Depending on who you ask, April 18 may be Banana Day or National Banana Day (in the United States)—not to be confused with World Banana Day (February 21), Banana Bread Day (February 23), Banana Cream Pie Day (March 2), Banana Split Day (August 25), Banana Lovers Day (August 27), or Banana Festival Day (September 29).
In any case, there certainly are a lot of days about bananas, and I always wonder why a particular date is chosen to celebrate something. In this case, I have an answer, and I never ever ever would have guessed. April 18, 1980 is the date on which the southern African country formerly known as Rhodesia became Zimbabwe. The new country’s ceremonial president, who took office that day was…wait for it…Canaan Banana. I am not making this up. That’s not what I thought I was celebrating today, but ¯\_(ツ)_/¯.
