New Year's Day may be celebrated all over the world, but the most universal holiday celebrated on Earth is taking place Oct. 9-10.
It's the Interplanetary Conclave of Light, a holiday that is reportedly celebrated on 33 planets across the galaxies, including as-yet undiscovered planets with names like Po, Vidus and Anzea - and, for the last 27 years, good old planet Earth.
The holiday celebrates Earth's invitation into the "Interplanetary Confederation" - an outer space version of the United Nations. But if you haven't heard of this holiday or the confederation, you're not alone, earthling.
In fact, the main place - and, possibly, the only place - it will be celebrated on this planet is at Balboa Park in San Diego, and the only people celebrating are the members of the Unarius Academy of Science.
It's an organization that has been predicting the arrival of aliens from the aforementioned planets since the late 1970s. If all goes as predicted, flying saucers from each of the other planets will one day land, one on top of the other, on a site in Jamul, Calif., about 30 miles east of San Diego, and create a university of sorts.
Sadly, the dates for the arrival keep changing, so until the ETs land, the Unarians are preparing by holding the two-day event, which includes events like a parade where earthlings carry banners of the other planets, a release of doves representing peace on all the participating planets, a visit to a future UFO landing site and a telepathic conversation with one of the "space brothers," the Unarian term for their ET brethren.
Oh, and there will also be a dinner at the Brigantine, a local seafood restaurant that Unarius spokeswoman Tracey Kennedy says has great shrimp tacos.
Unarius came to fame thanks to its flamboyant co-founder Ruth L. Norman, who appeared on many talk shows throughout the '70s and '80s dressed in brightly colored wigs and outfits that made her look like a riverboat queen who got into a fight with a set of fluorescent magic markers and lost.
Nonbelievers say Norman died in 1993 at the age of 93, but Unarius members, like Kennedy, say she "transitioned" to another world.
"In this incarnation, she was Ruth Norman, but she was really a cosmic entity known as Uriel," Kennedy told AOL News. "Between 1972 and 1974, she was contacted by representatives from the other planets, and they invited Earth to join the confederation.
"Earth is the last planet to join. The other 32 are communicating with each other and traveling back and forth."
Astronomers may be shocked to learn about planets with names like Brundage or Endinite, but Kennedy says many of the planets exist on different vibrational frequencies. In fact, a major part of the conclave on the other planets is beefing up the energy level of humans here so Earth can truly experience all that the confederation has to offer.
"On the other planets, part of the holiday is spent sending us positive energy, and I do see it having a positive effect," Kennedy said.
Although attendance on Earth is minuscule at best - maybe 100 people at most - Kennedy sees the overall effect as positive.
"A few decades ago, I was carrying a banner for a planet - I don't remember which one - but I psychically saw the people on the planet in an auditorium doing the same thing," Kennedy said.
All of the residents of participating planets are human, but Kennedy admits there is some variation.
"Some people are taller and some are shorter," she said. "Then there are some other differences that are caused by events on a particular planet. For instance, the planet Endinite had some problems with bombs and war that scarred their planet and caused the people to be born with two extra arms growing out of their stomachs. The arms were useless, but thanks to working with Uriel, they are no longer being born that way."
Although the Procession of Planets is the big public event, the telepathic ET press conference may be the most important part of the conclave.
"We trans-ceive a message from someone from one of the planets," Kennedy said. "We never know who it's going to be. Sometimes, two or three come through. The messages are usually positive but will touch on something that is happening on Earth, such as war or a natural disaster, and the space brothers will usually explain how they solved a similar problem on their own planet."
Sadly, not everyone on Earth will be able to make it to San Diego for the conclave, so Unarius plans to use space age technology and stream most of the events live on the Web - except for the shrimp tacos, of course.
