June 16 Holidays

National Fudge Day celebrates the soft butter-and-sugar candy whose American origin is contested between Vassar College students who “fudged” a caramel recipe in 1886 and a candy-store in Mackinac Island, Michigan, that began hand-paddling fudge on marble slabs the same decade. Bloomsday is the annual celebration of June 16, 1904, the single day on which James Joyce’s novel Ulysses takes place — observed worldwide with readings, re-enactments, and pub crawls in Dublin. International Day of the African Child was established by the Organisation of African Unity in 1991 to mark June 16, 1976, when South African police opened fire on Soweto students protesting Afrikaans-language instruction — killing at least 176 children. International Day of Family Remittances was proclaimed by the UN General Assembly in 2015 to recognize the role of the more than 200 million migrants who send money home, supporting one billion family members. Fudge, a single Dublin day, 176 names, and a wire transfer crossing seven time zones.