Monkey Day

Status: New Holiday
Here's a new holiday to add to your calendar. It's Monkey Day on December 14:

Monkey Day is an annual holiday celebrated on December 14th that offers people a reprise from the traditional religious holidays permeating the month of December. Monkey Day is a fun way to celebrate all things simian, an excuse to hang out with friends and family dressed as monkeys and grunt at one another, and at the same time promoting knowledge and awareness of monkeys and their simian kin in a healthy manner. Monkey Day began five years ago as a practical joke left scribbled on a friend's calender, when the anointed date of December 14th came around a Monkey themed party gathered at the local bar and Monkey Day was born. Each year since, Monkey Day has grown in popularity, especially among the college crowd, falling dangerously close to the end of semester final exam week. Popular ways of celebrating Monkey Day include throwing a monkey themed party and dressing up as your favorite simian, grunting like a chimp all day long, and throwing feces on passers-by ( for legal purposes, monkeyday.com in no way supports the latter form of celebration ).

You can find more info at monkeyday.com. It sounds like as good an excuse for a party as any. But I worry that people will spend Monkey Day "grunting like a chimp," not realizing that chimps aren't monkeys. (Though I realize that Simian Day, while more accurate, wouldn't have quite the same ring to it.)

Animals

Posted on Sun Dec 04, 2005


Comments

That's the same day that the new King Kong movie comes out!
Posted by Brian Leary  on  Mon Dec 05, 2005  at  10:13 AM
Another way to celebrate Monkey Day is to have a Planet Of The Apes movie marathon. If you don't have any of those DVDs, try the opening scenes from 2001: A Space Odyssey.
Posted by Captain Al  on  Mon Dec 05, 2005  at  01:36 PM
What happens if Monkey Day falls on Cyber Monday?
Posted by Cranky Media Guy  on  Mon Dec 05, 2005  at  06:11 PM
Then it becomes Shop Online In A Monkey Suit Day.
Posted by The Curator  in  San Diego  on  Mon Dec 05, 2005  at  11:06 PM
Hmmmmm.
I think it sounds like an excellent idea.
Monkey parties all round!
Posted by Boo  on  Tue Dec 06, 2005  at  06:02 AM
They must mean a respite from traditional religious holidays, not a "reprise." Reprise means to repeat something. (Sigh. What ever happened to looking up words in the dictionary?)

However, if these people had talked to any Hindus, they would know that Monkey Day IS a religious holiday, and not a new one, either.

Monkeys are sacred ever since Hanuman, King of the Monkeys, helped Lord Rama defeat Ravana, the King of Demons. To celebrate this great service to Rama, monkeys are honored at not one, but several festivals during the year.

For example, many Hindus celebrate Hanuman Jayanti, the birthday of Hanuman, the Monkey God:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/hinduism/holydays/hanuman_jayanti/

So if you want to start a new Monkey Day, you're only a few centuries, or possibly a few millennia, too late.
Posted by Big Gary, dilettante extraordinaire  on  Tue Dec 06, 2005  at  05:52 PM
Hey Big Gary, I read that in a book too somewhere!

But seriously, these guys should really do some extensive research before coming up with a minor holiday.
Posted by Lady Hedoniste  on  Tue Dec 06, 2005  at  09:17 PM
Though throwing feces at passers by sounds like fun.
Posted by Lady Hedoniste  on  Tue Dec 06, 2005  at  09:41 PM
lighten up people, its a joke holiday about monkeys, do you really think they are trying to start another religious holiday?
Posted by carl  on  Tue Dec 06, 2005  at  10:20 PM
Sounds like they're trying to create another talk like a pirate day.
Posted by Razela  on  Fri Dec 09, 2005  at  02:15 PM
The difference is Talk Like a Pirate Day encourages people to do something they don't already do every day.
Posted by Big Gary in Paradise, Texas  on  Fri Dec 09, 2005  at  06:29 PM
Well, it is hardly as much fun as Snowflake Day or Festivus, but at the end of a year we all need to unwind in our own little way . . .
Posted by DFStuckey  on  Fri Dec 09, 2005  at  09:37 PM
are you saying you dress like a monkey and throw feces around everyday?
Posted by Carl  on  Tue Dec 13, 2005  at  01:09 PM
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