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NATIONAL CHEESEBALL DAY - NATIONAL CRAWFISH DAY - NATIONAL HAIKU POETRY DAY - April 17
National Day Calendar ^ | April 17, 2025 | Staff

Posted on 04/17/2025 5:56:58 AM PDT by Red Badger

NATIONAL CHEESEBALL DAY

April 17th kicks off National Cheeseball Day and recognizes a party food that can sometimes be the centerpiece of a spread. You can choose from two ways to celebrate, too! Or plan your party and serve both!

#NationalCheeseballDay

A cheese spread comes in the shape of a ball served with crackers, most often around Christmas in the U.S. This cheeseball is commonly made with softened cream cheese and other ingredients.

Cheese puffs are a puffed corn snack coated with a mixture of cheese or cheese-flavored powders. Cheese puffs are manufactured by extruding heated corn dough through a die that forms the particular shape, most likely a ball shape.

No matter which one you celebrate, both make for terrific snacking.

HOW TO OBSERVE NATIONAL CHEESEBALL DAY

Pick your favorite type of cheese ball and get snacking.

Share your favorite with someone.

Make up your favorite cheeseball recipe or snack on the cheese puff variety. The choice is yours!

If you're looking for a recipe, we've found one for you to try, too. Easy Bacon Cheese Ball Recipe

Be sure to share your favorite recipes. There're so many to choose from.

Celebrate the day by making a cheeseball for friends and family. They even make for fantastic leftovers.

Remember to share a picture of your cheeseball on Social Media using #NationalCheeseballDay.

NATIONAL CHEESE BALL DAY HISTORY

National Day Calendar continues to research the origins of this splendid food holiday.

Cheeseball FAQ

Q. How do I prevent crackers from breaking when scooping from the cheeseball?

A. A cheese knife should be used to carve a bit of the cheeseball away and spread it on the cracker. Also, allow the cheeseball to come to room temperature before serving.

Q. Can I freeze any leftover cheeseballs?

A. Yes. To avoid causing the cheese to dry out, first wrap it well with freezer wrap. Then chill in the refrigerator for several hours. Store in an air-tight freezer-safe container and store in the freezer for up to a month.

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NATIONAL CRAWFISH DAY

National Crawfish Day on April 17th celebrates one of the South's most iconic foods. Each year the mudbug brings out not only a desire for newspaper-covered picnic tables but a language all its own.

#NationalCrawfishDay

A smaller, fresh-water cousin to the lobster, crawfish provide a unique flavor to many homegrown Southern dishes. Baked or boiled, crawfish is usually seasoned with a distinctive brand of southern heat. One particularly popular way to serve crawfish is a boil, paper towels required.

If you've never been to a crawfish boil, you don't understand the meaning of digging into your food. An unbridled desire overcomes you as the aroma hits you to devour a massive pile of corn, potatoes, and sausage. And let's not forget a variety of shellfish that go by names such as ditchbug, crayfish, crawdad, crawpappy, among other amusements.

HOW TO OBSERVE NATIONAL CRAWFISH DAY

time or the thousandth, celebrate with family and friends.

Whether you experience crawfish for the first

Enjoy a delicious crawfish boil or crawfish tails.

As you celebrate, share your family favorite recipes, too!

Listen to the interview on Celebration Voices.

Use #NationalCrawfishDay to post on social media.

NATIONAL CRAWFISH DAY HISTORY

Shell Shack founded National Crawfish Day on April 17, 2020, to celebrate one of Southern culture's most beloved native foods. They encourage everyone to get out during the peak season to indulge in a crawfish boil surrounded by friends and family.

Shell Shack Logo

The Registrar at National Day Calendar proclaimed National Crawfish Day to be observed on April 17th, annually.

*****************************************************************************

NATIONAL HAIKU POETRY DAY

Observed annually on April 17, National Haiku Poetry Day encourages all to try their hand in creativity. Haiku poetry is a form of Japanese poetry that is non-rhyming and usually consists of 3 lines with a syllable pattern of 5-7-5. Usually, an element of nature, a season, a moment of beauty, or an individual experience inspires haiku poems. Sensory language is used to capture a feeling, image, or moment.

#NationalHaikuPoetryDay

From Haiku: This Other World

Richard Wright (1908-1960)

Whitecaps on the bay: A broken signboard banging In the April wind.

As one of the world's oldest and regularly used poetry, some recognizable poets wrote many haiku. While the most well-known is Matsuo Basho, others we may recognize are William Blake, T.S. Eliot, or Maya Angelou. And as small as the poem may be, it can be quite challenging to write. Try capturing an entire moment or emotion in 17 syllables and getting it right.

However, English haiku does not always follow the strict syllable count found in Japanese haiku. The typical length of haiku in English language journals is 10-14 syllables versus the 5-7-5 syllables used in the Japanese language.

HOW TO OBSERVE NATIONAL HAIKU POETRY DAY

Create a haiku poem of your own!

Share your inspiration with others.

Take a walk and draw from the world around you.

Encourage friends to join you and share your haiku.

Be sure to include one or two senses in your poems, such as touch or sound.

Spend time reading haiku poetry too.

Post your Haiku poem on social media using #NationalHaikuPoetryDay.

Educators, visit the National Day Calendar® Classroom for a project to help you Celebrate Every Day.

NATIONAL HAIKU POETRY DAY HISTORY

Sari Granstaff registered National Haiku Poetry Day in 2007, and The Haiku Foundation implemented the day as a project in 2012.

Haiku FAQ

Q. Does haiku have to rhyme?

A. No. While haiku poems usually don't rhyme, they do incorporate elements of poetry such as rhythm, emotion, and occasionally rhyme.

Q. Is a haiku always about nature?

A. No, but usually there is some element of nature included in the poem. Haiku is usually inspired by nature. However, some poets draw from the haiku style for more industrial types of poems.

************************************************************************

Notable Birthdays for April 17

Alexander Cartwright (1820-1892) - Disputed inventor of the game of baseball.

J. P. Morgan (1837-1913) - Founder of the J.P. Morgan & Co.

Arthur Lake (1905-1987) - Actor best remembered for bringing Dagwood Bumstead, the husband of Blondie, to life.

George Davis (1914-1984) - Art director who designed the set for The Diary of Anne Frank (1960).

Bud Paxson (1935-2015) - Founder of the Home Shopping Network.

Memorable Events for April 17

1688 - Francis Daniel Pastorius presents the first formal written protest (Germantown Quaker Petition Against Slavery) against slavery in English colonies.

1775 - Paul Revere warns Samuel Adams and John Hancock that British troops were marching from Boston (MA) to Lexington (KY).

1924 - The first crossword puzzle book is published by Simon & Schuster.

1942 - The Stars & Stripes newspaper for U.S. armed forces begins publication.


TOPICS: Agriculture; Food; History; The Poetry Branch
KEYWORDS: nationalnationalday

1 posted on 04/17/2025 5:56:58 AM PDT by Red Badger
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To: Diana in Wisconsin; SunkenCiv

A three-fer!.......................


2 posted on 04/17/2025 5:57:22 AM PDT by Red Badger (Homeless veterans camp in the streets while illegals are put up in 5 Star hotels....................)
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To: Red Badger

Bub had a sweet tooth
That gave him a belly ache
Why crawfish cheesecake?


3 posted on 04/17/2025 6:02:04 AM PDT by z3n (Kakistocracy)
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To: Red Badger
Had I known, I’d have thrown a party!

I and my guests could sit around and eat crawdad gumbo and cheese balls.

Too late to do the cooking and prep now - let alone send out the invites…

4 posted on 04/17/2025 6:05:09 AM PDT by GaltAdonis
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To: Red Badger

No one could butcher Haiku like my late FIL.
Here’s to you, Pop!


5 posted on 04/17/2025 6:12:39 AM PDT by ComputerGuy ( )
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To: Red Badger

Is Haiku
What it is?


6 posted on 04/17/2025 6:14:23 AM PDT by clee1 (We use 43 muscles to frown, 17 to smile, and 2 to pull a trigger. I'm lazy and don't wish to smile.)
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To: clee1

It’s a Japanese poetry form...............


7 posted on 04/17/2025 6:16:15 AM PDT by Red Badger (Homeless veterans camp in the streets while illegals are put up in 5 Star hotels....................)
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8 posted on 04/17/2025 6:17:07 AM PDT by deport
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To: Red Badger

Yes.... i knew that.

Apparently my haiku skills are not up to par.😇


9 posted on 04/17/2025 6:19:29 AM PDT by clee1 (We use 43 muscles to frown, 17 to smile, and 2 to pull a trigger. I'm lazy and don't wish to smile.)
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To: Red Badger

I see it as being “Global April 17th Day” (2025). Nothing more and nothing less all day long.


10 posted on 04/17/2025 6:25:08 AM PDT by equaviator (If 60 is the new 40 then 35 must be the new 15.)
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To: Red Badger

Cheese ball ~ party food
Crawfish ~ distinctive shellfish
Haiku ~ poetry


11 posted on 04/17/2025 6:26:46 AM PDT by FamiliarFace (I got my own way of livin' But everything gets done With a southern accent Where I come from. TPetty)
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To: Red Badger

Evil gray squirrel
I will bite you hard one day
Until then I wait

My one and only Haiku written for my Yellow Labrador, Lucy, when I saw her waiting under a tree for a squirrel.

She did eventually catch a few. Everybody needs a hobby.


12 posted on 04/17/2025 6:38:29 AM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin (I don't have, 'Hobbies.' I'm developing a robust Post-Apocalyptic skill set.)
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To: clee1
These are three Haikus I wrote back in 2009:

Barak is President
The country is failing
I am sad

The ears protrude
Telepromters break
Nobody laughs

The Marxist Kenyan
Tells us lies
All your money are belong to us


I have never had a great attraction for Haikus...although I suspect they are more impactful to Japanese when written in Japanese.

I do, however, have a great relish for limericks, which I enjoy! My girlfriend (when I was in college) got me a matched set of two hardcover books of Limericks, full of all kinds, including many very raunchy ones! They have them indexed and listed in categories ranging from Fellatio and Nun Sex to Joan Crawford or Gardening,

I admit to being mostly interested in political ones for many years now, a category which just calls out for limericks for some reason. Here are a few of those I have written:

Trump’s the New Sheriff in Town
Facing off, tells the libs to throw down
Their Birkenstocks shake
And their knees and hands quake
And their pants turn a dark shade of brown!

The Left cannot stand Donald Trump
And the Leftists constantly grump
We can't take him down
There's no staffer he drown'd
Let's find him an intern to hump!

The Left tells us Orange Man Bad
He's a puss-grabbing billionaire Cad
But Tump Tweets with a grin
As he sucks them all all in
"Your Liberal Tears make me glad!"


A country corrupt like Ukraine
Caught up in it’s own corrupt pain
Tries to empty the banks
With insults not thanks
For those who won’t make money rain


There was a young man duty calls
He walks through some government halls
A brain like a trap
That can see Leftist crap
And he goes by the name of "Big Balls"!

A Nantucket guy working with DOGE
Had some stones that rivaled his hose
They call him "Big Balls"
And he broke through their walls
Cause for grifting he had quite a nose

13 posted on 04/17/2025 6:56:44 AM PDT by rlmorel ("A people that elect corrupt politicians are not victims...but accomplices." George Orwell)
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To: Diana in Wisconsin

That’s a great haiku!


14 posted on 04/17/2025 7:33:07 AM PDT by FamiliarFace (I got my own way of livin' But everything gets done With a southern accent Where I come from. TPetty)
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To: rlmorel

I like Ukraine limerick the best.


15 posted on 04/17/2025 7:35:43 AM PDT by FamiliarFace (I got my own way of livin' But everything gets done With a southern accent Where I come from. TPetty)
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To: Red Badger

LOL, what a glorious day.

Not fond of cheese balls - too hard to use as a cracker spread, prefer dip.

We don’t have crawfish in California - but I enjoy them when I visit Louisiana.


16 posted on 04/17/2025 8:22:27 AM PDT by Bon of Babble (You Say You Want a Revolution?)
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To: FamiliarFace
The Ukraine one was written before the Little Grifter came here...it sure seems to fit, doesn't it?

There is something about the cadence of limericks that resonates with me...I just wrote this one in about five minutes!

An Illegal beat up his wife
Whose excuse was El Salvador strife
But Trump saw right through it
Sent him to CECOT's pit
Where his buds will stick him with a knife!

17 posted on 04/17/2025 12:51:57 PM PDT by rlmorel ("A people that elect corrupt politicians are not victims...but accomplices." George Orwell)
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To: rlmorel

You’re pretty talented with the limericks!

Next you could add music to them, and they’d become hit songs! ;)


18 posted on 04/17/2025 1:18:43 PM PDT by FamiliarFace (I got my own way of livin' But everything gets done With a southern accent Where I come from. TPetty)
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To: Red Badger

Cheeseball tastes so good
Extra creamy on the tongue
But not with crawfish


19 posted on 04/17/2025 3:59:15 PM PDT by dinodino ( Cut it down anyway. )
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