Celebrate Rat Catcher’s Day Every July 22
Rat catchers have a truly unenviable job, chasing down and trapping the vermin we can all agree need to stay far, far away from our homes.
So they definitely deserve their own day. And they have one: Rat Catcher’s Day.
Although the day actually commemorates the myth of the Pied Piper of Hamelin, modern-day rat catchers also deserve to be celebrated this day.
The actual date of the celebration may be either every July 22 or every June 26. Different countries seem to use different dates. The town of Hamelin apparently celebrates in June.
Why Rat Catcher’s Day
Although there’s no question rat catchers should be celebrated, the day is actually related to the myth of the Pied Piper of Hamelin.
According to legend, the townspeople of Hamelin, Germany had a rat problem. A really big rat problem. So they hired a stranger to get rid of the rats. He did so by playing his flute, leading the rats away from the town and into the river, where they drowned.
But then they wouldn’t pay him. So he came back to town and played his flute again. This time the town’s children followed him away and they all disappeared. Depending on the version of the story you hear, either the children were never seen again or the Pied Piper returned them once he got paid.
Either way, the town then remembered this day each year.
The town’s remembrance day may be based on a real event. It does appear that the town lost many/most/all of their children in some tragedy sometime around the 13th century. There are many theories about what happened, but nobody knows the true story. At some point the Pied Piper legend was created to explain the loss.
The reason for the difference in celebration dates also comes from differences in the various versions of the story. The original legend apparently sets the date of the children’s disappearance as June 26, 1284. Robert Browning turned the legend into a poem and cited the date as July 22, 1376.
Other versions list June 26 as the date he rid the town of rats. Then he either returned for the children later that same night or a few weeks later (and a few weeks later could equal July 22).
But there’s no reason exterminators can’t have two days dedicated to them. After all, it’s a tough job!
Scroll down for some ideas on celebrating this unofficially pesty (or pest-free?) holiday.
Celebrating Rat Catcher’s Day
Thank a rat catcher!
If you don’t know any, post your thanks on your favorite social media. Tag your posts with #RatCatchersDay.
Encourage all your friends to also share their thanks for all that pest control workers do.
Apparently most rat catchers (and other exterminators) don’t take this day off or even celebrate in any way. In fact, it seems most have never even heard of it. And those who have really can’t afford to take the day off during exterminators’ busy season (the summer months).
So it’s up to us to spread the word and get the rat catchers (and other exterminators!) the credit they deserve.
Incidentally, while we absolutely don’t want wild rats anywhere near us or our homes, pet rats are a different story. These little critters can be quite sweet, and they even have their own day: World Rat Day in April.
