SO today is Kick a Ginger Day, a terrible legacy of the TV show South Park.

But we don’t endorse that at all! To celebrate our fiery-haired friends, here’s a list of nine things you probably don’t know about redheads:

1. Believe it or not, gingers feel pain differently to everyone else

Redheads feel hot and cold pain differently. Science shows that they’re more sensitive to these extremities, with their bodies able to change temperature much faster. On average, gingers also require around 20 per cent more anaesthesia to be sedated, although the reason for this remains unknown.

2. Gingers generate their own sunlight ... kind of

Gingers might not be alone in having pale skin, but unlike others, their milky skin actually serves as an advantage. Why? Because their bodies can’t absorb enough vitamin D, they simply produce their own! Fancy that.

3. You’ll never see a redhead turn grey

This is because gingers retain their natural pigment for far longer than other shades. Instead, their glorious ginger hair fades through a brilliant continuum of reds, from washed out crimson to strawberry blonde, and ultimately on to a silvery-white.

4. Gingers were confused for bloodsuckers

Yes, the Ancient Greeks legitimately thought redheads were vampires. In fact, throughout Europe between 1483 and 1784, over 45,000 women killed for ‘witchcraft’ were, you guessed it, redheads.

5. It’s all in the eyes

Like the rest of the world, most redheads have brown eyes, but a lucky one per cent have red hair and blue eyes. This makes them the rarest minority on the planet, or according to some people, like the “human unicorn”.

6. Bees are known to sting gingers more often

Although, nobody is really sure why ...

7. Gingers can enter their very own modelling competition

If you happen to be a good looking ginger, you can enter Buderim Ginger’s nationwide search for Australia’s Hottest Ginger. A prizing pool worth over $15,000 is up for grabs, along with a 12-month modelling contract with Division Model Management. Not bad.

8. There is a special festival for gingers

It happens every year in the Dutch town of Breda, and last year 5,000 natural redheads attended.

9. Gingers also have their own exhibition

Thomas Knights, a 31-year-old British fashion photographer — and redhead — was so sick and tired of his fellow gingers’ “long history of discrimination” that he decided to turn it on its head and create a photographic exhibition in honour of their hotness. It’s called ‘Red Hot’.