International Pillow Fight Day: More Proof Humans Will Celebrate Anything

International Pillow Fight Day is a thing you may not have known about. The celebration is actually in its seventh year, and according to CBS New York, it culminated in a fun-loving brawl at Washington Square Park.

The pillow fight heard ’round the world took place on Saturday but didn’t start hitting the web until long after the final feather had flown.

The event consists of three primary rules: first off, bring your own pillow; secondly, don’t hit anyone without a pillow; and thirdly, don’t hit anyone with a camera.

Other than that, have fun. And if you’re wondering, “What’s the point?” well, good news. International Pillow Fight Day is actually a way to quickly and effectively raise pillow donations to the homeless.

Last year, organizers told the news site they’d managed to wrangle up 1,500 “slightly used” pillows for distribution to homeless shelters in the Bronx and Brooklyn.

Here’s what some of the participants from this year’s event had to say about their involvement in comments to CBS New York.

“It’s just a way to let off some steam and just, have some fun; something different, safe type fun.

“The largest pillow fight I’ve ever been in was like three people; very pathetic. But this is, this is a big deal.

“You can’t do this stuff as an adult, nobody’s going to be OK with that… This as close as it gets to relieving some tension.”

While International Pillow Fight Day is a very good cause, as it turns out, it’s also further proof that as human beings, we’ll celebrate anything.

If you need more evidence, just look to International Masturbation Month (which is every May). The Inquisitr reported on this unique holiday last year.

It’s been around for 21 years as of next month.

According to Good Vibrations staff sexologist Carol Queen — one of the minds behind the celebration — it was created because there’s too much “shame and opprobrium” that goes along with the idea, in spite of the fact that virtually everyone does it.

In comments to Salon, Queen said that “it’s not rare, yet when someone notable says something neutrally, carefully respectful about it, they get the axe.”

One such occurrence that Queen is referring to served as the impetus for the event and involved Dr. Jocelyn Elders, the then-US surgeon general, who in 1994 said masturbation is “something that perhaps should be taught about in sex-ed curricula.”

From there, National Masturbation Month was created. Over time, it became so popular that the National was dropped for International, and it’s now a global event.

Aside from this and International Pillow Fight Day, what are some of the weirdest celebrations that you have ever hear about/participated in?

[Image via Flickr Creative Commons]