In the UK, Monday January 16th 2023 was the so-called Blue Monday. It is said to be the most depressing day of the year, as Christmas and New Year holidays are fast disappearing in the rear view mirror, and it is nearly 90 days until the next public holiday on Good Friday (April 7th).
Does that make Blue Monday the most boring day of the year in the world? It can’t be as America always observes a holiday for Martin Luther King Jr. on the third Monday in January.
But hold up, just two days later, on Wednesday January 18th, we had the first day of the year where no single country or region is taking time off for a holiday.
Looking through the calendar, there are another seven working days when no country or region in the world will observe a public holiday, meaning in theory, we are all working.
- Wednesday Jan 18th
- Friday Mar 10th: Update – now a regional holiday in Nigeria
- Tuesday Mar 28th
- Thursday May 11th
- Tuesday Aug 22nd
- Tuesday Sep 12th
- Wednesday Sep 13th
- Thursday Oct 19th
So is January 18th the most boring day of the year? Maybe…
Immediately we can discount Friday March 10th. Apart from the fact that is Mario Day, it is a Friday, which is a weekend in most countries in the Middle East.
Also any day that takes place when many people are enjoying their summer holidays seems like it can’t be that boring, so we can take August 22nd out of the running.
Looking at what’s left:
Weds Jan 18th – A few days after this date, we will celebrate one of the biggest holidays of the year, Lunar New Year. In fact, many people in south-east Asia will already be on the move in preparation for the holiday, leading to the world’s biggest annual human migration.
Tuesday Mar 28th – The week before is Novruz, Persian New Year, and it’s 10 days until Easter.
Thursday May 11th – A week after is Ascension, a widely observed Christian holiday.
Tuesday Sep 12th and Wednesday 13th – Two boring days in a row, in a quiet week that ends with five central American countries observing their independence, followed a day later by the Jewish festival of Rosh Hashanah.
Thurs Oct 19th – This is another quiet week, but the calm before the holiday storm, as the week ends with the start of the Chung Yeung Festival and the twin Hindu festivals of Durga Puja and Dussehra.
To further confuse matters, experience shows us that a couple of these days will have public holidays announced on their dates. It might be an election, or a sport victory, or to bridge a Friday holiday, which means the two Thursdays are under threat.
Considering the above, the most boring day is going to either September 12th or 13th. We looked at some studies as to what the most boring day between Tuesday and Wednesday. The studies were split, so we think it is the Tuesday as that is the start of a 48 hour boring period.
Therefore we totally unofficially declare that Tuesday September 12th is the most boring day of 2023!
