Children's Day
Children's Day is a day recognized to celebrate children. The day is celebrated on various calendar dates in different countries.
History[edit | edit source]
Children's Day began on the second Sunday of June in 1857 by Reverend Dr. Charles Leonard, pastor of the Universalist Church of the Redeemer in Chelsea, Massachusetts. Leonard held a special service dedicated to, and for the children. Leonard named the day Rose Day, though it was later named Flower Sunday, and then named Children's Day.
Children's Day was first officially declared a national holiday by the Republic of Turkey in 1920 with the set date of 23 April. Children's Day has been celebrated nationally since 1923 with the government and the newspapers of the time declaring it a day for the children. However, it was decided that an official declaration was needed to clarify and justify this celebration and the official declaration was made nationally in 1931 by the founder and the President of the Republic of Turkey, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk.
International Observance[edit | edit source]
The World Conference for the Well-being of Children in Geneva, Switzerland, proclaimed June 1 to be International Children's Day in 1925. It is not clear as to why June 1 was chosen as the International Children's Day: one theory has it that the Chinese consul-general in San Francisco (USA) gathered a number of Chinese orphans to celebrate the Dragon Boat Festival in 1925, which happened to be on June 1 that year, and also coincided with the conference in Geneva.
United Nations Universal Children's Day was established in 1954 and is celebrated on November 20th each year to promote international togetherness, awareness among children worldwide, and improving children's welfare.
National Observance[edit | edit source]
Since 1950, the International Union for the Protection of Children has recommended that countries should have a national day to celebrate children. Many of the countries around the world have taken up this recommendation and the date that they chose is usually a national holiday or a historic date.
See Also[edit | edit source]
- International Day for Protection of Children
- Universal Children's Day
- Children's rights
- Child protection
Template:Public holidays in Turkey Template:International observances Template:Children's rights
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