What Is International Friendship Day?

Every year we celebrate International Friendship Day. The majority participate in the worldwide festivities that are associated with this special day. But, mostly we do not stop to think about this International friendship day and why is it celebrated, isn’t it? It is interesting to know the details in this case to put it precisely. Our world happens to face a lot of challenges and crises. There are many inherent prejudices on the basis of caste, class, creed, religion, gender etc. This undoubtedly undermines peace and social harmony including that of social development to put it precisely. To confront these challenges and crises, the root causes need to be addressed by promoting and defending a shared spirit of human solidarity which in its simplest forms is friendship.

It is through friendship that strong ties of trust can be developed which can be done by the bonds of camaraderie. It can contribute to the fundamental shifts that is needed to gain an ever lasting stability for a better world. International Friendship Day is celebrated worldwide by exchanging friendship day gifts along with different events that are held to mark this special day. Now, let us take a quick look at how this day got it’s importance, or in simpler terms, it’s history.

A Brief History

It was in 2011 that the International Day of Friendship was proclaimed by the UN General Assembly. It was done with the idea that friendship between cultures, countries and people inspires peace efforts and in addition, builds bridges between communities. The International Day of Friendship works as an initiative that follows on the different proposals made by UNESCO. This set of proposals helps define the culture of peace as a set of attitudes, values and behaviours that help reject violence to put it precisely. It works as an endeavour to prevent the different conflicts by addressing their root cause with the view to solve different problems at different levels. It was adopted by the UN General Assembly in the year 1997 to be precise.

The first ever friendship day was first conceptualized by the Greeting Card National Association. The tried to sell the idea of celebrating friendship with friendship day cards as early as the 1920s to increase their sale. It was in the year 1930 that the founder of Hallmark cards, Joyce Hall created the first widely known National Friendship Day on the 2^nd of August. But, these faded out with time as people were not ready to buy this idea.

Observations

In the contemporary times, friendship day has become a worldwide celebration. International Friendship Day is celebrated on the 30^th of July every year. It was in 1958 that it was first proposed by World Friendship Crusade. It was adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations in the year 2011. However, in India and some other countries, friendship day is celebrated on the first Sunday of August. It is celebrated with performances and events to foster friendship in the endeavour to initiate better living to put it precisely. People buy Friendship Day gifts online to drop in love-wrapped surprises for their loved ones in celebration of this special day that helps us dream of a better tomorrow!