diff --git a/contrib/remind-conf-mode/remind-conf-mode.el b/contrib/remind-conf-mode/remind-conf-mode.el
index 2d9dba04..75c88d8d 100644
--- a/contrib/remind-conf-mode/remind-conf-mode.el
+++ b/contrib/remind-conf-mode/remind-conf-mode.el
@@ -147,7 +147,7 @@
          "$May" "$MinsFromUTC" "$Minute" "$Monday" "$Mplu" "$NextMode"
          "$November" "$Now" "$NumFullOmits" "$NumPartialOmits" "$NumQueued"
          "$NumTrig" "$October" "$On" "$OnceFile" "$ParseUntriggered" "$Pm"
-         "$PrefixLineNo" "$PSCal" "$RunOff" "$Saturday" "$September"
+         "$PrefixLineNo" "$PSCal" "$RunOff" "$Saturday" "$September" "$Shaded"
          "$SimpleCal" "$SortByDate" "$SortByPrio" "$SortByTime" "$SubsIndent"
          "$Sunday" "$SuppressImplicitWarnings" "$SuppressLRM" "$SysInclude" "$T" "$Tb" "$Td"
          "$TerminalBackground" "$TerminalHyperlinks" "$Thursday" "$TimeSep" "$TimetIs64bit" "$Tm" "$Today" "$TodoFilter"
diff --git a/man/remind.1.in b/man/remind.1.in
index d0dc6083..d3d3b753 100644
--- a/man/remind.1.in
+++ b/man/remind.1.in
@@ -3361,6 +3361,30 @@ If non-zero, then the \fB\-p\fR option was supplied on the command line.
 .B $RunOff (read-only)
 If non-zero, the \fBRUN\fR directives are disabled.
 .TP
+.B $Shaded (read-only)
+Returns the number of times a \fBSHADE\fR special reminder has triggered.
+\fIThis variable is set only in calendar mode, not agenda mode\fR.  You
+can use this variable to avoid shading a calendar day that has already
+been shaded.
+.RS
+.PP
+For example, suppose you want to shade all calendar boxes yellow
+\fIif\fR any reminders have triggered on that day.  But if a box has
+been explicitly shaded, you don't want to overwrite that shading.
+You could use something like this:
+.PP
+.nf
+        SET n $NumTrig
+        # Do all your reminders here...
+
+        # If anything has triggered and the box is
+        # not already shaded, then shade it yellow
+        IF $NumTrig > n && !$Shaded
+            REM SPECIAL SHADE 255 255 128
+        ENDIF
+.fi
+.RE
+.TP
 .B $SimpleCal (read-only)
 Set to a non-zero value if \fIeither\fR of the \fB\-p\fR or \fB\-s\fR
 command-line options was supplied.
diff --git a/src/calendar.c b/src/calendar.c
index a58c18b7..2fe8491e 100644
--- a/src/calendar.c
+++ b/src/calendar.c
@@ -2123,8 +2123,9 @@ static int DoCalRem(ParsePtr p, int col)
         }
     }
     if (trig.typ == PASSTHRU_TYPE) {
-        if (!PsCal && !strcasecmp(trig.passthru, "SHADE")) {
-            if (dse == DSEToday) {
+        if (!strcasecmp(trig.passthru, "SHADE") && dse == DSEToday) {
+            Shaded++;
+            if (!PsCal) {
                 DBufInit(&obuf);
                 r = DoSubst(p, &obuf, &trig, &tim, dse, CAL_MODE);
                 if (r) {
diff --git a/src/globals.h b/src/globals.h
index 701c71da..3645341c 100644
--- a/src/globals.h
+++ b/src/globals.h
@@ -106,6 +106,7 @@ EXTERN  INIT(   int     DefaultPrio, NO_PRIORITY);
 EXTERN  INIT(   int     SysTime, -1);
 EXTERN  INIT(   int     LocalSysTime, -1);
 EXTERN  INIT(   int     ParseUntriggered, 0);
+EXTERN  INIT(   int     Shaded, 0);
 
 EXTERN  char    const *InitialFile;
 EXTERN  char    const *LocalTimeZone;
diff --git a/src/main.c b/src/main.c
index 444c6ee5..20812be3 100644
--- a/src/main.c
+++ b/src/main.c
@@ -295,6 +295,7 @@ PerIterationInit(void)
     DefaultColorG = -1;
     DefaultColorB = -1;
     NumTriggered = 0;
+    Shaded = 0;
     JSONLinesEmitted = 0;
     ClearLastTriggers();
     ClearDedupeTable();
diff --git a/src/var.c b/src/var.c
index b019e65b..57c0fce1 100644
--- a/src/var.c
+++ b/src/var.c
@@ -1101,6 +1101,7 @@ static SysVar SysVarArr[] = {
     {"RunOff",         0,  INT_TYPE,     &RunDisabled,         0,      0 },
     {"Saturday",       1,  TRANS_TYPE,   "Saturday",           0,      0 },
     {"September",      1,  TRANS_TYPE,   "September",          0,      0 },
+    {"Shaded" ,        0,  INT_TYPE,     &Shaded,              0,      0 },
     {"SimpleCal",      0,  INT_TYPE,     &DoSimpleCalendar,    0,      0 },
     {"SortByDate",     0,  INT_TYPE,     &SortByDate,          0,      0 },
     {"SortByPrio",     0,  INT_TYPE,     &SortByPrio,          0,      0 },
diff --git a/tests/shaded.rem b/tests/shaded.rem
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..e014d3cc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/shaded.rem
@@ -0,0 +1,15 @@
+REM Wed SPECIAL SHADE 255 0 0
+IF !$Shaded
+    REM 15 SPECIAL SHADE 0 255 0
+ENDIF
+IF !$Shaded
+    REM SATISFY [$Td % 4 == 0] SPECIAL SHADE 0 0 255
+ENDIF
+
+IF !$Shaded
+    REM Sunday SPECIAL SHADE 0 255 255
+ENDIF
+
+IF !$Shaded
+    REM SPECIAL SHADE 255 255 0
+ENDIF
diff --git a/tests/test-rem b/tests/test-rem
index 4cc0ccf9..bce8441c 100644
--- a/tests/test-rem
+++ b/tests/test-rem
@@ -987,6 +987,9 @@ REM 15 INFO "Url: https://dianne.skoll.ca" CAL Hello, linky 3!
 REM 15 INFO "Url: https://dianne.skoll.ca" SPECIAL COLOR 255 0 0 Hello, linky 4!
 EOF
 
+# Test the $Shaded system variable
+$REMIND -pp ../tests/shaded.rem >> $OUT 2>&1
+
 cmp -s $OUT $CMP
 if [ "$?" = "0" ]; then
    echo "Remind:  Acceptance tests ${GRN}PASSED${NRM}"
diff --git a/tests/test.cmp b/tests/test.cmp
index 398cf718..c178b90c 100644
--- a/tests/test.cmp
+++ b/tests/test.cmp
@@ -24951,6 +24951,7 @@ $PSCal
 $RunOff
 $Saturday
 $September
+$Shaded
 $SimpleCal
 $SortByDate
 $SortByPrio
@@ -40236,4 +40237,39 @@ February 28
 +----------+----------+----------+----------+----------+----------+----------+
 |26 ‎       |27 ‎       |28 ‎       |29 ‎       |30 ‎       |31 ‎       |          |
 +----------+----------+----------+----------+----------+----------+----------+
-
\ No newline at end of file
+# translations
+{"LANGID":"en"}
+# rem2ps2 begin
+February 2026 28 0 0
+Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday
+January 31
+March 31
+{"date":"2026-02-01","filename":"../tests/shaded.rem","lineno":10,"passthru":"SHADE","wd":["Sunday"],"is_todo":0,"priority":5000,"if_depth":1,"r":0,"g":255,"b":255,"body":"0 255 255"}
+{"date":"2026-02-02","filename":"../tests/shaded.rem","lineno":14,"passthru":"SHADE","is_todo":0,"priority":5000,"if_depth":1,"r":255,"g":255,"b":0,"body":"255 255 0"}
+{"date":"2026-02-03","filename":"../tests/shaded.rem","lineno":14,"passthru":"SHADE","is_todo":0,"priority":5000,"if_depth":1,"r":255,"g":255,"b":0,"body":"255 255 0"}
+{"date":"2026-02-04","filename":"../tests/shaded.rem","lineno":1,"passthru":"SHADE","wd":["Wednesday"],"is_todo":0,"priority":5000,"r":255,"g":0,"b":0,"body":"255 0 0"}
+{"date":"2026-02-05","filename":"../tests/shaded.rem","lineno":14,"passthru":"SHADE","is_todo":0,"priority":5000,"if_depth":1,"r":255,"g":255,"b":0,"body":"255 255 0"}
+{"date":"2026-02-06","filename":"../tests/shaded.rem","lineno":14,"passthru":"SHADE","is_todo":0,"priority":5000,"if_depth":1,"r":255,"g":255,"b":0,"body":"255 255 0"}
+{"date":"2026-02-07","filename":"../tests/shaded.rem","lineno":14,"passthru":"SHADE","is_todo":0,"priority":5000,"if_depth":1,"r":255,"g":255,"b":0,"body":"255 255 0"}
+{"date":"2026-02-08","filename":"../tests/shaded.rem","lineno":6,"passthru":"SHADE","is_todo":0,"priority":5000,"if_depth":1,"r":0,"g":0,"b":255,"body":"0 0 255"}
+{"date":"2026-02-09","filename":"../tests/shaded.rem","lineno":14,"passthru":"SHADE","is_todo":0,"priority":5000,"if_depth":1,"r":255,"g":255,"b":0,"body":"255 255 0"}
+{"date":"2026-02-10","filename":"../tests/shaded.rem","lineno":14,"passthru":"SHADE","is_todo":0,"priority":5000,"if_depth":1,"r":255,"g":255,"b":0,"body":"255 255 0"}
+{"date":"2026-02-11","filename":"../tests/shaded.rem","lineno":1,"passthru":"SHADE","wd":["Wednesday"],"is_todo":0,"priority":5000,"r":255,"g":0,"b":0,"body":"255 0 0"}
+{"date":"2026-02-12","filename":"../tests/shaded.rem","lineno":6,"passthru":"SHADE","is_todo":0,"priority":5000,"if_depth":1,"r":0,"g":0,"b":255,"body":"0 0 255"}
+{"date":"2026-02-13","filename":"../tests/shaded.rem","lineno":14,"passthru":"SHADE","is_todo":0,"priority":5000,"if_depth":1,"r":255,"g":255,"b":0,"body":"255 255 0"}
+{"date":"2026-02-14","filename":"../tests/shaded.rem","lineno":14,"passthru":"SHADE","is_todo":0,"priority":5000,"if_depth":1,"r":255,"g":255,"b":0,"body":"255 255 0"}
+{"date":"2026-02-15","filename":"../tests/shaded.rem","lineno":3,"passthru":"SHADE","d":15,"is_todo":0,"priority":5000,"if_depth":1,"r":0,"g":255,"b":0,"body":"0 255 0"}
+{"date":"2026-02-16","filename":"../tests/shaded.rem","lineno":6,"passthru":"SHADE","is_todo":0,"priority":5000,"if_depth":1,"r":0,"g":0,"b":255,"body":"0 0 255"}
+{"date":"2026-02-17","filename":"../tests/shaded.rem","lineno":14,"passthru":"SHADE","is_todo":0,"priority":5000,"if_depth":1,"r":255,"g":255,"b":0,"body":"255 255 0"}
+{"date":"2026-02-18","filename":"../tests/shaded.rem","lineno":1,"passthru":"SHADE","wd":["Wednesday"],"is_todo":0,"priority":5000,"r":255,"g":0,"b":0,"body":"255 0 0"}
+{"date":"2026-02-19","filename":"../tests/shaded.rem","lineno":14,"passthru":"SHADE","is_todo":0,"priority":5000,"if_depth":1,"r":255,"g":255,"b":0,"body":"255 255 0"}
+{"date":"2026-02-20","filename":"../tests/shaded.rem","lineno":6,"passthru":"SHADE","is_todo":0,"priority":5000,"if_depth":1,"r":0,"g":0,"b":255,"body":"0 0 255"}
+{"date":"2026-02-21","filename":"../tests/shaded.rem","lineno":14,"passthru":"SHADE","is_todo":0,"priority":5000,"if_depth":1,"r":255,"g":255,"b":0,"body":"255 255 0"}
+{"date":"2026-02-22","filename":"../tests/shaded.rem","lineno":10,"passthru":"SHADE","wd":["Sunday"],"is_todo":0,"priority":5000,"if_depth":1,"r":0,"g":255,"b":255,"body":"0 255 255"}
+{"date":"2026-02-23","filename":"../tests/shaded.rem","lineno":14,"passthru":"SHADE","is_todo":0,"priority":5000,"if_depth":1,"r":255,"g":255,"b":0,"body":"255 255 0"}
+{"date":"2026-02-24","filename":"../tests/shaded.rem","lineno":6,"passthru":"SHADE","is_todo":0,"priority":5000,"if_depth":1,"r":0,"g":0,"b":255,"body":"0 0 255"}
+{"date":"2026-02-25","filename":"../tests/shaded.rem","lineno":1,"passthru":"SHADE","wd":["Wednesday"],"is_todo":0,"priority":5000,"r":255,"g":0,"b":0,"body":"255 0 0"}
+{"date":"2026-02-26","filename":"../tests/shaded.rem","lineno":14,"passthru":"SHADE","is_todo":0,"priority":5000,"if_depth":1,"r":255,"g":255,"b":0,"body":"255 255 0"}
+{"date":"2026-02-27","filename":"../tests/shaded.rem","lineno":14,"passthru":"SHADE","is_todo":0,"priority":5000,"if_depth":1,"r":255,"g":255,"b":0,"body":"255 255 0"}
+{"date":"2026-02-28","filename":"../tests/shaded.rem","lineno":6,"passthru":"SHADE","is_todo":0,"priority":5000,"if_depth":1,"r":0,"g":0,"b":255,"body":"0 0 255"}
+# rem2ps2 end