Celebrating Left Handers Day

Left Handers Day is celebrated annually on August 13, though my left-handed kiddo will tell you we celebrate it all the time. Did you know about 10 percent of the population is left handed?

According to data gathered by leftyfretz.com, the nation with the highest population of lefties is the Netherlands, followed closely by the United States. Other top countries for southpaws include Canada, the United Kingdom and France, all of which had more than 10 percent of their population among the left handed. Apparently just 3.5 percent of the population of China is left handed.

The Left Handers Day website says that it’s thought there are more left handed women than men.

Scientists don’t actually know why people are born left handed, as both genetics and environment seem to play a role. Among those who completed a survey at the Left Handers Day website, 14 percent said their mother was left handed, and 13 percent said their father was. Eleven percent of all left handed people’s direct relatives were also left handed.

Check the website linked above for more interesting left handed facts. I find it interesting that in their survey, 98 percent of respondents said they write or draw with their left hand, but only 68 percent use scissors with their left hand. This is my daughter’s experience, too, as I’m not sure her preschool had left-handed scissors and her teacher just taught her the same way she was teaching everyone else.

If you have a leftie in your life, make them feel special this day! You can celebrate by having all the right-handed students/people in your family attempt to do things with their left hand, or do a little report on a famous left-handed person (a few to choose from: Barak Obama, Oprah Winfrey, Lady Gaga, Bill Gates, Leonardo DaVinci).

Do you celebrate Left Handers Day? I’d love to hear what you do!

[Image by Anna Prosekova from Pixabay]

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Bastille Day Activities for Kids

The celebration of Our Lady of Guadalupe is important throughout Mexico and other parts of the world. Her feast day is Dec. 12, and the celebrations honoring her appearance to Juan Diego in 1531 begin a few days before that.

Whether you celebrate yourself or just want to share about the celebration at home or in your classroom, Las Mañanitas: The Beautiful Celebration of Our Lady of Guadalupe is a good place to start. The book, by Ernesto Joel Vega Rosales and Jeanette Gonzalez Seneviratne, with illustrations by Dana Sanmar, tells the story of a family’s celebration of the feast day in both English and Spanish.

They prepare with a novena, which is nine days of prayers and preparations. The children, Lucia and Pablo, are given special outfits made by their grandmother that look like what Juan Diego might have worn when he saw Our Lady. The book describes the prayers that are made each day, such as a prayer for respect for life, for families and for the indigenous people of the Americas, to name a few.

As told in the book, Juan Diego was a native Mexican born near modern day Mexico City. His given name was Cuaauhtlatoatzin, which means “He who speaks like an eagle.” When he converted to Christianity his name was changed to Juan Diego, and as he walked to church he passed a hill called Tepeyac. One day he heard the birds singing especially beautifully and a voice called him to go to the top of the hill.

There he saw Our Lady of Guadalupe, who asked him to tell the bishop she wanted a chapel built in her name at the foot of the hill. The bishop asked for a sign that Juan Diego really saw her, and later she had him collect flowers that she blessed and take them to the bishop. When Juan Diego dropped the flowers, an image of Our Lady could be seen on his cloak, which is still on display in her basilica to this day.

The feast day is celebrated as mañanitas, which includes singing, indigenous music and dancing, and children presenting flowers to Our Lady. Juan Diego is remembered today as being humble, brave and faithful, and was the first indigenous American made a saint.

The book is colorful and tells the story in a clear way, and it’s fun to have it both in English and Spanish if you teach Spanish or speak Spanish at home or in the classroom. It’s a great way to learn the basics of the celebration and the story of Juan Diego and why he is still remembered today.

About the book: 40 pages, paperback, published 2024 by Loyola Press. Suggested retail price $14.99.

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Have you read?

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