It’s summer time! After a spring that flirted with being hot or cold, there is lots of sunshine in our future. Thankfully, there is a holiday coming Saturday, June 18th that is going to help us get into the summer spirit: International Picnic Day. If you want to know how to celebrate, it is pretty simple: get out from under that blanket, and go sit on top of one! Now before I try to convince you to partake in a picnic Saturday, I want to dive deeper into the origins of this manner of eating.
Let’s get some of the facts from its origin:
- The start of picnics occurred post-French Revolution, when royal parks became open to the public.
- After debate of the word being problematic, etymologists confirm the word originates from the word “pique-nique” which literally means to eat a meal outdoors.
- For those in the Southern Hemisphere, the picnic has evolved into a Christmas tradition to celebrate the warm holiday season.
- In 1955, the film Picnic starring William Holden and Kim Novak picked up six Oscar nominations and won 2 of the 6
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The largest picnic ever was held in Portugal on 20 June 2009, where 22,232 people picnicked
