January 15 - National Bagel Day

Happy National Bagel Day! On January 15th, don’t forget to pick your favorite schmear, too. Make it for breakfast, lunch, or snack, or all of the above!

This kosher carbohydrate brings complex flavors to the deli and sandwich bar. In the United States, we love our crunch-on-the-outside-chewy-on-the-inside bread. They’re a staple in our freezers and as a winter pick-me-up.

Bagel History

Polish-Jewish immigrants introduced the bagel to the United States. Throughout New York City and the surrounding boroughs, they grew thriving businesses.

  

Of course, it didn’t take long for the bakers to organize. In 1907, they created the International Beigel Bakers’ Union. For decades, Bagel Bakers Local 338 held contracts with nearly all bagel bakeries in and around the city for its workers.

Until the 1960s, bakeries made bagels by hand. Then Canadian-born American inventor and entrepreneur Daniel Thompson invented the bagel maker, and along came a heated debate of man versus the machine.

  

Thereafter, the question of the better bagel dangled before customers. Was it the handcrafted bagel or the manufactured bagel?

The bagel became more common throughout North America during the last quarter of the 20th century. 

Credit for the bagels’ spread across the country goes in part to the efforts of Jewish bagel baker Harry Lender (originally from Chelm, Poland), his son, American businessman and entrepreneur Murray Lender, and American entrepreneur Florence Sender. 

It was their pioneering efforts that eventually led to automated production and distribution of frozen bagels in the 1960s. Murray had also invented pre-slicing the bagel.

HOW TO OBSERVE

Have your favorite bagel combinations. Invite friends to get a schmear or two with you. feel free to try new combinations. Do you like yours toasted or not? Breakfast bagels, pizza bagels, cinnamon bagels, they all sound so delicious right now. Which one will you choose? 

Brush up on the bagel’s history in the United States. It’s a vibrant and enduring one. Use #NationalBagelDay to share your favorites and give your favorite bagel shop a shoutout as well! 

HISTORY

Once the bagel shared a day with lox, but no longer. As of 2020, the bagel branched out on its own to celebrate all kinds of bagels. 

What is your favorite bagel? 

#NationalBagelDay 

@LendersBagel 

@panerabread 
@nichecinema 

  

January 15 - National Hat Day

Happy National Hat Day! On January 15th, hang on to your hats! 

Celebrated annually each year, don your favorite fedora, cap, cloche, derby or sunhat. Dig out your ceremonial best and tell the story behind it. Wear your warmest touque, stocking cap, beanie and share the name you give it.

  

There are so many hats, fashions and names that we give them. Certainly, we could wear a hat a day and never get through them all.

  

• •  Hats may be worn for safety and protection, religious reasons, ceremonial reasons, warmth or fashion. 
• •  In the Middle Ages, hats were an indicator of social status. 
• •  In the military, hats may denote one’s nationality, branch of service, rank and/or regiment. 
• •  A Thebes tomb painting depicts one of the first pictorials of a hat.  The painting shows a man wearing a conical straw hat. 
• •  Structured hats for women began to be worn in the late 16th century. 
• •  Millinery is the designing and manufacture of hats. 
• •  The term “milliner” derived from the city of Milan, Italy.  The best quality hats were made in Milan in the 18th century. 
• •  Millinery began as traditionally a woman’s occupation, as the milliner not only created hats and bonnets but also chose lace, trim and accessories to complete an outfit. 
• •  In the middle of the 1920s, to replace the bonnets and wide-brimmed hats, women began to wear smaller hats that hugged their heads.
  
  

Depending on where you live, if you are outside in the middle of a cold January, you may definitely want to wear a hat on National Hat Day!

HOW TO OBSERVE

Celebrate an era or an occupation. Learn the history of a particular hat or try making a paper hat.

  

Be sure to wear a hat and use #NationalHatDay to post on social media.

Educators, visit the National Day Calendar® Classroom for lessons designed around National Hat Day.

HISTORY

Since at least 1983, National Hat Day has been observed in libraries, schools, and museums across the country. They invited students and patrons to wear their favorite hats or hats of their occupation.

  

People of all ages show up in pirate hats and football helmets. Patrol officers, postal workers, restaurant servicers also wear their hats to various events.

What kind of hat do you wear?

#NationalHatDay 

@nichecinema