Goose Day!

So, I grew up in the small town called Lewistown, Pennsylvania, where the population is displayed in people and livestock. The way this works is that there is a borough with about 5 villages, the biggest being Lewistown. The population is actually for the 5 villages and as of 2000 was almost 9,000 people. Yes, I realize some of the people I know and love went to high school with just as many people.

In a town so small, you expect it would be off the map for most Google searches that don't include the words "Lewistown", "Pennsylvania", "PA", or "tremendous amounts of rednecks and cattle". However, guess who just made the map? Look at the third search result!

Oh yea, just by typing in "Goose Day", I found my town. However, I also found no information on Goose Day. Hence, I will just try to describe this in my own terms and from my own memory.

Overall, the holiday involves eating geese as a meal on September 29th of every year so that good luck will follow you all year long. Why? I have no idea. Did I learn about it in school? Yes, I did, but they were just copied pages from a textbook that was so old it was hand-illustrated and typed (so there's like 1 copy ever).

My first memory of Goose Day is back in 1993 at Strodes Mills Elementary School in kindergarten with Mrs. Fields (an old grouchy lady with big poofy white/grey hair). We were making Goose Day hats - yes they were lame, even for five year olds. I really had to go to the restroom and Mrs. Fields told me to wait. But I really had to go. Like bad. Of course the memory is a little hazy, but I got in trouble a lot in kindergarten, so I assume I kept asking or something, and she got annoyed. "Sit in that chair and don't move until it is time to leave" I was told. Well, I sat in that chair. I also peed in that chair.

My second distinct memory of Goose Day took place at the church in my town that my neighbor attended. Basically, Goose Day is celebrated by churches and firehalls hosting huge dinner buffet style. There is essentially a Thanksgiving meal, with goose as the meat instead of turkey. I got all my food and my family sat down to eat. I had a weird piece of meat that my dad said must be the goose liver. I tried it. And immediately threw up. At least I made it to the bathroom this time. Honestly, I have not eaten liver since. I have eaten goose, because it's pretty good. Think duckchicken.

Since then, I have only celebrated Goose Day a handful of times, although my family and friends go every year. I guess living in a place that doesn't believe in holidays that no one else anywhere celebrates, dictates that I have no time in my schedule for Goose Day. However, depending on how the year goes, I might have to eat goose in about 362 days.