FEBRUARY CALENDAR 2026

Do you have any snakes at home? If so, today is its special day! Time to celebrate! Historically, religions and cultures have used snakes as symbols of evil, medicine, fertility, and much more. Over 3,500 species of snakes populate the Earth. Fun facts:

• Only 1/8 of the known species are venomous. 250 species have  venom potent enough to kill an adult human. Strangely, a snake’s head that has been completely cut off can still bite and inject venom for hours afterwards.
• Some snakes give live birth (30%), whereas the rest lay eggs. Some, but not all, mothers stay with their newborn or eggs to protect them from predators.
• Snakes eat their prey whole; they cannot chew. Their flexible jaws allow them to swallow large prey. They are strictly carnivorous. That said, some can go for months without eating!
• Snakes don’t have noses but use their flicking tongue to smell the air around them; without ears, they “hear” by feeling vibrations on their stomachs and jawbones, and they lack eyelids—meaning they sleep with their eyes open. Most snakes are nocturnal.

Required attribution text: Photo: Darius Baužys, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

It is a tradition observed regionally in the United States and Canada on this date every year, though it has been made famous by ceremonies held annually in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania. It originates from the Pennsylvania Dutch superstition that if a groundhog (or a bear, though groundhogs tend to be safer to observe) emerges from its den on this day and sees its shadow on the ground and returns into the hole, that means there will be six more weeks of winter. However, if the groundhog does not see its shadow, and stays out of its hole, it means that spring is near and will arrive early.​​​ Unfortunately, studies have found no scientific evidence between a groundhog seeing its shadow and the subsequent arrival time of spring-like weather, but it did make for a pretty funny comedy film, “Groundhog Day,” starring Billy Murray.

Anthony Quintano from Mount Laurel, United States, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

It is celebrated (?) on this day. Who knew? Okay, first let’s get this out of the way: everybody does it. The Pope, politicians, your favorite actress, Kings & Queens, billionaire businessmen, your boyfriend or girlfriend. Everybody! According to research, on average, about 14 times a day. Beans, cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, brussels sprouts, eggs, and dairy products are the usual culprits. The technical term for the gas that builds up is flatus, and when someone passes it out of their body, we say they have flatulence, a mixture of gases such as nitrogen, oxygen, carbon dioxide, hydrogen, sulfur dioxide, and methane. Let’s just leave it there. So, live it up! But please “celebrate” on your own, preferably outdoors.

Vox España, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons

It is believed that kites came from Shandong, an eastern province of China. By 1295, the explorer Marco Polo had introduced kites to Europe and documented how to fly them. In the sixteenth century, books and literature had publicized kites as children’s toys, which helped them gain popularity. Fun facts:

• The largest flying kite in the world measured 22 x 55 meters.
• Kite flying was banned in Japan in 1760 because too many people preferred flying kites to working.
• The largest number of kites flown on a single line is 11,284.
• The idiom, “Go fly a kite,” means to go away and stop bothering me. 50 million kites are sold in the US every year. Make your own conclusion.

order_242 from Chile, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

It is observed every year on this date to honor the “Father of Evolution” on his birthday. This day is a global tribute to Charles Darwin and his legacy that led to groundbreaking transformations in the world of science. Likewise, the satirical Darwin Awards are usually presented on this date: honoring those who “improve the gene pool” by eliminating themselves from it through sheer stupidity. Perhaps not surprisingly, 88.7% of award “winners” have been male and, likewise, many seem to be American. Previous “winners” include:

• Eric Barcia, of Virginia, who fashioned his own bungee cord, measuring and cutting it at the exact same 20 meters of his jump from bridge to earth—forgetting that bungee cords stretch, with predictable results. RIP, Eric.
• Wayne Roth of Pennsylvania was bitten by his friend’s cobra snake. “I’m a man. I can handle it,” he told his friend before suggesting they go to a bar for a few drinks, where he died about an hour later but not before boasting about his toughness.
• In 1979, Nitaro Ito, a Japanese politician, was in a close electoral campaign and decided to gain sympathy and make his opponent look bad by pretending he had been attacked by thugs hired by his competitor. To make it look real, he stabbed himself in the leg—unfortunately he hit a main artery and bled to death.
• An upstate New York state motorcyclist was participating in a protest against wearing helmets when he accidentally flipped over his handlebars and fatally hit his bare head.
• Garry Hoy was demonstrating to visiting students in his Chicago office that his high-rise windows were made of unbreakable glass by leaning against them. The glass gave way, sending the businessman 24 floors below to his death.

Photo: Myrabella / Wikimedia Commons

It is observed worldwide on this date, celebrating  the linguistic diversity of cultures worldwide. A person’s mother language is the first language that they learn, and for many, it is the strongest connection that they have to their home, their identity, and their culture. Language encompasses tradition, memory, and unique ways of thinking and expressing oneself as it is present in every component of our lives.

As globalization spreads across the world, some languages are in danger of disappearing. Of the estimated 6000 languages currently spoken in the world, 43% are endangered, many deemed as “useless” and replaced by the ones that are more widely spoken, which means that parents and educators don’t teach them to their children, which means that the languages won’t make it past this generation and will eventually die out. Language Facts:

• Papua New Guinea has roughly 840 languages! The Rotokas language used on one of its small islands has the world’s smallest alphabet with only 11 letters. The Khmer alphabet of Cambodia has the most letters: 74.
• The Amazonian Tuyuca language is considered one of the most difficult languages due to its 140 verb endings.
• English adds an estimated 4000 to 5400 new words to its vocabulary every year.
• Chinese, Sanskrit, and Tamil are the oldest languages with continuous written records still in use today.
• On the island of La Gomera, some residents use a whistled language to communicate across deep valleys, reaching more than 3 kilometers distance.
• There are over 300 languages spoken in the US, yet it does not have an official language.

JFDP13, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

It is observed every year on February 28 or on February 29 in leap years. It brings awareness to rare diseases and the challenges faced by those living with them. With around 7,000 rare diseases identified worldwide, awareness remains limited, and treatment options are often insufficient. (In the US, a rare disease is defined as one that affects fewer than 5 people out of a million.) Unfortunately, this means that there often isn’t any treatment for these diseases, or if it exists it is often expensive and inaccessible for many people around the world. By raising public knowledge and advocating for change, Rare Disease Day organizers strive to create a more inclusive and supportive world for those affected. Some diseases are indeed rare:

• Fergoli Syndrome: a rare disorder in which a person believes that different people are actually a single person in disguise, frequently changing their appearance.
• Urbach-Wiethe Disease: a genetic disorder that can cause the calcification of the amygdala, the part of the brain responsible for fear, thus making the individual incapable of feeling fear.
• Foreign Accent Syndrome: usually after a stroke, tumor, or brain injury, a person begins to speak with a distinct “foreign” accent due to damage in the speech-coordination centers of the brain.
• Alice in Wonderland Syndrome: migraines distort a person’s perception of body and object sizes, imaging their heads, hands, and feet smaller or larger than they are. Patients can also experience hallucinations and the feeling of time passing by either slowly or quickly.
• Morgellons Disease: Patients feel something is crawling on, stinging, or biting their skin, and may experience related symptoms like rashes and sores.

Marvin 101, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons