
Pineapple Day: How I Started a Global Holiday - phlowbieuq
https://startupandrew.com/posts/how-i-started-pineapple-day-holiday/
======
itcmcgrath
It was 2015 when I first encountered this while working with Andrew and James.
I couldn't find any online info on the origin, and the few Firebasers I asked
couldn't tell me. I feel like I have closure now that it really wasn't a
thing. Or, I guess it was and it really is now.

It's funny how little things can snowball.

------
mayop100
(Pineapple Day founder here :-P)

Thanks for the love HN! Don't forget to set that calendar reminder for
yourself for next June 27th! (and set to repeat annually, of course)!

~~~
Theodores
I really like the creation myth, it is only through real life interactions
such as those you describe that these things happen.

I am also a pineapple fan, I like that chemical fresh pineapple has to remove
the lining from your mouth. No other food items have it and, for that reason,
pineapple is up there with olives, the hemp plant and the banana in 'proving'
that god was a creative fellow.

However, there is a slight problem with the current National Pineapple Day. It
happens during the off-season. Pineapples take two years to grow and you get
just the one rather than a tree full of the things. So I would like to suggest
that Pineapple Day be on a different date to celebrate the growing season.

In Europe we generally get Costa Rica pineapples, I understand that the
Philippines and Thailand supply the U.S. and other markets, with different
breeds of pineapple. Late June is not where the pineapple picking action is
at, the ones we get in the stores at that time of year were picked green and
ripened 'banana style' by ethylene.

People in warm parts of the world can grow their own pineapples, this isn't
going to happen in Norway but what if in sunnier climes you had a pineapple
growing competition in a Firebase sized workplace? It would take two years of
dedication to be in with a chance of winning. Some people don't stick around
in a job for that long. But pineapple plants in a competition could make an
interesting addition to a workplace. This would also build on the history of
the pineapple, which once was a status symbol.

The day is sufficiently trivial enough for people to want to celebrate it.
National New Hampshire Day is never going to be celebrated in Norway. But
pineapple day? Why not?

I also don't see a website for the day. This is important, pineapple awareness
is needed.

So my suggestion is to hook up with people in Costa Rica and to reposition the
day to a time that suits the growing season. Get people growing their own as a
team building thing, furthermore, advance the cause of the pineapple as a
workplace treat that is far better than chocolate, cake and other fattening
nonsense.

The repositioning of the day to something seasonal is in itself a publicity
garnering thing. It gives an excuse to write to people and get them to support
the cause.

We do need to fix a few things by agreement and consensus at a global level so
if we can all agree on a change to a national pineapple day then who knows, we
could put the nuclear weapons away too.

The national pineapple day could also be used to revive using pineapple as a
textile. Clearly 'pineapple silk' lost out to actual silk and other fibres
but, in an age when washing 20,000 plastic fibres from a hoodie into the ocean
is no longer cool, why not use the pineapple day to revive the lost art of
making fancy outfits from pineapple silk?

~~~
mayop100
Needs a website you say? I own pineappleday.org. Hit me up on Twitter if you
want to help make it : )

------
skunkworker
Reminds me of the other fake-but-now real holidays made up by tv shows and
other groups. One example that comes to mind is Parks and Recreation making up
"Galentines" day, and it's pretty much a real holiday by now.

~~~
bb88
Also reminds me of the quotes that Niles said to Frasier when Seattle named a
day after him:

    
    
      Niles: Happy Frasier Crane Day.  Or is it Merry Frasier Crane Day, 
             I can never remember.
      Frasier: Very amusing.
    
      [...]
    
      Frasier: Oh, up late last night?
      Niles: Oh, I'm afraid so, as usual I left it till the last minute 
             to write all my Frasier Crane Day cards!

------
DoreenMichele
_Our recent infusion of Y Combinator investment money had enabled us to switch
our diets from mooching off of my aunt and uncle to actually buying our own
food at the grocery store. This was super exciting, and I was taking full
advantage of this newfound freedom._

I love this bit of the article.

"I can afford groceries" \+ snark = accidentally founding a new holiday

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joezydeco
You can create your own national-whatever day if you talk to the right people
and know about Chase's Calendar of Events.

[https://www.npr.org/templates/transcript/transcript.php?stor...](https://www.npr.org/templates/transcript/transcript.php?storyId=524577372)

Or, just declare your day to be whatever you want. Nobody is checking and I
don't think anybody cares.

------
lyttlerock
It's crazy how these things tend to snowball.

In some ways isn't this how cults get started? Someone picks some arbitrary
and weird thing that "initiates" an individual into an exclusive club. Then
you get that first follower and you're off to the races.

Personally, I'm excited for the cult of the pineapple. It's my favorite fruit.

------
paublyrne
I haven't heard of this day, but having worked in at least one startup with a
marketing department, I know that people in marketing just like people in
software development love things that make their job easier on any given day,
and this is more or less what pineapple day is.

------
piyush_soni
Oh, by the way, it's "International post a comment on Hacker News day" today.
Where's your comment?

------
illtakemychaces
Ow really I never fucking heard of it.

------
throwaway66666
Cool! Did you have fun and learn a lot? Nice, thanks for sharing.

------
maximente
pineapples are pretty ecologically destructive, workers are treated horribly,
mondo pesticides, etc. it's an unfortunate thing to celebrate without raising
awareness of this side of the story.

[https://blogs.nicholas.duke.edu/exploring-green/the-sour-
sid...](https://blogs.nicholas.duke.edu/exploring-green/the-sour-side-of-
pineapple-production/)

~~~
zamadatix
Something worth a million of these types of comments would be a single comment
finding a topic nobody could make such a comment on. These things pretty much
boil down to "don't celebrate because nothing is pure good".

~~~
crispinb
Whereas your response pretty much boils down to "don't worry about physical
reality, just lap up the self-promoting feels of the megaconsuming 1%"

~~~
twic
I'm sorry, i can't hear you over the sound of how enormous my hothouse is:

[https://www.nts.org.uk/visit/places/the-
pineapple](https://www.nts.org.uk/visit/places/the-pineapple)

~~~
crispinb
That's cute. I lived in Scotland for a while and regrettably didn't discover
this. It's a tad more tasteful than my local 'big' thing:
[https://www.discoverballina.com.au/visit/big-
prawn](https://www.discoverballina.com.au/visit/big-prawn)

