WILL YOU CELEBRATE “NATIONAL STEP IN A PUDDLE AND SPLASH YOUR NEIGHBOR DAY”
I do enjoy celebrating Holidays, especially if doing so involves having a party, and I am a firm believer you can have a party for most anything! This Holiday really intrigues me on several levels, though, and I just had to find out a little more about it!
Now, with just a little bit of GOOGLING Research I discovered that no one actually knows when this Holiday began, nor who instituted it. We might be able to say that the person lived in a temperate climate zone, because in much of the country any puddles you would find on January 11th would be frozen, not allowing much splashing to take place!
While we may not know when this became a National Holiday, I have a wonderful explanation as to when it actually first occurred right down to the day, month and year! Now, it will take me a minute or two to prove this, so bear with me a mite while I share how I am able to determine all of this information.
I firmly believe that neighbor splashing was first practiced two hours after Noah closed the door to the Ark! You see, prior to the advent of the Great Flood it had never rained before (Gen. 2:5a – For the Lord God had not caused it to rain), so this would be the first time that folks had even seen a puddle, and, people being people, it is fairly reasonable to assume that someone stepped in a puddle and splashed their neighbor! So, when did this occur? Well, grab your calculators and a cold beverage and we will work it out together!
2020, in the Jewish Calendar, is the year 5780. This means that Creation took place in 3760 BC (5780 – 2020 = 3760). It is estimated that Noah and Adam were contemporaries for 250 years, (http://kingjamesbibledictionary.com/Dictionary/Noah). Now, the Bible states in Genesis 5:5 that Adam was 930 years old when he died, which would mean that he died in 2830 BC (3760 – 930 = 2830). If Noah was alive for 250 of those years, he would have been born in 3080 BC (2830 + 250 = 3080). ARE YOU STILL WITH ME!?! Ok, so Noah was born in 3080 BC, and Genesis 7:11 says, In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened. That means that the Flood started the seventeenth day of the second month of 2480 BC!!!! (3080 – 600 = 2480) How’s THAT for ciphering!
While stepping in a puddle and splashing your Neighbor may not be the best way to treat them, there is some GOOD NEWS regarding dealing with your Neighbors. We know, of course, that interacting with our Neighbors in a positive manner was vitally important to Jesus, for He tells us in Mt. 22:39b, “Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.” Now, if you are a child at heart, splashing your Neighbor may very well help you in fulfilling this verse, for I have never seen a child that didn’t like splashing in a puddle!