Enjoy May"s Everyday

 To enjoy all that May has to offer, add these holidays, awareness days and observances to your calendar, stat. Month of May is full of days that are good for the body and soul.

Daily holidays and observances in May 2023

May 1

• ◆Great Lakes Awareness Day
• ◆Learn to Ride a Bike Day
• ◆Lei Day (Here’s the history and meaning behind the Hawaiian celebration. May 1st became Lei Day in Hawaii in 1928. A flower lei is a symbol of love and friendship, as well as celebration. The colorful flower necklaces, is known as lei. Lei is worn every day in Hawaii, It can celebrate birth, marriage, graduations, promotions or the celebration of life. Learning to make lei, is just like learning how to read. By age 2, I was given a lei needle to make a lei. I wasn’t given instructions, and just had to watch my tūtū , grandmother in Hawaii language, as she made lei to give someone. She was always making lei. The making and giving of lei is so special in Hawaii that there is an entire day dedicated to it each year on May 1st : Lei Day. Lei Day celebrates the spirit of aloha and proves that the meaning of a lei goes beyond flowers on a string. In 1927, American poet Don Blanding wanted to celebrate the idea of making, giving and wearing lei. He proposed the idea to Honolulu Star-Bulletin editor Grace Tower Warren who loved the idea. She suggested the celebration.
• 1st May Day became Lei Day in Hawaii in 1928 with a celebration in Honolulu. Lei Day received official recognition in 1929 by Governor Wallace R. Farrington, who declared May 1 of each year as May Day is Lei Day in Hawaii. Blanding expounded on the importance of the holiday in his book, “Hula Moons,” which published in 1930. “The custom of weaving and wearing flower leis originated with the Hawaiians so long ago that they have no record of its beginning... When tourists discovered Hawaii, they loved the charming gesture and they spread the word of it until the lei became known around the world. “Hawaii observed all of the mainland holidays as well as those of a number of the immigrant nationalities in the Islands. But there was no day that was peculiarly and completely Hawaii’s own; that is none that included all of the polyglot population there,” he wrote.
• In 2001, Senator Daniel Kahikina Akaka, the first Native Hawaiian to serve in the U.S. Senate, called Lei Day "a nonpolitical and nonpartisan celebration." Lei represent love, friendship and celebration. The best thing to remember about Lei Day is, "Make a lei, wear a lei and give a lei.”)
• ◆May Day also known as Labour Day / Worker’s Day
• ◆Melanoma Monday
• ◆National Chocolate Parfait Day
• ◆School Principals’ Day
• ◆World Lyme Day

May 2

• ◆International Harry Potter Day
• ◆National Brothers and Sisters Day
• ◆National Fitness Day
• ◆National Foster Care Day
• ◆National Play Your Ukulele Day
• ◆National Truffle Day
• ◆National Teacher Appreciation Day
• ◆World Asthma Day

May 3

• ◆Bike to School Day
• ◆International Wild Koala Day
• ◆National Anxiety Disorders Screening Day
• ◆National Chocolate Custard Day
• ◆National Garden Meditation Day
• ◆National Public Radio Day
• ◆National Textile Day

May 4

• ◆International Firefighters Day
• ◆National Orange Juice Day
• ◆Pesach Sheni (evening of May 4 - evening of May 5)
• ◆Star Wars Day

May 5

• ◆Cinco de Mayo
• ◆Museum Lover’s Day
• ◆National Astronaut Day
• ◆National Hoagie Day
• ◆Sleep Apnea Awareness Day

May 6

• ◆Kentucky Derby
• ◆National Herb Day
• ◆National Nurses Day
• ◆National Scrapbooking Day
• ◆National Wildfire Community Preparedness Day

May 7

• ◆National Children’s Mental Health Awareness Day
• ◆National Tourism Day
• ◆Pilates Day
• ◆World Laughter Day

May 8

• ◆National Coconut Cream Pie Day
• ◆National Give Someone a Cupcake Day
• ◆National Meeting Planners Appreciation Day
• ◆Truman Day
• ◆World Ovarian Cancer Day
• ◆World Red Cross  and Red Crescent Day

May 9

• ◆National Lost Sock Memorial Day
• ◆National Sleepover Day

May 10

• ◆National Clean Your Room Day
• ◆National Golf Day
• ◆National Receptionists Day
• ◆National School Nurse Day
• ◆National Small Business Day
• ◆World Lupus Day

May 11

• ◆Make a Book Day
• ◆National Foam Rolling Day

May 12

• ◆Child Care Provider Day
• ◆Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS) International Awareness
• ◆National Hospital Day
• ◆National Mental Health Provider Appreciation Day
• ◆Public Gardens Day
• ◆World Topiary Day

May 13

• ◆Brunch for Lunch Day
• ◆International Hummus Day
• ◆National Apple Pie Day
• ◆National Dog Mom’s Day
• ◆National Fruit Cocktail Day
• ◆National Miniature Golf Day
• ◆National Train Day
• ◆World Fair Trade Day 
• ◆World Migratory Bird Day

May 14

• ◆Bond With Your Dog Day
• ◆International Chihuahua Appreciation Day
• ◆Mother’s Day 

May 15

• ◆Bring Flowers to Someone Day
• ◆International Day of Families
• ◆National Chocolate Chip Day
• ◆Peace Officers Memorial Day
• ◆Straw Hat Day

May 16

• ◆National Barbecue Day
• ◆National Do Something Good for Your Neighbor Day
• ◆National Love a Tree Day
• ◆National Sea Monkey Day
• ◆Ride a Unicycle Day 

May 17

• ◆International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia, and Biphobia
• ◆National Cherry Cobbler Day
• ◆National Mushroom Hunting Day
• ◆National Walnut Day
• ◆World Hypertension Day

May 18

• ◆Ascension Day
• ◆Global Accessibility Awareness Day
• ◆National Cheese Soufflé Day
• ◆National Notebook Day
• ◆National Visit Your Relatives Day
• ◆Send an Electronic Greeting Card Day

May 19

• ◆Malcolm X Day
• ◆NASCAR Day
• ◆National Bike to Work Day
• ◆National Devil’s Food Cake Day
• ◆National Endangered Species Day
• ◆National Pizza Party Day
• ◆Plant Something Day
• ◆Virtual Assistants Day
• ◆World Family Doctor Day
• ◆World Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) Day

May 20

• ◆Armed Forces Day
• ◆National Learn to Swim Day
• ◆National Pick Strawberries Day
• ◆National Rescue Dog Day
• ◆National River Cleanup Day
• ◆National Women in Aerospace Day
• ◆Plant a Lemon Tree Day
• ◆World Bee Day

May 21

• ◆Eat More Fruits and Vegetables Day
• ◆International Tea Day
• ◆National Strawberries and Cream Day
• ◆National Talk Like Yoda Day
• ◆National Waitstaff Day
• ◆Stepmother’s Day
• ◆World Baking Day
• ◆World Meditation Day

May 22

• ◆Buy a Musical Instrument Day
• ◆Harvey Milk Day
• ◆National Craft Distillery Day
• ◆National Solitaire Day
• ◆Sherlock Holmes Day

May 23

• ◆National Lucky Penny Day
• ◆National Taffy Day
• ◆World Turtle Day 

May 24

• ◆National Asparagus Day
• ◆National Scavenger Hunt Day
• ◆World Schizophrenia Awareness Day

May 25

• ◆National Tap Dance Day
• ◆National Wine Day
• ◆Shavuot (sunset on May 25 - sunset on May 27)
• ◆World Thyroid Day 

May 26

• ◆National Blueberry Cheesecake Day
• ◆National Heat Awareness Day
• ◆National Paper Airplane Day
• ◆National Road Trip Day
• ◆Shavuot (sunset on May 25 - sunset on May 27)

May 27

• ◆National Grape Popsicle Day
• ◆National Italian Beef Day
• ◆National Sunscreen Day
• ◆Shavuot (sunset on May 25 - sunset on May 27)

May 28

• ◆Amnesty International Day
• ◆National Hamburger Day
• ◆Whooping Crane Day
• ◆World Blood Cancer Day
• ◆World Hunger Day

May 29

• ◆Memorial Day
• ◆Mount Everest Day
• ◆National Alligator Day
• ◆National Snail Day

May 30

• ◆National Creativity Day
• ◆National Mint Julep Day
• ◆National Water a Flower Day
• ◆World Multiple Sclerosis Day

May 31

• ◆National Macaroon Day
• ◆National Save Your Hearing Day
• ◆National Senior Health and Fitness Day
• ◆World Otter Day
• ◆World Parrot Day 

Happy Birthday to you , May Babies 👶