Wombats and ice cream for the first Souther!

Happy Souther!  What's Souther?  It's a holiday that I first described in For Winter Solstice 2016, the Archdruid and I discuss Discordianism and fake holidays.

Druids would likely demand a Souther and a Norther, too, with a Souther Wombat and a Norther Lemming as animal mascots; I'll leave you to decide what if anything they do with goodies.
...
Ah, but which solstice gets which holiday?  At first, I was not amused by your suggestion, as I thought one parody holiday was enough.  Then I slept on it and not only was I OK with it, I decided that Norther would come after the Winter Solstice and Souther would come after the Summer Solstice.  Why would a lemming visit in the middle of summer?  Norther would usually have little competition for holidays, at least in the U.S., most of the time.  Next year, it would fall on January 15th, the day before MLK Day.  Not a bad three-day weekend!  Souther, on the other hand, falls in more crowded field.  Next year, it would be July 16th, after a long series of patriotic holidays, Canada Day, 4th of July, and Bastille Day.  Oh, well, why not another reason to celebrate?

As for the animals' actions, lemmings could stampede off a cliff and drop presents into the sea.  I don't know what a stereotypical wombat thing to do is other than be the alternative to a panda for a joke about an animal that "eats roots, shoots, and leaves."  Maybe eats roots, shoots, and leaves presents?

Greer professed ignorance and wisely asked for someone else to inform us.

Pinku-sensei, we'll have to ask Cherokee for advice on the behavior of wombats. I admire them but have no personal experience of them.

Cherokee Organics chimed in.

Hi JMG and Pinku-Sensei,

Ooo, I do like the idea of a Souther wombat minor deity. Very cool. And thanks for the suggestion.

More on wombats tomorrow evening! ;-)! I'm busy writing a day early this evening.

That might have been helpful.  Unfortunately, what he responded with had more to do with Greer's "Wombat of Entropy" than the kind of holiday animal I had in mind.  Read about Fatso the Wombat at his blog.  Oh, well, I have until July to figure out the story for the Souther Wombat.

"So that's the story of how I'm celebrating a fake holiday that the Archdruid came up with" was how I ended the tale in Good news for animals in entertainment on the first Norther!  It has now become the story of why I'm celebrating a second fake holiday that the Archdruid came up with.  Never say that Greer hasn't had a lasting effect on my blogging.

As for what wombats would do on Souther, I let National Day Calendar decide that for me.  Fortunately, today is National Ice Cream Day.

National Ice Cream Day is observed each year on the 3rd Sunday in July and is a part of National Ice Cream Month.  This day is a fun celebration enjoyed with a bowl, cup or cone filled with your favorite flavor of ice cream.

Thousands of years ago, people in the Persian Empire would put snow in a bowl, pour grape-juice concentrate over it and eat it as a treat.  They did this when the weather was hot and used the snow saved in the cool-keeping underground chambers known as “yakhchal”, or taken from the snowfall that remained at the stop of mountains by the summer capital.

It is believed that ice cream was first introduced into the United States by Quaker colonists who brought their ice cream recipes with them.  Their ice cream was sold at shops in New York and other cities during the colonial era.

Ben Franklin, George Washington and Thomas Jefferson enjoyed ice cream.

• 1813 -First Lady Dolley Madison served ice cream at the Inaugural Ball.
• 1832 – African American confectioner, Augustus Jackson, created multiple ice cream recipes as well as a superior technique to manufacture ice cream.
• 1843 – Philadelphian, Nancy Johnson, received the first U.S. patent for a small-scale hand-cranked ice cream freezer.
• 1920 – Harry Burt puts the first ice cream trucks on the streets.

...
In 1984, President Ronald Reagan proclaimed July as National Ice Cream Month and established National Ice Cream Day as the third Sunday in the month of July.

That settles it.  Souther will be celebrated with ice cream.*  Follow over the jump for Tipsy Bartender recipes for ice cream drinks, which I promised I would do at the end of Tipsy Bartender recipes for National Mojito Day.

I begin with last year's Summer Ice Cream Party.

Celebrate summer with these amazing ice cream drinks!!!
...
SUMMER ICE CREAM PARTY
Strawberry:
1 oz. (30ml) Cake Vodka
1 oz. (30ml) Strawberry Vodka
Strawberry Ice Cream
Strawberry Frosting
Cookie and Cookie Crumbs
Diced Strawberry
Whipped Cream
Strawberry Syrup

Chocolate:
1 oz. (30ml) Cake Vodka
1 oz. (30ml) Chocolate Vodka
Chocolate Ice Cream
Chocolate Frosting
Cookie and Cookie Crumbs
Sprinkles
Whipped Cream
Chocolate Syrup

Vanilla:
1 oz. (30ml) Cake Vodka
1 oz. (30ml) Vanilla Vodka
Vanilla Ice Cream
Vanilla Frosting
Cookie and Cookie Crumbs
Sprinkles
Whipped Cream
Caramel Syrup

That's not all.  Tipsy Bartender has lots of drinks that use ice cream.   Here are the two most recent that also have a recipe posted, beginning with Oreo Mint Meltdown.**

Here's the recipe:

OREO MINT MELTDOWN
2 oz. (60ml) Chocolate Vodka
1 1/2 oz. (45ml) Creme De Menthe
Vanilla Ice Cream
Mint Oreo Filling (5)
Whipped Cream
Crushed Oreos
Mint Leaves
Chocolate Syrup

PREPARATION
1. Add ice cream, mint oreo fillings, chocolate vodka and creme de menthe to blender and combine until smooth.
2. Decorate inside of glass with chocolate syrup and pour mix inside.
3. Garnish with whipped cream, oreo mint leaves and crushed oreos. Enjoy responsibly!

Now, Kahlua and Cream Milkshake.

Here's the recipe:

KAHLÚA AND CREAM MILKSHAKE
2 oz (60ml) Coffee Liqueur
2 oz (60ml) Vanilla Vodka
Vanilla Ice Cream
Whipped Cream
Sprinkles

PREPARATION
1. Add ice cream, vanilla vodka and coffee liqueur to blender. Combine until smooth.
2. Pour mix into glass and top with whipped cream, sprinkles and a drizzle of coffee liqueur. Enjoy responsibly!

Normally, I'd stop here, but I found a video titled Wombat eats icecream, which is perfect for today.


That's actually a woodchuck or groundhog, which I use along with the wombat as an example of convergent evolution between placentals and marsupials, so it's not completely deceptive.  It also connects this day with Groundhog Day, another seasonal day involving an animal.

I'm not through posting drink recipes.  I plan on doing so on the 19th, which is National Daiquiri Day.  As Skyy would say, stay tipsy my friends!

*Next year, Souther (the first Sunday after the first full moon after the Summer Solstice) will fall on July 1, Canada Day.  However, it's also the first day of National Ice Cream Month.  Even better, in 2019, Souther will fall on July 21, which will once again be National Ice Cream Day.  Souther will fall on July 12 in 2020, which is still during National Ice Cream Month, so Souther and ice cream still works.  Only in 2021 will it not be during July, falling on June 27.  By that time, the tradition will be set.  Ice cream and Souther for as long as there's ice cream!

**There is a more recent one, Oreo and Irish Cream Shake, but Skyy forgot to include the recipe.  Oops.