September 8 Holidays

International Literacy Day was established by UNESCO in 1966 to mark September 8, 1965, when the World Conference of Ministers of Education on the Eradication of Illiteracy was held in Tehran — today, an estimated 773 million adults worldwide lack basic literacy skills. National Iguana Awareness Day was established to raise awareness for the green iguana — a popular but frequently surrendered pet whose adult length of five to seven feet, specialized diet, and 20-year lifespan are rarely anticipated by impulse buyers. National Dog Walker Appreciation Day was created to honor the professional dog walkers who provide daily exercise, socialization, and companionship for dogs whose owners work long hours. National Ampersand Day celebrates the “&” character — derived from “et,” the Latin word for “and,” whose ligature evolved through medieval scribal shorthand into the typographic glyph that appears in more brand names than any other punctuation mark. 773 million missing readers, a five-foot lizard, a dog on a leash, and a glyph.