Ruffle Some Feathers | UAE

“Today is International Pillow Fight Day. Keep your guard up.” Unknown

Today is International Pillow Fight Day! It’s a thing, really, I kid you not! Why? I have absolutely no idea! I thought World Nutella Day and last months ‘Air Max Day’ that paid homage to a certain type of Nike trainers (or sneakers or whatever you call them) were verging on absurd but now this takes it to an all new ridiculous feathery level!

Feathers will be ruffled today around the world (Source:www.pillowfightday.com)

Today (Saturday April 5th 2014) will see massive pillow fight events happening in cities around the world including one here in Abu Dhabi. The second Annual Pillow Fight Day took place earlier today at the Abu Dhabi Art Hub. Participants were asked to bring soft pillows for friendly battles to celebrate this strange tradition with their friends and family alongside more normal activities too, such as live Painting Demonstrations. To find out more about Abu Dhabi Art Hub gallery that showcases artworks by thirty-two international artists representing seventeen countries click here.

Abu Dhabi Art Hub’s Annual Pillow Fight Event (source:www.adah.ae)

The Urban Playground Movement organised the first World Pillow fight day back in 2008 as a fun and free public event for all ages in a public space. The goal was to make this unique event become a significant part of popular culture in major cities across the world and it seems that was successful as six years later it’s still going strong with 122 events being held this year. Grab your nearest pillow, embrace the child within and let battle commence!

Here are five more unusual days of annual celebrations from around the world, some more than bizarre than others…..

1) International Skeptics Day ~ a day for any skeptics among us celebrated on 13th October or 13th January or the first Friday of the year. Well if you believe that ……..

2) Star Wars Day ~ “May the Fourth be With You”. Bit of a clue there, celebrated by Star Wars geeks, sorry fans every year on May 4th, this annual event honours everything Star Wars, the films, the culture and books.

3) Lighthouse Day ~ celebrated annually on 7th of August to preserve lighthouses in America as an important historical symbol. This day celebrates the beacon of light that signifies safety and security of boats in sea since 1789.

4) Donald Duck Day ~ every year on 9th June the Walt Disney character Donald Duck is celebrated, honouring the day of his creation in 1934. One of Disney’s most popular and funny animal cartoon characters, Donald has appeared in the most films with Clarence Nash providing the voice for more than 50 years until his death.

5) Punch your Neighbour Day (Tinku festival) ~ this day is a traditional festival in Bolivia, Machu and Potosi held in May. People have wild fights with each other for the love of god in this 600 year old festival. Legend has it that Earth Goddess Pachamama guarantees a good harvest by demanding blood, so the bloodier the fight, the better the harvest. Simples.