The calendar is a little bit lopsided in terms of holidays. The time between Halloween and St. Patrick's Day is a nonstop parade of excuses to mainline candy, booze and gravy. But as we finally regain our vision from our St. Patty's shenanigans, we also sober up to the fact that we're entering the holiday snore zone, a time frame filled with boring and indiscriminate holidays like Father's, Grandparent's and Administrative Professionals' Day (formally Secretary's Day).

So what can we do about it? Do we really just want to try to hold on until the Fourth of July? Hell no. We need new holidays.

That's why someone had the good sense to make March 26 Make Your Own Holiday Day. To help you get the ball rolling, we talked to Erni Walker and Chris Canty, creators of Meat Week. Meat Week is burgeoning holiday, already in its fifth year. It even includes 11 chapters across the country, so we figured there was no one better to give us some pointers on how to create a successful holiday.

Choosing Something to Celebrate
If you're having a hard time thinking of something to celebrate, get a random word generator. The words "Meat" and "Week" were paired by fate on the random-word-generator program we were using to distract ourselves from work. We thought, "Hey, that would be an amazing week! How would you celebrate?" Well, by eating BBQ of course. So we wrote it down and committed to it. That was the beginning.

Learn how to build a following as well as holiday spirit, after the jump.

Get Ridiculous
The most popular holidays have ridiculous elements like bunnies, elves or excuses for men to dress up like their favorite Golden Girl. Of all the war-/battle-/vet-based holidays, the Fourth of July rocks the hardest simply because it gives grown-up people a chance to light s**t on fire. If an Arbor Day tradition were to pee on trees, people would look forward to it or at least know when it was. We attribute much of Meat Week's success to the fact that it's eight days of relentless meat-eating. Like an inverted vision quest, people like the challenge and feel a sense of accomplishment by participating. One day of BBQ is good, but eight days of BBQ is ridiculous.

Include a Food
What Thanksgiving lacks in ridiculousness it makes up for in eats. It's the only thing that's prevented it from going the way of Columbus Day. All the successful holidays have a food attached to them. The deviled eggs and cheese-baked casseroles are enough to get anyone hyped about a funeral, so even if your holiday isn't centered on a food, find one to tie to it and people will take notice.



Getting People to Celebrate
The main ingredients are excitement, commitment and camaraderie. Excitement is contagious and should never waver. When we started Meat Week, we definitely spread the word that we were going do this and everyone was welcome, but people didn't really start showing up in masses until they saw we were serious about it. You have to be so into it that you are willing to go it alone. It's the same way Jesus got all his holidays started. Also, a Web site doesn't hurt.

Create Traditions, Not Rules
With Meat Week, we always try to emphasize that it's not a regional thing. Although it's born of our southern upbringings, every nation around the world has a style of BBQ, and we're willing to try them all. We love seeing new traditions evolve from all the different chapters. Allow room for everyone to make your holiday their own and worship as they see fit. Not imposing rules and embracing others' traditions is what makes it viable, gives it a life of its own and the ability to grow.

Be All-Inclusive
Consider what about your holiday might offend a certain segment of the population and find a way to include them. For us it was the ever-growing population of vegetarians. We go out of our way to make sure they know they're welcome to the table. We call it 'ghost-riding' Meat Week. For veggies, it's a celebration of BBQ sides. Much like being a Christmas-Jew, it allows them to feel the spirit but skip the pork.

Warmth and Holiday Spirit
Enthusiasm is 99 percent of it. If people see that you're committed to your cause, that it comes from a place of pure love, they will want in. The world can always use another excuse to come together and celebrate. You just have to come up with something to give it focus and to believe in. Delicious, delicious BBQ just happens to be our reason for the season ... ing.

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