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Friendship Day
What does Friendship Day celebrate?
Just like the name sounds, Friendship Day is a day to honor and celebrate our friends. Good friends can be one of the great joys in life and this is a great time to let your friends know how much they mean to you.
When is it celebrated?
In the United States, Friendship Day is celebrated on the first Sunday in August. Many other countries such as India also celebrate it on the first Sunday.
The United Nations declared International Friendship Day to be on July 30.
Who celebrates this day?
The day is a national observance in the United States and also by the United Nations. It's not widely celebrated in the United States, however, it is perhaps more popular in India and some Asian and South American countries.
Anyone who has a close friend they want to honor can celebrate the day. It is a good reminder that we should treasure our friends.
What do people do to celebrate?
The main thing people do to celebrate is to get a small gift for their friends. This can be a simple card or something meaningful like a friendship bracelet.
Of course the best way to spend the day is to hang out with friends. Some people use the day to have a reunion and get a group of friends together for a party.
History
Friendship Day was first introduced by Joyce Hall of Hallmark Cards. She recommended early August as this is one of the slowest times of any holidays or observances in the United States. At first the idea didn't take off.
In 1935 the US Congress made Friendship Day an official observance.
The idea of a day celebrating friends then spread through much of the world. In 1958, a group of people from Paraguay proposed an International Friendship Day. It took some time, but in 2011 the United Nations declared that July 30th would officially be International Friendship Day.
Fun Facts About Friendship Day
- Winnie the Pooh was named as the official Ambassador for Friendship to the World in 1997 by the United Nations.
- There are other types of friendship celebrations during the year including February as friendship month as well as a new friend's week and an old friend's week.
- Many people thought that the idea for the day was just so that card companies could sell more cards. They might be right.
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Friendship Day
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Women's Equality Day
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