One scholarly person said, there are so many ships in the ocean. Small ship, Big ship, Red ship, White ship but there is no ship like Friendship! We, human beings, cannot choose our father, mother, brother or sister or even our kids. They come by default or it can be said, according to our destiny. But we can make friends of our choice to nurture and cherish the bond for the rest of our life. A good friend is like a pillow. We can hug it when we are happy. We can wipe our tears with it when we are sad or upset. At the time of need we can bank upon a friend.
Every year ‘Friendship Day’ is celebrated worldwide with much enthusiasm and zeal on the first Sunday of August month of English calendar. In the year 1935 US Congress thought and decided to dedicate one day of the year for the noble cause of friendship and friends. At that time the whole world was slowly coming out of the traumatic situation of First World War and an atmosphere of mistrust and suspicion was prevailing everywhere. Soon some of the other countries followed the suit and started celebrating the first Sunday of August month as Friendship Day.
The idea of spending one day of the year for the cause of Friendship caught international flavour within a very short period of time. Now it has become an international event to be celebrated by youngsters as well as older people also to express their love and attachment towards their friends. Exchanging gifts and sending greeting cards leaves the courier guys extremely busy during this time to deliver the messages and gifts on time to their destinations.
In the year 1997, the United Nations nominated Winnie – the Pooh, the famous cartoon character as the World’s Ambassador of Friendship. In addition to this, in some countries, the third Sunday of August month is celebrated as Women’s Friendship Day. People have accepted the whole month of February as Friendship Month. The third week of May month is held as Old Friends, New Friends Week.
In addition to gift items, chocolates and fancy cards, pink and yellow roses are favourite among people to gift each other on this occasion. Friendship Bands are also in most popular of the fashion on this day. We wish everyone a very happy friendship day!