October 6th is a day set aside each year to bring out your silly side while celebrating National Mad Hatter Day.

The fictional character, The Hatter (also known as The Mad Hatter) from Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, is typically acting silly, and that is how the creators of this day decided on their theme of silliness for National Mad Hatter Day. Sir John Tenniel illustrated The Mad Hatter and all of Lewis Carroll’s colorful characters beginning in 1864. Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland was first published in 1865.

The phrase “mad as a hatter” comes from the late 18th and early 19th centuries when haberdasheries used mercury nitrate. The exposure to this metal over time caused the tradesmen to develop symptoms making people believe they were mad.

Taking our inspiration from The Mad Hatter (or any of Carroll’s characters for that matter) we may pursue laughable, absurd, or even confusing adventures on National Mad Hatter Day. Breakout from the usual routine. Ask ridiculous riddles much like The Hatter’s own, “Why is a raven like a writing desk?” Play croquet with plastic pink flamingos or wear a funny hat to work. Celebrate the day with silliness! 

12 FAMOUS HATS YOU SHOULD KNOW

1. First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy’s pink pillbox hat
2. Dr. Seuss’s crooked, red and white striped top hat.
3. Abraham Lincoln’s black stovepipe hat
4. Davy Crockett’s coonskin cap
5. Indian Jone’s fedora
6. The Sorting Hat from Harry Potter
7. Santa Claus’s red and white fur stocking cap
8. Bob Marley’s rasta hat
9. Sherlock Holmes’s deerstalker
10. Marvin the Martian’s helmet
11. Charlie Chaplin’s bowler
12. Willie Wonka’s top hat

Did you know?

Lewis Carroll (a pen name for Charles Lutwidge Dodson) once answered The Hatter’s riddle. In the 1896 edition of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland Carroll wrote as part of his preface, “Because it can produce a few notes, tho they are very flat; and it is nevar put with the wrong end in front!”

NATIONAL MAD HATTER DAY HISTORY

A group of computer technicians in Boulder, Colorado first celebrated Mad Hatter Day in 1986 as a day of silliness. October 6th matches the label tucked in the Mad Hatter’s hat band that reads “In this style 10/6.”

FUN WAYS TO OBSERVE MAD HATTER DAY

Several ideas come to mind for celebrating this fun holiday. For one, grab yourself a top hat and let your silliness out! Try these other fun ideas:

Host a Mad Hatter tea party

Read from Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland

Tell absurd riddles

Attend a production of Alice in Wonderland

Whatever you do, be sure to invite others to join in the fun. Use #MadHatterDay to post on social media.