July 20th - National Moon Day

I know what you're thinking, so before you go around dropping trowel while proclaiming that July 20th is "National Moon Day", you should probably realize that I am talking about the big old hunk of cheese that hangs out with the stars in the sky at night and not your derrière. Now that we got that out of the way let's discuss why such a holiday exists in the first place. The moon plays a fairly important role our daily lives, ranging from influencing ocean tides with it's gravitational pull to impacting a few crazy people's moods according to its lunar phases. Not to mention that the moon is the only natural satellite to the earth and has been the basis for tales told throughout history for most likely millions of years. These reasons alone should be enough to bask in it's nighttime glory and celebrate its presence every single day.

So why celebrate "National Moon Day" on July 20th? Well that's simple really. You see, on this very day in 1969 famed Apollo 11 American astronaut Neil Armstrong touched down on the Moon's surface and historically took the very first recorded steps on the celestial rock. And as he lept forward, he uttered those famous words, "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind", that has been mimicked by drunk people everywhere trying to walk up their steps to get to bed after a day of trying to fly to the moon in their mind. There are no specific recordings showing when the first official "National Moon Day" was celebrated, but I think we can just assume that there was quite a bit of celebrating going on at NASA and homes around the world on July 20th, 1969 so we can pretty much inaugurate that day to be the beginning of this monumental holiday.

To celebrate this historical event you can go as big or as small as you desire. Anything from eating some moon pies, watching Apollo 13, stargazing, or even by doing some moonwalking of your own.  There really is no wrong way to celebrate. I would suggest doing all of the above though while throwing one killer lunar party. Get yourself a keg of Blue Moon, dress up as an astronaut, serve moon shaped snacks and make up a playlist of songs completely about the moon. Then and only then will it be acceptable to moon somebody in honor of this great holiday...

Purchase
Van Morrison - Moondance