International Friendship Day

Friendship Day is a day in several countries for

celebrating friendship. It was initially promoted by the
greeting card industry; evidence from social
networking sites shows a revival of interest in
Friendship Day that may have grown with the spread
of the internet, particularly in India, Bangladesh, and
Malaysia. 
In India as well as many other countries, Friendship
Day is also celebrated on the first Sunday of August.
This year it falls on August 7, 2022.

History of International Friendship Day

During the 1930s, the founder of Hallmark Cards – Joyce Hall started the
concept of friendship day on which people met and greeted their friends.

Who knew that many years later, there would be so many takers to this idea?
The concept of a Global Friendship Day was first proposed on July 20, 1958 by
Dr Ramon Artemio Bracho while eating out with his friends in Puerto Picasso, a
town in Paraguay. During that meeting, the World Friendship Crusade was
born.
The day was formally adopted as International Day of Friendship by the
General Assembly of United Nations in 2011.
Even before the proposal of World Friendship Crusade, the first-ever friendship
day was perhaps conceptualised by Greeting Card National Association that
tried to sell the idea of a Friendship Day in 1920s to increase sale of their
greeting cards but back then people were not ready to buy this idea thinking it
was a gimmick. In 1930, Joyce Hall, the founder of Hallmark Cards, Inc,
created the first widely known National Friendship Day on August 2 but this too
fizzled out with time.

Significance of International Friendship Day

According to United Nations, International Day of Friendship can help promote
peace and social harmony among people. "Our world faces many challenges,
crises and forces of division — such as poverty, violence, and human rights
abuses — among many others — that undermine peace, security, development
and social harmony among the world's peoples. To confront those crises and
challenges, their root causes must be addressed by promoting and defending a
shared spirit of human solidarity that takes many forms — the simplest of which
is friendship. Through friendship — by accumulating bonds of camaraderie and
developing strong ties of trust — we can contribute to the fundamental shifts
that are urgently needed to achieve lasting stability, weave a safety net that will
protect us all, and generate passion for a better world where all are united for
the greater good," according to UN.

-B Chihnita Reddy
-B.Tech CSE 2nd year