This month features, among other things, Dinosaur Day and I Love My Dentist Day. I am not sure why they are both mentioned this month, but it may have something to do with teeth. I did not remember Dinosaur Day, which was on June 1, concentrating instead on Oscar the Grouch’s birthday and Donut Day.

I also forgot about I Love My Dentist Day, which was on June 2, because I have never met a dentist that I loved. My fervent wish was to get away from the dentist as fast as I can and with most of my teeth and mouth still intact.

Let me show you what I missed so far in June: Egg Day (June 3), National Frozen Yogurt Day (June 4), National Gingerbread Day (June 5), National Yo-Yo Day (June 6), National Chocolate Ice Cream Day (June 7), National Jelly-Filled Doughnut Day (June 8), International Young Eagles Day (June 9), National Flag Week (beginning June 10), National Peanut Butter Cookie Day (June 12), National Juggling Day and National Lobster Day (June 13), Pop Goes the Weasel Day (June 14), and both the Power of a Smile Day and Fly a Kite Day (June 15).

All of those took place in the first half of the month and, not so sadly, I missed them all. However, I became interested about Fudge Day (June 16), but not so much about Iceland Independence Day (June 17). I have written about Father’s Day (June 18), but didn’t realize it was also International Picnic Day.

I’ll skip some of the rest of the June holidays, although I will mention National Catfish Day (June 25), National Chocolate Pudding Day (June 26), National Orange Blossom Day (June 27), Paul Bunyan Day (June 28), Camera Day (June 29) and Meteor Day (June 30).

June also has its share of more serious holidays. In fact, according to “Catholic Online,” June is the Month of the Sacred Heart and St. Justin Martyr is the Saint of the Day for June 1, followed by Sts. Marcelllinus and Peter on June 2. There is, in fact, a saint listed for every day of June, including St. Charles Lwanga, St. Francis Caracciolo, and St. Boniface of Mainz. As far as I can tell, there is only one woman who made the June calendar: St. Emily de Vialar (June 17). However, my Latin is very poor, and I may have misread the gender of some of the names.

Protestants also have June holidays, often on Sundays. We are familiar with Pentecost (June 9), Trinity Sunday (June 16), Corpus Christi (June 20) and Saints Peter and Paul (June 29). I skipped Saint Vladimir on June 15, but he is legendary and mentioned in both the Orthodox and Catholic calendars. The Internet says that “Vladimir was the son of the Norman-Rus prince Svyatoslav of Kyiv by one of his courtesans and was a member of the Rurik lineage dominant from the 10th to the 13th century. He was made prince of Novgorod in 970.” That was not terribly enlightening to me. What did he do that made him famous? Well, if it is the same Vladimir, he united the eastern Slavs in accepting Christianity and helped Russia become a part of “Christian” nations. There are numerous legends and songs about him.

Returning to Texas, each city seems to have events in June. Houston, for example, was named “a hot spot for travelers,” even before the coronavirus pandemic. The city features the Space Center, the Fine Arts Museum and the Houston Experience Marketplace, and “much more.” We spent 6 ½ weeks in Houston some 6 years ago but saw mainly the M D Anderson hospital and the proton radiation center. I did manage to visit the Arts Museum and see the Astros play a baseball game one July 4th, with fireworks following.

Because of the pandemic, some events have been postponed or canceled in Waco and other Texas towns. However, the Dr Pepper Museum, with “the best collection of soft drink memorabilia in the world” is open, but I wonder if you can drink your Dr Pepper through a face mask.

There was no shortage of festivals in the Old Testament either. In calendar order, they were the Passover (lasting 7 days), Unleavened Bread, Firstfruits (at the first barley harvest), the Feast of Weeks (Pentecost, 50 days after Firstfruits), the Feast of Trumpets (signifying the calling of Israel to judgment), the Day of Atonement, and the Feast of Booths (a week of celebration for the harvest of grapes and olives).

There were other feasts as well: New Moon, Sabbath Year (every 7th year), and the Jubilee (the 5th year or 49 years from the last Sabbath year).

God blessed such celebrations and Jesus reminds us of another great feast.  In Matthew 8.11 and Luke 13.29, we read that “many will come from the east and the west and will take their places at the feast with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven.”

No masks or social distancing will be necessary.

Karl Franklin
Awaiting that grand feast