International Friendship Day-not first Sunday of August ...!

On 27 April 2011 the General Assembly of the United Nation declared
30th July as official International Friendship Day. The day has been
celebrated in several southern South American countries for many
years, particularly in Paraguay, where the 30th July was first
proposed as World Friendship Day in 1958. Traditionally , the Day
takes place on the first Sunday of August.But there is no specific
date for friendship day celebration in some countries. In India, it
occurs on first Sunday of August.

Initially created by the greeting cards industry, evidence from social
networking sites shows a revival of interest in the holiday that may
have grown with the spread of the Internet, particularly in India,
Bangladesh, and Malaysia. There is also some evidence that the day is
celebrated in some South American countries. Digital communication
modes such as the Internet and mobile phones may be helping to
popularize the custom, since greeting friends en masse is now easier
than before.

Those who promote the holiday in South Asia attribute the tradition of
dedicating a day in honor of friends to have originated in the U.S. in
1935, but it actually dates from 1919. The exchange of Friendship Day
Gifts like flowers, cards and wrist bands is a popular tradition of
this occasion.

In some countries, the Friendship Day celebrations take place on the
first Sunday of August, and several Friendship Day celebrations on
other dates are held by a range of countries.

History

Friendship Day was originally promoted by Joyce Hall, the founder of
Hallmark cards in 1919, and intended on first sunday of august to be a
day where people celebrated their friendships by sending cards. The
first Sunday in August was chosen as the centre of the largest lull in
holiday celebrations. Friendship Day was promoted by the greetings
card National Association during the 1920s but met with consumer
resistance - given that it was rather too obviously a commercial
gimmick to promote greetings cards. By the 1940s the number of
Friendship Day cards available in the US had dwindled and the holiday
largely died out there. There is no evidence to date for its uptake in
Europe, however it has been kept alive and revitalised in Asia where
several countries adopted the tradition of dedicating a day to
friends. Today, Friendship Day is enthusiastically celebrated in a
number of countries across the world.
In honor of Friendship Day in 1998, Nane Annan, wife of
Secretary-General Kofi Annan, named Winnie the Pooh as the world's
Ambassador of Friendship at the United Nations. The event was
co-sponsored by the U.N. Department of Public Information and Disney
Enterprises, and was co-hosted by Kathy Lee Gifford.