Forgive me, Pandemonium Day. I’ve overlooked you for far too long, which is a shame because from the origins of your name, “pandemonium,” to the reason we celebrate you, you’re really quite fascinating. But I’m here to correct the oversight now.
When is Pandemonium Day celebrated?
It’s celebrated on July 14 in the United States.
Who started Pandemonium Day?
Like so many of the days on the Weird Holidays & Observances page, this is one of those mystery days that seemed to spring up out of nowhere. The earliest mention I found for it in a newspaper was in The Modesto Bee on Jul. 1, 2006.
However, while he didn’t start the day, we know who to credit for creating the word “pandemonium.” All the big “day” calendar sites mention how John Milton was the first to use it. “Pandaemonium” was the capital of Hell in his poem “Paradise Lost.” As National Today put it, he created the word by combining “the Greek word ‘pan,’ which means ‘all,’ and the Latin word ‘daemonium,’ which means ‘demon.'”
But the day isn’t meant to be scary. Unless you have OCD of the orderly variety. Then what it represents will absolutely terrify you.
What does Pandemonium Day celebrate?
Webster defines “pandemonium” as “a wild uproar (as because of anger or excitement in a crowd of people) or “a chaotic situation.” That’s what the day is meant to embrace. The chaotic and disorderly.
Or as Days of the Year put it, “Pandemonium Day was established to help free us from all the stuffiness that comes with living a life too ordered, a schedule too set.” #FreeYourself
But that’s easier said than done a lot of times, isn’t it? Especially in this modern world we live in that feels chaotic most every day anyway.
3 Ways to Celebrate Pandemonium Day
- Read Milton’s “Paradise Lost.”
- Listen to either the American funk rock band The Time’s album Pandemonium or R&B boy band B2K’s album of the same name.
- July 14 is also Shark Awareness Day, National Grand Marnier Day, National Mac & Cheese Day, and National Nude Day. So maybe make a batch of Grand Marnier-laced mac and cheese that you feed to a shark while you’re naked? That sounds like pandemonium to me!
Check-In
What’s the most freeing thing you can think to do? Like, what would you abandon on your schedule and what kind of fun would you replace it with?
Courtney Mroch is a globe-trotting restless spirit who’s both possessed by wanderlust and the spirit of adventure, and obsessed with true crime, horror, the paranormal, and weird days. Perhaps it has something to do with her genes? She is related to occult royalty, after all. Marie Laveau, the famous Voodoo practitioner of New Orleans, is one of her ancestors. (Yes, really! As explained here.) That could also explain her infatuation with skeletons.
Speaking of mystical, to learn how Courtney channeled her battle with cancer to conjure up this site, check out HJ’s Origin Story.
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