International Waffle Day

0:00Today we're heading to Scandinavia for a holiday that started as a religious observance, but ended as a delicious breakfast mistake. Welcome to the National Day Spotlight for March 25. In America, we celebrate National Waffle Day in August, but in Sweden, it's the perfect start to spring. The day was originally meant to honor the Virgin Mary, known as our Lady Day. However, because the local words for our Lady and Waffle sound almost identical, at least in a dialect that wouldn't dare try to pronounce, people began confusing the two. Eventually, the religious feast was replaced by a feast of Christian batter. Before electric appliances, these were a handcrafted luxury using hand-forged waffle irons customized with family crests or religious symbols. The iron would actually brand the family's mark into the food. On Sweden's Waffle Day, we celebrate the happy accidents and the happy metal that make the start of spring so sweet. I had no idea that that's

1:03how Waffle Day started. One or if there's other mispronunciations, like, if you were to say broccoli and I were to say waffle, that eventually you would think broccoli meant waffle and I would eat waffles. And you would much rather eat waffles than broccoli. We're also celebrating National Medal of Honor Day, a National Tolkien reading day. I'm Alice Anderson. And I'm Waffle Anderson with National Day Calendar reminding you to celebrate every day.