Want to celebrate? Make it up. 
   Workers wheeled residents around the Keenebunk nursing home in a wild hunt for cobras. A 98-year-old woman whizzed down the halls in her wheelchair screaming, “Fudge!” at the top of her lungs, and several snake-searchers followed. It wasn’t a rehearsal for Samuel L. Jackson’s Snakes on a Plane. The residents were simply celebrating Yell ‘Fudge’ at the Cobras in North America Day.
  It’s a real holiday. The June 2 merriment appears in several calendar reference books, including Chase’s 2006 Calendar of Events. Chase’s, published annually for 42 years, contains more than 750 pages of unusual holidays from around the world. Flip to March and it’s National Pig Day, Peanut Butter Lover’s Day, and Multiple Personality Day.
   Holidays such as National HIV Testing Day and Religious Freedom Day were created to bring about awareness for a public policy issue. But who comes up with the unusual holidays in Chase’s, like Lips Appreciation Day and If Pets Had Opposable Thumbs Day?
   The inventors of Make Up Your Own Holiday Day do, of course.  Thomas and Ruth Roy from Lebanon, Penn., published this March 26th motivational holiday in Chase’s more 10 years ago. Since then, they’ve celebrated Make Up Your Own Holiday Day year-round. From Yell ‘Fudge’ at the Cobras in North America Day to If Pets Had Opposable Thumbs Day, the Roys have created close to 100 holidays.
   “Anytime someone will say something at work and I go ‘ooh,’ there’s a holiday,” Thomas said, with mischief in his voice. “They all have, for the most part, a low common denominator. Most of the ones we create, the wide majority of people can identify with them.”
 The Roys run a company called Wellcat Holidays & Herbs. According to Wellcat.com, Thomas began the holiday-creating tradition in the 1980s. As a radio show host, he often used Chase’s as a resource for hilarity. One day he flipped to the back of the book to discover the entry form for submitting holiday ideas. He submitted the Northern Hemisphere Hoodie-Hoo Day, and the next year, it was published. Twenty years later, he said, it’s still his favorite holiday.
   “So many people actually celebrate it, kids to law firms,” Thomas said. “And they have fun.”
   Northern Hemisphere Hoodie-Hoo Day guarantees that warm weather will return. People all over the country, according to Wellcat.com, now come out of their warm houses in winter to wave beach blankets at the sun, yelling “Hoodie-Hoo! Hoodie-Hoo!”
   The Roys’ contributions to Chase’s have them topping everyone but Congress in the race to create the most holidays. Wellcat has a contract with the Blue Mountain greeting card company and Blue Mountain’s “Wacky Cards” category is filled with days like Quirky Country Music Songtitles Day.
  Every day events inspire Thomas. He created If Pets Had Opposable Thumbs Day in honor of the Roys’ cat, Nala. Nala, he said, likes to open cabinet doors and crawl inside to sleep.
   “You walk into (the doors) in the dark,” Thomas said. “That’s how it came about.”
Thomas feared what other injuries he would sustain if Nala had thumbs to work with.
   And Lips Appreciation Day?
   “My wife makes lip balm, the best in the world,” Thomas said with a laugh. “I said to her, ‘You know, people who have lips will appreciate this.’ I said ‘Ooh, there’s a holiday right there.’”
   The Roys don’t just sit at home in their easy chairs thinking up new ways to fill the world with celebration. Thomas is the associate producer of Pennsylvania’s annual Renaissance Faire. His day consists of writing news releases, editing articles for programs, performing marriages, acting, writing and directing. Ruth manages the Wellcat Herbs portion of the Wellcat Company, as well as helps out at the Renaissance Faire.   
   Between the two busy schedules, it’s a wonder, Thomas said, that they don’t go crazy. Perhaps that’s why when celebrating Make Up Your Own Holiday Day one year, he created Panic Day.
   Panic Day exists because everyday everyone keeps telling you to just calm down, Thomas said.
   “I think sometimes that causes stress,” he said. “This is one day where you can run around in a panic.”
 It might be more difficult to figure out how to celebrate the other Wellcat holidays.  Hosting a parade in honor of Middle Name Pride Day wouldn’t bring the same crowd as the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. Because of this, the Roys are planning to publish a book titled “Wellness…with a grain of salt” with ways to celebrate the wacky holidays they make up. The most important part will include recipes because, as Wellcat.com says, what would a holiday be without food? But the book will also explain how to celebrate your own Make Up Your Own Holiday Day, Thomas said.
  The book will finally put the future of holiday creation in the hands of the American public. HolidayInsights.com says that Make Your Own Holiday Day “allows you to make today a special day for anything you want. The objective of today is to allow one day for any topic or event that has otherwise escaped recognition… up to now.”
   Thomas said the whole point is to have a good time celebrating something you want.
   “This is going to be way too serious but I think that it’s emblematic of our culture,” he said. “We keep waiting for someone else to dispense things for us. (Make Up Your Own Holiday Day) is a little thing people can do for themselves. They don’t need the government.”
   Amanda Pollard, 20, agrees. In her opinion, everyone should have a day to celebrate his or her own accomplishments. Workaholics Day would be her creation on March 26th.
   “You know, you work your a** off, here’s a day to rest,” Pollard said with a shrug.
   Her friend Christopher Coy, 22, on the other hand, would celebrate a National Day of Thought. On this holiday, people would not be allowed to speak or complete an action of any kind all day, just to think. This would hopefully include politicians, he said. The National Day of Thought could be celebrated at any time.
   “You know, before (entering) a war, take a day off,” Coy said.
   Coy is not new to the Make Your Own Holiday Day. He and group of his friends used to honor Martin Luther on October 31st, rather than celebrating the typical Halloween.
   “We used to dress up as Reformers,” Coy said with a laugh.
   Make Up Your Own Holiday Day ends at midnight on March 26th, but there’s always April’s holidays to look forward to. Stocking up on some trading cards for Trading Cards for Grown-ups Day might be the plan in a stressed out household. Or, if all else fails find an Australian. You’re going to need one in a month - April 26 is Hug An Australian Day.