More holiday fashion

Did you know that there is a "new" holiday (today, the 23rd of December) in between Winter Solstice and Christmas, called HumanLight?

Advertised as a humanist holiday for agnostics and atheists, according to the website, HumanLight "presents an alternative reason to celebrate: a Humanist's vision of a good future. It is a future in which all people can identify with each other, behave with the highest moral standards, and work together toward a happy, just and peaceful world."

Basically, this is the warm, fuzzy version of an old idea proposed in the 90s television series, "Seinfeld" - Festivus, the holiday for the rest of us. Even the same day was chosen! [See www.humanlight.org and www.religioustolerance.org/festivus.htm.]
This all sounds good, but how does someone or some group get to "create" a holiday? Is there a form to fill out? Some government office appointed to approve requests?

I've been wondering this for a while, as the calendar days continue to fill with random holidays never before heard of, magically appearing one year as if they always were there. (C'mon, you know you never heard of Kwanzaa ten years ago.) We all know why Hallmark created and marketed holidays like Mother's Day, Father's Day, and Secretary-now-called-Administrative-Assistant's Day, back in the days when people bought and mailed cards to each other. And we know why the greenies joined the Hallmark club 38 years ago with the creation of Earth Day, a middling kind of "holiday" geared towards observation, like Veterans or Remembrance Day or Flag Day, where no one gets the day off of work, but maybe we get a parade.

But these days creating holidays seems like a bandwagon that every group has joined. Like those little colored ribbons and rubber bracelets, there seems to be a different "day" for each agenda - AIDS Awareness Day, Smoke Free Day, Breast Cancer Awareness Day, and so on. Less about celebrating anything (never mind being holy, since the word "holiday" actually originated from a religious point of view - "holy" + "day"), they are days (sometimes months!) of awareness. Given out when you make a donation to the particular cause, these ribbon or bracelet accessories are supposed to be worn to show support, but have become more about fashion statements of allegiance to the corresponding agenda items of the particular cause.

With the retailers out there feeling the pinch this season, perhaps they'll be the next to jump aboard the holiday bandwagon. I imagine them creating an anti-hiatus type holiday called Shopiday, the day to celebrate purchases and purchasing. There will be ribbons made of cash register receipts and rubber bracelets mimicking currency. Maybe even little pins that look like shopping bags or price tags.

Perish the thought.