Pins and Needles Day

Every year, 27 November marks the Pins and Needles Day, hardly a celebration of the tingling sensation when our limbs go to sleep, but a day in honour of the Broadway production of 1937. The story behind the celebrated 1937 pro-labour Broadway production and its call for social justice. Written by Harold Rome, Pins and Needles which highlighted America's labour movement first appeared in 1937 on Broadway and enjoyed a three-year run with 1108 performances. Of the same name, the play was a pro-Labour musical produced by the International Ladies Garment Workers’ Union and narrated the story of a group of workers trying to hold on to their jobs during America's Labour Movement.

The origin of the phrase 'on pins and needles' comes from the early 19th century. The expression began as a literal description of the sharp, uncomfortable feeling one gets when recovering from numbness.