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Monday 4 August 2008

Friendship day- the real story


Yesterday the whole world celebrated friendship day. Come to think of it I don’t remember any cue and cry over this day when I was a child, its only during my teen years that I was enlightened on the existence of such a day. I wonder how many of us know about the origin and history of this day. Yes like every other special friendship day also had a beginning.

Back in 1935 the world was still living in the stigma and causalities of the World War 1. Pain, hatred and vengeance lived in every person’s heart and countries still had unsettled issues between them. It is at this time that the US congress thought that people needed reasons
to be joyful and appreciate whatever they had. So US Congress decided to designate the first Sunday of the month of August as Friendship Day and with a formal proclamation in 1935, officially declared the occasion a holiday dedicated in the honor of friends and friendship. This custom slowly caught on with the rest of the world like everything else. Soon it became a national celebration. In 1997 the United Nation named the cartoon character Winnie the Pooh as the world ambassador of friendship

Friendship day today is incomplete without the gifting of friendship bands to your best friends. These bands signify the invisible bond between the two friends involved. The origin of this tradition could be from the famous " rakhi band " in India that sisters tie on their brothers. The other customs surrounding friendship day are giving away roses, friendship cards, gifts etc which many companies take maximum advantage of. Many would say that the idea of a special day for friends spoils the whole meaning of friendship and makes it a formality. But all said and done there is no doubt that friendship is the most cherishable and popular relationship in the world and I would like to thank all my friends for being there for me whenever they did. Cheers to friendship!!!

2 comments:

harsimran said...

very informative. thanks for throwing some light on this topic..
keep up the good work. all the best..

Unknown said...

alexina cool thing u did over her .....but ..for me everyday is frndship day ............chil !!!