Today Is Kiss A Ginger Day

Redheads can rejoice today because it's officially Kiss A Ginger Day.

January 12 marks the one day of the year where people with a red noggin can receive random kisses (Covid-19 safe, obviously) from people.

The annual event has been going on for more than a decade and actually has some pretty sad origins.

Derek Forgie started the trend back in 2009 on a Facebook group to combat the popular Kick A Ginger Day that is held in November.

Days of the Year claims redheads all over the work were subjected to torment and abuse by the day and Derek wanted to inject a bit of fun for his fellow people.

So, he came up with something that might put a smile on their faces by having an annual day where they're celebrated and loved.

Because of the coronavirus pandemic, people on social media tried to re-brand the annual event to Miss A Ginger Day to drive home the message of social distancing.

But the redhead loving doesn't just stop at Kiss A Ginger Day.

There's an annual Redhead Festival held in the Netherlands and it sees hundreds of gingers from around the world come to praise their hair.

Known as Roodharigendag, the event took place in Breda from 2005 to 2018. The festival was moved away from Breda in 2019 and had to be cancelled in 2020 because of Covid-19.

They're hoping this year's festival will be the biggest one yet.

Interestingly, science has revealed redheads look younger than their counterparts.

A study of 350,000 DNA samples by researchers at Edinburgh University found that this is down to the MCR1 gene - one of the nine responsible for making people develop the fiery hair colour, as well as pale skin, freckles and all that jazz.

On average, this gene helps ginger ninjas look two years younger than they actually are... I'll allow you a moment to flick through your ginger catalogue and decide for yourself whether you think they look a tad younger than they should.

If you're in the US, you might also be pleased to know that Hug A Ginger Day is coming up on 20 January.

Topics: News