Learn Something New Every Day
Interesting facts and things you never knew you wanted to know posted daily for your education and enjoyment!
How to get your Fact of the Day delivered…
Categories
- How-To Lessons (7)
- Interesting Facts (164)
- Sing-Along with Facts (1)
Tag Archives: traditions
FACT: when curling plastic ribbons you should go slow
Across the world a whole lot of gifts will get wrapped this week, and I’m gonna guess at least 50 percent of those will have ribbons. (the half wrapped by girls… but let’s face it, they’re probably doing the vast majority of wrapping anyways) The really fancy wrap jobs will also have those ribbons curled, [...]
FACT: the days of the week are named after planets and gods
It’s Tuesday! But we came very close to calling this “Marsday” instead of Tuesday. Originally, in the ancient civilizations of Babylon, Greece, and Rome, each day of the week was named for the planets. At the time there were seven planets visible to the naked eye; Mercury, Mars, Venus, Jupiter, Saturn, the Moon and the [...]
FACT: if you walk under a ladder, you have blasphemied
Today is Friday the 13th. While this pairing of number and day might cause some people concern, we’ve already established that I’m not to worried about the coincidences of calendars. But you may want to be on your guard today to ensure you don’t walk under a ladder. There are a few theories out there [...]
FACT: Guy Fawkes never had a chance to blow up the king
This week British people will be celebrating Bonfire Night, or Guy Fawkes Day on November 5th. They are celebrating the safety of the king, because in 1605 King James I almost didn’t live to see November 6th. On the other hand, there may not have been any risk at all. I smell intrigue! Like most [...]
FACT: trick-or-treating started with kids threatening old people
I’m pretty sure every newspaper runs the same filler piece today about the origins of Halloween, with the All Hallows Day, so-on and so-forth. I know I’ve heard the story many times. What was new to me that I dug up was the origin of the phrase trick-or-treat. The first recorded use of the phrase [...]
FACT: Diwali is the Hindu festival of lights
Starting today, and for the next five days, people of the Hindu religion will be celebrating Diwali. This is the biggest annual celebration in south Asia. The festival is about a triumph of good over evil, lightness over dark, and my personal favourite; knowledge over ignorance. The mythology behind Diwali is two stories of the [...]
Groundhog Day offers 61% chance of being pointless