Friendship Day: Celebrating the bond of friendship
Friendship Day is a celebration observed worldwide by all ages to honour the bond of friendship. The history of commemoration of the occasion is interesting. The merrymaking of Friendship Day started in the US in 1919, based on the idea put forward by Joyce C. Hall, founder of Hallmark cards. The objective of the celebration was to dedicate a day for the bond of friendship.
In 1920, celebration of Friendship Day received intense criticism as it was believed more to be a commercial publicity stunt by the greeting cards industry rather than commemorating the bond of friendship. The criticism, however, effected the celebration severely, and in 1940, the demand for Friendship Day greetings cards declined significantly.
However, the essence of the celebration drew much attention from people. As a result, the popularity soon increased as more and more people are showing interest to the occasion.
Although the idea of Friendship Day started in 1919, the first World Friendship Day was proposed in 1958. But it is only on April 27, 2011 the General Assembly of the United Nations officially declared July 30 as the International Friendship Day.
In 1998, to celebrate the significance of Friendship Day, Nane Annan, wife of Secretary-General of the United Nations Kofi Annan named Winnie, the Pooh as the world’s Ambassador of Friendship.
In everyone's lives, friends definitely have an important place and so Friendship Day celebrations has gained substantial place in everyone's calendar. In India, people will celebrate Friendship Day 2012 on August 5.
However, Friendship Day is observed on different dates in different nations. People of several countries, including India, celebrate Friendship Day on the first Sunday of August.
The celebration is marked by sending or exchanging gifts and greetings cards to make their friends feel special or express gratitude on the special day. Apart from exchanging gifts, people find some other ways to observe and capture the essence of the day.
In fact, preparation to celebrate Friendship Day starts a few days ago. People on this occasion raise a toast to attribute a day to their friends and celebrate the bond of friendship.
To wish each other and celebrate the occasion in a memorable way, people usually send unique and fancy personalized friendship gifts, friendship greeting cards etc. that are designed especially for Friendship Day.
Moreover, fancy and colourful friendship bands are in trend as Friendship gifts. Besides gifts, inspirational and funny Friendship Day quotes or Friendship Day SMS are also popular mediums through which people convey their feelings and show affection towards their pals on this special day.
Over the decades, there is a shift in the celebration of Friendship with the easy accessibility of social networking websites. People now stay connected with friends and send Friendship Day wishes to mark the essence of the day.
Friendship Day 2012 is an ideal occasion to strengthen the bond of friendship and cherish the wonderful moments spent or enjoyed together.
