International Children's Day

On the first day of June, many countries celebrate International Children’s Day. The world conference for the well-being of children in Geneva, Switzerland, announced June 1^st to be International Children's Day in 1925. It was first celebrated in 1954 under the guidance of the United National General Assembly, but it was not celebrated on 1^st June. Even though each country chooses its own day to celebrate Children’s Day; June 1st, has been taken up in the US as the official day. More than 30 states actively participate in the June 1^st celebration.

Since then it is being celebrated every year. On this day the world conference meets up and there are discussions on children's rights and their well-being, and other concerns involving or in relation to children. The message of love and hope is sent all over the world by children on this Day. Festivals, Health programs, Theatrical plays and concerts for the children are organized throughout the world.

While Children’s Day is a special day for children we as adults have a special responsibility towards them. We have to take care of their needs and protect their rights. As children are our future, lets honor them and make them feel valued and loved this International Children’s Day.

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Mother’s Day

The relationship between the mother and her child is probably the most celebrated relationship in the world and quite naturally mothers and motherhood are honored worldwide in ever society. The celebration is most commonly known as Mother’s Day and celebrated at different dates at different countries. In the US the Mother’s Day is a general holiday and observed during the second Sunday of May. 

Though the name suggests that it as a celebration for mothers but it also celebrates womanhood in general and so, includes grandmothers, mother-in-laws, aunts and even wives ; recognizing their contributions to families and to the societies by large. 

Celebrating Mother’s Day, however, is not a modern day conception but both the ancient Greek and Romans were known to celebrate motherhood in their respective ways. The Greek festival of Cybele, and Roman festival of Hilaria were the two ancient forms of the modern celebration. The Christians were also known to recognize mothers through Mothering Sunday celebration. 

The modern Mother’s day celebration was started by Anna Jarvis in 1907 in the US. She was the daughter of Ann Jarvis who tailored the idea of celebrating Mother’s Friendship Day to help the families, who got separated during the Civil War, to reunite. But she died in 1905 before the observation became popular. Her daughter then took up her unfinished task and continued her efforts to make it a widely accepted and popular event. It is due to her relentless campaigning that President Woodrow Wilson issued a proclamation on May 9, 1914 that recognized the first national Mother's Day – a day when the mothers whose sons fought and died in the wars were honored and the national flag was waved at them. 

In May 2008, the Grafton's church where the first celebration was held was given the status of International Mother's Day Shrine and is now regarded as a National Historic Landmark. 

The general celebration includes giving gifts, cards and flowers to the mothers. Carnation has been especially attached to the celebration and mothers are given bouquets of carnation as gifts for Mother’s Day. Families gather together to enjoy family breakfasts, lunch or dinner. In many neighborhoods and schools special programs and competitions are organized for both the mothers and their children. Special discounts are offered at different stores, restaurants, amusement parks and theaters to attract celebrators. 

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National Teachers’ Day

The teachers are revered worldwide. They play a very influential role in shaping the future of a nation as they are endowed with the responsibility of educating the young minds. Teachers’ Day is therefore celebrated worldwide to show respect to the teachers for their relentless efforts towards the betterment of the society and thus of a nation.

The National Teachers’ Day is celebrated by the National Education Association (NEA), which is the largest association of teachers and education professionals in the United States. The NEA has over 2.8 million members comprising elementary and secondary teachers, faculties of institutions for higher studies, education support professionals, school administrators, retired teachers as well as students aspiring to become teachers in the future. NEA has its affiliate associations in every states of the US responsible for dealing with the issues faced by the educators both in public and professional schools.

The first Teachers’ Day in the United States was observed on March 7, 1980. It was later renamed as National Teachers’ day when the organization decided to celebrate the day on the Tuesday of the first full week of May. The entire week is celebrated as Teachers’ Appreciation Week and is spent in honoring the teachers and educators. In 2012, the National Teachers’ Day will be celebrated on 8^thMay. 

The Celebration

The Teachers’ Day celebration in the United States enjoys a great fanfare. Cultural programs and teacher-student meetings are organized across the states to bring the teachers and students closer to each other. Though it is not a federal holiday but both teachers and students take part in the celebration. The idea behind the programs organized is to spend some quality time with the teachers and education staff.

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Graduation Day

Graduation, also known as convocation, invocation and also commencement is the ceremony meant to receive or confer academic degree. The students who receive the awards are called Graduates.

Graduation Day is an illustrious occasion in an individual’s life and is marked by ceremonies which chiefly include a procession participated by the candidates and the academic staff. Dressed up in their Graduation gowns and caps the candidates receive their degree of honor and get promoted to the next step in life.

Graduation, in the United States, takes place at different levels below University, such as kindergarten, preschool, middle school and high school. The venue of a Graduation ceremony is usually huge where all the family members of the candidates can attend the ceremony.

One of the highlighting features of Graduation is the commencement speech or the Graduation speech, which is a public speech given by alumni to the graduating class and guests. It is through this Graduation speech that students are greeted to the real world. In recent times, politicians and celebrities are also seen to deliver this speech.

Special Graduation ceremonies render completion to this day. However the style of ceremony keeps varying. While some organizations prefer handing over hundreds of degrees at one, some other prefers hosting smaller ceremonies, instead of clubbing it all at a time.

Keeping in mind the students who are conferred advanced degree, many colleges hold a Hooding ceremony on this commencement day where the students are made to wear hoods. The hood has been an intrinsic part of the conventional academic dress since times immemorial.

Graduation is the highest honor of successfully completing a step of academic excellence and a stepping-stone towards the next big leap.

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May Day

The month of May announces the onset of summer in the northern hemisphere. Since it marks the beginning of the farming season in this region it is celebrated with unparallel grandeur. May Day celebration on 1^st May is an ancient spring time event observed to welcome spring time.

It is a popular celebration in many cultures and normally a public holiday in the countries where it is celebrated.

Origination of the May Day Celebration

May Day has its origin in the early Celtic festivals and the Germanic festival of Walpurgis Night. It also has its roots attached to the pagan and neopagan festivals of Europe like Samhain. In paganism it is also celebrated as cross-quarter day as the day falls exactly half a year from 1^st November.

Arrival of May means the end of the harsh winter and beginning of the welcoming summer. The ancient Romans used to celebrate the day with the festival of Flora, who was the Roman Goddess of flower. In the Pagan culture, February 1 was usually celebrated as the beginning of spring and May was the beginning of summer and hence, was the time for the traditional summer holiday. May Day was a time of festivity and people used to celebrate by dancing and singing around the maypole and crowing the Queen of the May.

When Christianity became the primary religion of Europe many of these pagan festivals were abandoned or were replaced by Christian holidays like Christmas, Easter, All Saint’s Day, Lent, Ash Wednesday etc. It wasn’t since twentieth century that many neopagan groups started the movement to recreate and reconstruct their old traditions. They took the initiatives to revive and popularize the May Day celebration.

In the Roman Catholic religion the month is dedicated to Mary and is celebrated as Mary’s month. Often during this celebration the head of the Blessed Virgin Mary is decorated with headgears made with flowers called the May crown.

May Day is a popular event in the countries like:

• England
• Ireland
• France
• Germany
• Finland
• Sweden
• USA

May Day: International Workers' Day

In many parts of the world 1^st May is celebrated as the International Workers' Day to recognize the success of international labor movements and left-wing movements.

In the history of trade union movements 1^st May holds great importance as it is on this day the eight hour workday rights of the labors was established. As a result, it is recognized worldwide as a day that freed the labor class from the oppression of the privileged section of the society. May Day remains a public holiday in more than eighty countries and workers and trade unions celebrate the day demonstrating and organizing parades for labor rights. 

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Arbor Day

Planting more trees and turning the earth green is the message celebrated on the Arbor Day. Arbor in Latin means tree and hence, is the name. Every year the day is celebrated across the world to show love and caring for the mother earth. In 2012, the Arbor Day will be celebrated in the US on 27^th April.

History of Arbor Day

The concept of Arbor Day originated during 1872, when J. Sterling Morton, a journalist and a nature lover, started observing the day on 10^th April in Nebraska City, Nebraska, United States. The day was later officially proclaimed on March 12, 1874 by the Governor of Nebraska and the birthday of Morton, April 22^nd was selected as the date of observance. It was declared as a legal holiday in Nebraska. During the 1870s the other states also adopted the idea of celebrating the Arbor Day and the tradition of celebrating it in schools began in 1882.

Birdsey Northrop of Connecticut made Arbor Day a worldwide celebrated event when he traveled to Japan in 1883 to spread the message of Arbor Day and Village Improvement. He is also responsible for introducing the Arbor Day celebration in Australia, Canada and Europe. When he was appointed as the Chairman of the campaign in the same year by the American Forestry Association he took it on him to popularize Arbor Day celebration across the US. Today in many states of USA the Arbor Day is celebrated on the last Friday of April - it being the most suitable time of the year to plant trees.

In many countries across the globe similar observances occur at different dates depending upon the climate of that country.

Arbor Day Celebrations

Arbor Day celebrations take place in schools where programs and special classes are organized to educate students about the objective and benefits of the celebration. Group activities and beautification projects are organized involving school children. Poster drawing, poetry writing, tree trivia contests are held along with Arbor Day processions and parades.

In many neighborhoods volunteers gather to celebrate the day by planting new trees. Classes are organized on gardening and farming to educate people on how to care for trees.

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Earth Day

The environment of this earth is gradually deteriorating and its natural resources depleting every day. To create awareness to protect the mother earth April 22^nd has been assigned as the Earth Day.

The idea was first proposed by John McConnell in the 1969 conference of UNESCO in San Francisco. The first Earth day, however, was observed in San Francisco and few other cities on March 21, 1970. The day was selected because it was the first day of spring in the northern hemisphere. During the same time a separate day was celebrated by United States Senator Gaylord Nelson on April 22^nd as environmental teach-in. The idea of creating awareness against environmental pollution occurred to him after witnessing the massive oil spill in Santa Barbara, California. He took advantage of the increasing awareness in general Americans against air and water pollution in celebrating Earth’s Day. Around 20 million people took part in Earth Day rallies that year.

Till 1990 Earth Day was celebrated only in the US but Denis Hayes gave it international recognition by coordinating it across 141 nations in the same year.

In 2009, the United Nations sanctioned April 22^nd as International Mother Earth Day. They have plans to celebrate the day every year till 2015. The Earth Day Network is responsible for conducting the event worldwide. Earth Day is now celebrated by more than 175 countries.

In many countries earth week and even months are observed starting from April 22^nd. Conferences, seminars, workshops, rallies, discussions are organized over the impending issues of global warming, overall deterioration of environmental condition and creating awareness among people to protect the planet.

Earth Day Network

Earth Day Network is the responsible body for coordinating Earth Day celebration across 175 nations. The founding members of this organization were Denis Hayes and Pam Lippe, one of the first Earth Day organizers. The network is responsible for coordinating and organizing year-round activities for protecting the earth and raising different environmental issues. The Earth Day Network is a conglomeration of both government and non government organizations. The different members of the network are:

• Local government offices

• Quasi government organization

• Non-profit organizations

• Environmental activists

The network focuses on:

• Conducting environmental educational programs

• Focusing and discussing on local, national, and global policies

• Conducting public environmental campaigns

• Organizing Earth Day events both at national and international levels

• Promote activism

• Creating awareness about different environmental issues

Currently it has over 19,000 members representing 192 countries. At the domestic level they have got over 10,000 groups and 100 thousand educators conducting over a million environmental development programs.

Earth Day Canada

The first Earth Day was observed by a graduate student of Physics and Solar Engineering at Queen's University, Paul D. Tinari, in the year 1980. He observed the day on 11^th September. Later, Flora MacDonald, the then MP for Kingston and the Islands and Canadian Secretary of State for External Affairs officially declared Earth Day Canada Week on September 6^th 1980. The day was formally observed by planting sapling for a greener world.

The first Earth Day Canada was spent by volunteers planting new trees, replacing trees that died of Dutch Elm disease, cleaning public parks, and picking litters from highways.

Earth Day Canada (EDC), a charity organization founded in the year 1990, is responsible for offering Canadians the practical knowledge and tools that will help them curb the impact of environmental pollution. They conduct year long educational programs and workshops to aware people of the environmental issues. Their programs have earned them the recognition of the leading environmental educational organization in North America in 2004. EDC runs the following environmental educational programs:

• Ecokids

• EcoMentors,

• EcoAction Teams,

• Community Environment Fund

• Hometown Heroes

• The Toyota Earth Day Scholarship Program

The Ecology Flag

The ecology flag created by cartoonist Ron Cobb was first displayed on 7^th November 1969 in Los Angeles Free Press. The logo of the flag was created by combining E and O which represent ‘Environment’ and ‘Organism’ respectively. The green and white stripes of the flag are inspired by the US national flag. Its canton contains a yellow theta on the green background. This associated the theta to the Earth Day.

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