Bounty Day

January is a rather dull month excepting that nearly everyone I know including myself and my father have birthdays this month.
So there is not much to write about these days.
January 21 was Dad's birthday, but more importantly I have recently learned from a friend's blog that it is also National Hugging Day.
So I thought to myself "If nationals can get a special day to hug all to themselves, then everyday in the calendar year must have some signifigance somewhere."
I decided to do some research and found some interesting facts about today, January 23, on answers.com

The first thing I found was that Anne Boleyn discovered she was preggo today in 1533. Perhaps she took National Hugging Day a little too seriously. A blunderbuss wedding to Henry ensued.

The next thing to peak my interest was that Sir Edward Pellew died today in 1833, some 300 years after Anne was up the duff (so it couldn't have been him.) This was interesting only because I didn't know he was a real person and not just some character made up by C.S. Forester. (And acted supremely by Robert Lindsay)

I really hit the mark when I discovered this gem about how Pitcairners celebrate an act of vandalism on a ship of the Royal Navy. (Sir Edward would have been aged 33 at this time and probably a Lieutenant or a Commander so he would have taken Bligh's opinion on this episode.) Below is a cut and paste of the original from answers.com, the links don't work, but they do if you go to the original source.

"Bounty Day is celebrated on Pitcairn Island on January 23rd, in commemoration of the burning of HMAV Bounty by the mutineers in 1790. Model replicas, made by the islanders, are burned.

Sequence of events

Bounty Day starts off with the a re-enactment of the landing of the Pitcairners down at the Kingston Pier. The Pitcairners are greeted by the Administrator and his wife.

From the pier they then march to the cenotaph where they lay wreaths in remembrance.

From the cenotaph they march to the cemetery where they sing hymns.

After the cemetery they head on over to Government House where a family being either Evans, McCoy, Buffett, Adams, Nobbs, Christian or Young are awarded family of the year. The children roll down the hill in front of Government House.

After this they go to the Compound where the children play games and everyone feasts on wonderful food.

After this they go home and get ready for the Bounty Ball where there is a competition."

A competition which one assumes would beat rolling down a hill or being named family of the year.
One of my favourite things about the series Gilmore Girls was the crazy town celebrations they always had in Stars Hollow. Truth is stranger than fiction.