Show some respect, if you can muster it.Photo: Jed Egan
As you walk to work today, think twice before you kick that pigeon standing in your path — it’s National Pigeon Day, you know! Yes, there actually is such a thing, and its celebrants are gathering from 4 to 8 p.m. at Pilgrim Hill in Central Park today to honor those winged harbingers of shit and disease. That’s four hours of pigeon-specific festivities, including “entertainment, political activism, materials distribution, candlelight prayer service with guitar accompaniment and pigeon shaped cookies.” Did you hear that? FREE COOKIES! But before you get the treats, you do have to sit through some pigeon-related sermons. According to the National Pigeon Day blog (dude, if the birds have their own day, of course they’re going to have their own blog), scriptures will be read from Proverbs, Genesis, Deuteronomy, Exodus, and, our favorite, Job 12: 7–10, “Ask the birds, ask the beasts and they will teach you.”
If a communal gathering for pigeon cookies and birdie scriptures creeps you out, you could just pay homage to our city’s iconic pests by checking out some of “Pigeon Genius” on YouTube. But honestly, we got about twelve seconds in before all the flock footage made us get all panicky like Tippi Hedren and we had to shut it off. Maybe there’s no way to celebrate Pigeon Day within the comfort zone? Maybe that’s the point? —Jessica Coen
It’s National Pigeon Day [TierneyLab]
