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  • Writer's pictureJace Shoemaker-Galloway

Yellow Pig Day: A Real Porker of a Holiday!


Are you ready to go hog wild? When it comes to unusual holiday, today takes the cake. July 17 is Yellow Pig Day – no fooling!

Legend has it, Princeton University graduate students, Michael Spivak and David Kelly, came up with the wacky idea back in the 60s. The twosome were working on the interesting properties of the number 17 and came up with a fictional pig character that had 17 teeth, toes, eyelashes, etc. No one is quite sure how or why they came up with the figure, but that's part of the fun! While animals of a different hue are nothing new (purple cows, blue bunnies and pink elephants, for instance), this little piggy was yellow.

Today, campuses across the United States celebrate Yellow Pig Day with Yellow Pig Cakes and Yellow Pig Carols. While yellow pigs may not be flying in your neck-of-the-woods, today is a great day to brush up on those mathematical skills and/or let your imagination run wild!

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