Roll out the barrel -- it's National Polka Day!

An' a one, an' a two -- grab your accordions, folks, and celebrate National Polka Day. One-two-three-stomp! (but preferably not on your dance partner's toes tonight at your neighborhood tap).

Does the polka seem a tad old-fashioned for you to celebrate this evening? Something just for Poles and Slavs -- and only old ones at that? If Wikipedia can be believed, the polka has some pretty diverse styles (some of which you may like already because nobody told you it was polka music):

One of the types found in the United States is the North American "Polish-style polka," which has roots in Chicago; two sub-styles are "The Chicago Honky" (using clarinet and one trumpet) and "Chicago Push" featuring the accordion, Chemnitzer & Star concertinas, upright bass or bass guitar, drums, and (almost always) two trumpets. North American "Slovenian-style polka" is fast and features piano accordion, chromatic accordion, and/or diatonic button box accordion; it is associated with Cleveland. North American "Dutchmen-style" features an oom-pah sound often with a tuba & banjo, and has roots in the American Midwest. "Conjunto-style" polkas have roots in northern Mexico and Texas, and are also called "Norteño". Traditional dances from this region reflect the influence of polka-dancing European immigrants. In the 1980s and 1990s, several American bands began to combine polka with various rock styles (sometimes referred to as "punk polka"), "alternative polka", or "San Francisco-style".

There also exist Curaçaon polkas, Peruvian polkas (becoming very popular in Lima). In the pampas of Argentina, the "polca" has a very very fast beat with a 3/4 compass. Instruments used are: acoustic guitar (usually six strings, but sometimes seven strings), electric or acoustic bass (sometimes fretless), accordion (sometimes piano accordion, sometimes button accordion), and sometimes some percussion is used. The lyrics always praise the gaucho warriors from the past or tell about the life of the gaucho campeiros (provincial gauchos who keep the common way). The polka was very popular in South and Southwest of Brazil, were it was mixed with other European and African styles to create the Choro.

The polka (polca in the Irish language) is also one of the most popular traditional folk dances in Ireland, particularly in Sliabh Luachra, a district that spans the borders of counties Kerry, Cork and Limerick. Many of the figures of Irish set dances, which developed from Continental quadrilles, are danced to polkas. Introduced to Ireland in the late 19th century, there are today hundreds of Irish polka tunes, which are most frequently played on the fiddle or button accordion. The Irish polka is dance music form in 2/4, typically 32 bars in length and subdivided into two parts, each 8 bars in length and played AABB. Irish polkas are typically played fast, at over 130 bpm, and are typically played with an off-beat accent.

The polka also migrated to the Nordic countries where it is known by a variety of names in Denmark (galopp, hopsa), Estonia (polka), Finland (pariisipolkka, polkka), Iceland, Norway (galopp, hamborgar, hopsa/hopsar, parisarpolka, polka, polkett, skotsk) and Sweden (polka).

Still not persuaded, eh?

Well, here at The Blog of Days we always try and give you an alternative.

Today, however, the leading alternative is Send an Email Day. This is something special?

Give us a day where we don't need to send an email and perhaps we can celebrate. Even better, give us a day entirely free of email and we can perhaps rejoice!

But you go ahead and decide for yourselves.