National Blame Someone Else Day is a somewhat unusual holiday. It is always observed on the first Friday the 13th of the year and encourages people not to take any responsibility for their actions. It is a day when people attribute their misfortunes to bad luck and then shift their blame to someone else, anyone else.

Now, that doesn’t sound very responsible to us, but we’ll go ahead and roll with the tongue-in-cheek nature of this holiday. As long as it involves only trivial problems and no one suffers any real consequences, then we’ll just write it off as good fun.

The History of National Blame Someone Else Day

This holiday was created by Anne Moeller of Clio, Michigan, in 1982. According to her story, she invented this holiday when her alarm clock failed to go off one day, and this one event led to a chain reaction of bad luck throughout the day.

Because that day happened to be Friday the 13th, this holiday has been celebrated on that date every year. And that, my friends, is how National Blame Someone Else Day began.

Some Facts About Bad Luck

Since the whole basis of this holiday is that bad luck robs a person of their agency, we thought we’d examine bad luck in more detail. After all, if bad luck is really responsible for all the bad things in our lives, then maybe the solution is to learn more about it. With that being said, below are some facts about bad luck that we think people might find interesting. Let’s look at them.

• Mixing beers in the Czech Republic is considered bad luck.
• In some Latin American cultures, it is unlucky to get married on a Tuesday.
• In parts of Europe, a sailor should never light a cigarette from a candle, as it is considered bad luck.
• In Sweden, placing your keys on a table is seen as bad luck.
• In some German Pennsylvanian communities, having a female visitor on New Year’s Day is considered bad luck.
• In Serbia, it is lucky to call a baby ugly. Conversely, it is unlucky to say that they are cute.

Observing National Blame Someone Else Day

On this day, everyone can attribute their failings to bad luck. Your car fails to start, you forget your work gloves, or you didn’t pick up milk from the grocery store? Don’t worry, it’s just bad luck.

Did you forget to put down the toilet seat, fail to leave the pizza delivery driver a tip, or forget to mail out a birthday card? Bad luck. And while you’re taking no responsibility for your actions on this day, be sure to use the hashtag #BlameSomeoneElseDay on social media to spread the word about it online.