THABS Day is dedicated to the celebration of "the realization that 'if there was ever nothing, there would be nothing now'". It is celebrated on July 8 of each year. Coffin's commemoration, when proposed in 1972, was not a novel idea. In 1956 the Associated Press circulated the proclamation by the Mayor James W. Morgan of Birmingham, Alabama of a "National Nothing Week" to be celebrated Saturday 26 February through Friday 3 March that year. The news item appeared in newspapers nationwide."National 'What' Day?" Franklin Citizen-Times, Russellville AL, 12 April 1956.

References

Nothing Recurring events established in 1972 Nothing {{Holiday-stub