May 29 – Put a Pillow on Your Fridge Day

I know this is going to sound crazy, but I’m going to wish you a Happy Put a Pillow on Your Fridge Day!

This is supposed to be an old custom dating back to when people needed to cover their larder with a cloth to bring good luck for the upcoming year. In the 1930’s it evolved to putting a pillow in the fridge and later to putting a pillow on the fridge. So if you are least bit superstitious, be sure to cover your larder tonight with a pillow.

To celebrate today, you might start by reading a picture book or two about silliness and superstitions surrounding food.

The Seven Silly Eaters written by Mary Ann Hoberman and illustrated by Marla Frazee (2000)

Poor Mrs. Peters has a household of very picky eaters. Each child will eat only one thing, each one sillier than the one before. Mrs. Peters works every day preparing the food that everyone will eat, but no one seems to think about their poor mother. Finally on the night before her birthday, she drags herself to bed. The next day her seven silly eaters get up early to  make their mother a birthday surprise. Each child is going to make their own favorite food for their mother, but as one thing leads to another, the kitchen is a mess and everything gets dumped into one pot and baked in the oven. When it comes out, everyone agrees that it is the most wonderful birthday cake they have ever tasted. From then on Mrs. Peters only has to make one thing that everyone will love!

Heckedy Peg written by Audrey Wood and illustrated by Don Wood (1992)

“Down the dusty roads and far away, a poor mother once lived with her seven children named Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.” The children are all good and kind. They help with the chores and always listen to their mother. As a reward for being so good, their mother promises each one of them something special from the market. When she leaves, she reminds the children not to let a stranger in the house and not to touch the fire. But as happens when a mother leaves seven children alone, they get into trouble. When an old woman named Heckedy Peg hobbles to their window, the children are tricked into unlocking the door to let the old woman light her pipe. As they run around the room with lit pieces of straw, Heckedy Peg turns each of them each into a delicious dish she will eat when she gets home.  When the children’s mother comes home and sees what has happened she tracks the old witch back to her hut in the woods and knocks on the door just as Heckedy Peg is about to sit down to her supper. The witch points to the table and tells the mother that if she can guess which food is which child they will return to normal. Of course, the mother knows her children well and guesses each one correctly by what they wanted from the market. And so she gets her children back and they chase the old woman down to the river where she jumps off the bridge and is never seen again.