backward day

31 January is backward day. Image: Pixabay

Time to do things the wrong way up – it’s backward day!

Have some chocolate cake for breakfast, and enjoy your bacon and eggs for dinner; today we celebrate backward day

backward day

31 January is backward day. Image: Pixabay

Backward day is celebrated on 31 January and this day encourages you to have some fun and do things in all the ways it is not supposed to.

So go ahead, have dessert for breakfast, and breakfast for dinner.

READ MORE ABOUT THE PREVIOUS DAY HERE: Open your mind to all the possibilities – it’s freethinker day

History of backward day

Backward Day has a much longer history than the name of the holiday suggests.

Almost every culture had a time of year when all societal rules were turned upside down.

Saturnalia was a day when all social norms were turned upside down in Rome.

Gambling was no longer prohibited, and the masters spent the day at the high table serving their slaves. No other time, especially among slaves, was free speech permitted, but during Saturnalia, all manner of insult was permitted.

Other cultures around the world celebrate this changing of the guard, this overcoming of norms and exemplification of wildness.

In the end, it all comes down to questioning how the world is established and the rules that govern our behavior.

Backward Day is a day of mental revolution, not just silliness.

T the date that we all know and celebrate today was created in 1961 by Megan Emily Scott and Sarah Nicole Miller.

On 29 January they were thinking about making arts and crafts while milking the cows on the Miller family farm.

This is when they had an inspiration! Later that evening, they sat down and made some ground rules.

It wasn’t long before the idea spread and reached everyone in town. When the two women went for a walk two days later, on 31 January, they noticed that everyone was doing things backwards.

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