(RNN) - Have you ever turned on the news and learned people are celebrating yet another national day?
Perhaps you posted selfies of you and your best friend on June 8.
Maybe your significant other blindsided you on Aug. 1 on National Girlfriends Day. (Don’t worry, guys. Oct. 3 is National Boyfriend Day.)
If none of those scenarios fit you, there’s likely one out there that does. There’s a day to celebrate just about anything.
In fact, according to Day Of The Year, there are more than 2,000 national days.
But why are there so many? After all, some are just plain silly and some are just repeats.
There’s a National Wiggle Your Toes Day, a National Dadgum That’s Good Day, a National Tell A Joke Day, a National Punctuation Day and about 20 chocolate days observed across the globe.
How did we get here?
Well, you could spend hours searching Google for the answer, but there isn’t a precise one.
From all indications, groups like Day Of The Year and National Day Calendar allow anyone to submit a national day candidate for consideration. If it is deemed worthy of observance, an official proclamation is issued.
It’s important to remember these groups are not a part of any government, so they are not proclaiming national or state holidays. That means you'll still have to go to work on Eat What You Want Day next May.
They’re also not responsible for proclaiming all the national days we observe. A lot of them were established long before these groups existed.
Even so, what groups like these do is all about sharing knowledge and fun. Just search a hashtag for some of these national days and see how others have celebrated.
It’s an easy way for companies that provide a product to get an annual promotion. Be honest, you were a little more tempted to go buy ice cream on National Ice Cream Day than you would’ve normally been.
It’s a marketing person’s dream, but it’s not just about helping businesses. These national days also bring a little more mainstream attention to often overlooked causes.
There’s a National Grief Awareness Day, a Purple Heart Day, a National Tackle Kids Cancer Day and a National Gold Star Mother’s Day.
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