Did you know that National Indian Pudding Day, World Kindness day and Sadie Hawkins day are all on November 13th? Did you know these holidays actually existed. International Tongue Twister Day is also on November 13th; it’s a holiday that all countries and all people can celebrate. From the western hemisphere to the eastern hemisphere, one thing we all have in common are fun tongue twisters. It ranges from easy to difficult. According to the Guinness Book of World Records, the most difficult tongue twister in English is “The sixth sick sheik’s sixth sheep’s sick”. Here are our editors attempting some of America’s hardest tongue twisters including the one that Guinness Book of World Records states is the hardest of the English language. Now we’ve taken a couple of people to attempt to tackle the challenge of tongue twisters, by the way you can’t call us, the editors, unfair because we failed as well.
(Maria Martin Picture here) Our first victim is the academic dean for underclassmen, Ms. Maria Martin. When asked where she was born she said, “I was born – ready? – Agua de Obispo Municipio San Juan de los lagos, Jalisco México.” She adds with a smile, “That in itself can be a tongue twister.” Born in a small farm that is a “municipality” of a larger town, technically a city. It has the second largest church in Mexico. When talking about her favorite Mexican holiday, La Candelaria, she says, “You hear a lot about the pilgrimages to the Basilica of our Lady of Guadalupe, which is near the capital [Mexico D.F. aka Mexico City] there is also as many pilgrimages from across the country in the world to the Basilica de Nuestra Señora San Juan [Basilica of Our Lady of San Juan] (…) in that community, in San Juan de Los Lagos, we consider La Candelaria a holiday; not in the same sense that you [americans] think of holidays here in the U.S., it is a religious holiday but people celebrate it beyond the church aspect.” La Candelaria is all about getting together, dancing, food, celebrating together, and welcoming people from all over the world. It has both religious connotations and a rich history behind it. It’s called La Candelaria because when it would be celebrated people would light candles in churches. It used to be only on February 2nd and August 16th. So many people come to the celebration, the amount of people are from all over the country.
While coming back home she’d be “driving for three days, and then your dad wouldn’t even take you home to take a shower. He literally drops you off, you know why he would did that? He would do that so he could get a good night- a good day sleep before he went back to work the next day. But what I loved about the holiday when we were there (…) is all the food! People make a lot of special food for religious holidays. Noche Buena, best food ever. Talk about getting all the aunts and uncles together to make all the tamales, and all the special foods, that’s what made it special,” Ms. Martin has never heard of International Tongue Twister Day, but turns out it’s her daughter’s birthday [November 13th].

Most people would think that it would be difficult to create a feeling of warmth and family solidarity with a holiday like International Tongue Twister Day. In holidays such as Christmas and Thanksgiving there are multiple ways to celebrate that generate feelings of happiness and familiarity. In our interview with librarians Jill Hofmockel, Jennifer Scheivert, and Beth Belding all three agreed that a sense of family and having fun are important parts of the celebration of any holiday.

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Our last contestants are Tasneem Ali and Tasneem Amin. They are both Muslims from Sudan. Tasneem Ali was born and raised in Sudan, she and her family moved her about 3 years ago. Tasneem Amin is also from Sudan, but was born in Saudi Arabia, her family moved to America about one year ago. They both love the Muslim holiday Eid. Eid can be celebrated anywhere where there is faith in the Muslim religion. “Us muslims come together and celebrate in one day”. Tasneem Ali loves Eid because all Muslims come together to celebrate it. It brings them together and they all unite at that day. “I feel like we all become united in that day, we all celebrate the same day.” Tasneem Amin loves the holiday for the same reason but she also loves the exchange of gifts and happiness.
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As you can see the tongue twisters weren’t too difficult, at least until we got to a foreign language. Why not give these interesting tongue twisters a try.