List of minor secular observances

List of minor secular observances

Terminology

A national or international awareness day or observance is a date usually set by a major organisation or government to commemorate a public health or ethical cause of importance on a national or international level.

An international observance, also known as an international dedication or international anniversary, is a period of time to observe some issue of international interest or concern. This is used to commemorate, promote and mobilize for action. Many of these periods have been established by the United Nations General Assembly (UN), Economic and Social Council, United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO),^[1] World Health Organization (WHO) and other United Nations bodies including the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), International Maritime Organization (IMO) and the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). In this case, the lead agency for a particular international observance uses the symbolism of the United Nations (UN), perhaps a specially designed logo for the year, and the UN infrastructure to coordinate events worldwide. It also presents a written report about the event. This summarizes the activities that took place around the world under the auspices of the international observance, and makes recommendations for the future.

The lists below include some days, month, years, and decades that have been recognized as international observances by the United Nations, or by other organizations that declare international observances but are not as widely recognized.

Days[edit]

January[edit]

Date	Name	Established/recognized by
January 1	Global Family Day[2]
January 1	Polar Bear Swim Day	Various organizations in Canada
January 1	International Public Domain Day	Wallace McLean
January 2	National Science Fiction Day (United States)
January 4	World Braille Day (birthday of Louis Braille)	World Health Organization[3]
January 6	National Technology Day[4]	StoAmigo, National Day Calendar
January 7	Distaff Day	Tradition in parts of Europe
January 9	Pravasi Bharatiya Divas (Non-resident Indian Day)	Ministry of External Affairs (India)
January 11	National Human Trafficking Awareness Day[5]
January 11	International Parity at Work Day[6]
January 12	National Youth Day (India)	Government of India
January 15	Indian Army Day
January 15	Wikipedia Day[7]	Wikipedia editors
January 15	Intestinal malrotation and Volvulus Awareness Day[8]	Intestinal Malrotation Foundation
January 16	National Religious Freedom Day	President of the United States
January 21	National Hugging Day (United States)	Kevin Zaborney
January 24	Moebius Syndrome Awareness Day[9]
January 25	National Voters' Day (India)	Government of India
January 25	Burns Night (Roberts Burns' birth anniversary)	Friends of Robert Burns in Scotland
January 26	Australia Day
January 27	International Holocaust Remembrance Day	United Nations General Assembly[10]
January 27	Family Literacy Day[11]	Canada; national awareness initiative created by ABC Life Literacy Canada in 1999
January 28	Data Privacy Day a.k.a. Data Protection Day	Council of Europe and various national governments[12]
January 30	CTE Awareness Day	Patrick Risha CTE Awareness Foundation[13]
January 30 (or closest school day)	School Day of Non-violence and Peace	Llorenç Vidal Vidal
January 31	Street Children's Day	Jugend Eine Welt
First Monday of January	Handsel Monday[14]	Tradition in Scotland
First Monday after Epiphany	Plough Monday	Tradition in parts of England and Belgium
Third Sunday in January	World Religion Day	National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'ís of the United States
Last Sunday of January	Leprosy Prevention Day	World Health Organization[15][12]

February[edit]

Day	Name	Established/recognized by
February 1	Imbolc	Gaelic Traditional
February 1	World Hijab Day[16]
February 1	World Aspergillosis Day	[17]
February 2	Groundhog Day
February 2	World Wetlands Day
February 2	Rheumatoid Arthritis Awareness Day[18]
February 4	Sri Lankan Independence Day
February 4	World Cancer Day	UN, WHO[10][19]
February 5	Kashmir Solidarity Day
February 5	World Nutella Day
February 6	Sami National Day
February 6	Waitangi Day (New Zealand)
February 6	International Day of Zero Tolerance to Female Genital Mutilation	WHO[10][20]
February 7	International Safer Internet Day[21]
February 11	European 112 Day	Instituted by the European Union[22]
February 11	World Day of the Sick	Instituted by Pope John Paul II
February 11	International Day of Women and Girls in Science	UN Women
February 12	Sexual and Reproductive Health Awareness Day	Canadian Federation for Sexual Health[23]
February 12	Darwin Day
February 12	International Day of Women's Health	Canadian Foundation for Women's Health[24]
February 12	Red Hand Day	Child Soldier Awareness
February 13	World Radio Day	UN, UNESCO[10][25]
February 14	World Valentine Day
February 14	Congenital Heart Defect Awareness Day (Canada)	Children's Heart Society[26]
February 14	V-Day	Global day to end violence against women
February 15 (variously, February 13, 14, or 15)	Singles Awareness Day
February 15	Total Defence Day (Singapore)
February 15	International Childhood Cancer Day	Childhood Cancer Foundation[27]
February 17	Random Acts of Kindness Day (USA)
February 20	World Day of Social Justice[28]	UN[10]
February 21	International Mother Language Day[29]	UN, UNESCO[10]
February 21	Language Movement Day (Bangladesh)
February 21	Global Information Governance Day
February 22	Founders Day[30]	Scouts' Day, worldwide
February 22	World Thinking Day[31]
February 26 (in UK, first Friday in February in USA)	National Wear Red Day
February 27	World NGO Day[32][33]	Baltic Sea NGO Forum of the Council of the Baltic Sea States,[34] Communities, International Leaders and Organizations
February 27	Anosmia Awareness Day,[35] World NGO Day[36]
February 27	National Pancake Day (USA)
February 28/29 (last day of February)	Rare Disease Day[37]
February (first Saturday)	Ice Cream for Breakfast Day
February (third Monday)	Washington's Birthday

March[edit]

Day	Name	Established/recognized by
March 1	World Civil Defence Day[38]
March 1	National Pig Day (USA)
March 1	Self-Injury Awareness Day	Also known as Self-Harm Awareness Day
March 2	Employee Appreciation Day
March 2	Texas Independence Day
March 3	World Wildlife Day	UN[39]
March 8	International Women's Day	UN[40]
March 10	National Women and Girl's HIV/AIDS Awareness Day[41]
March 10	Mario Day
March 11	National Singles Day and Solo Poly Day (worldwide)	UK[42] [43]
March 12	World Glaucoma Day[44]
March 14	Pi Day
March 14	White Day (Japan)
March 15	World Consumer Rights Day, World Sleep Day
March 15	World Contact Day
March 18	Transit Driver Appreciation Day
March 19	Mario Monti Day (Italy)[citation needed]
March 20	World Oral Health Day[45]	The most important day in the dental calendar worldwide; organized by World Dental Federation (FDI)
March 20	International Day of Francophonie[46]
March 20	International Day of Happiness	UN[10][47]
March 20	World Sparrow Day[48]
March 20	World Rights to Water Day[49]
March 20–21	Persian new year
March 21	Anal Cancer Awareness Day[50]
March 21	Cluster Headache Awareness Day[51]	Promoted by OUCH (Organisation for the Understanding of Cluster Headaches) alongside The European Headache Federation and European Headache Alliance. Cluster headaches are one of the ten most painful conditions known to medical science, with a 1 in 1000 prevalence rate but zero drug research funding.
March 21	Human Rights Day (South Africa)[52]	South Africa
March 21	International Colour Day
March 21	International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination	UN[10]
March 21	World Poetry Day	UN, UNESCO[10][53]
March 21	International Day of Nowruz	UN[10][54]
March 21	World Down Syndrome Day	UN[10][55]
March 21	World Puppetry Day	UNIMA
March 21	International Day of Forests	UN[10][56]
March 22	World Water Day	UN[10][57]
March 23	Pakistan Day
March 23	World Meteorological Day	UN, WHO[10][58]
March 23	National Puppy Day (USA)[59][60]
March 24	World Tuberculosis Day[61]	UN, WHO[10][62]
March 25	International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade	UN[10][63]
March 25	International Day of the Unborn Child	Catholic Church
March 25	Observance of National Genocide Day[64]	BPCA[65]
March 25	EU Talent Day
March 25	FND Awareness Day UK	For functional neurological disorder and non-epileptic attack disorder[66][67]
March 25	Tolkien Reading Day
March 26	Bangladesh Independence Day
March 26	Purple Day for epilepsy
March 27	World Theatre Day
March 28	International Laser Tag Day[68]	Laser Tag Museum
March 30	World Bipolar Day[69]	International Society for Bipolar Disorders
March 31	International Drug Checking Day[70][71][72][73]
March 31	World Backup Day[74]
March (First Saturday of the NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship)	National Corndog Day (USA)
March (Second Thursday)	World Kidney Day
March 10 or Friday of first full week	Middle Name Pride Day[75]
Monday before Shrove Tuesday	Nickanan Night, Collop Monday. Hall' Monday[76]

April[edit]

Day	Name	Established/recognized by
April 1	April Fools' Day
April 1	Edible Book Festival
April 2	World Autism Awareness Day	UN[10][77]
April 2	International Children's Book Day
April 2	Male Escorts' Day[78]
April 5	National Maritime Day
April 6	International Day of Sport for Development and Peace	UN[10]
April 6	World Bohring-Opitz Syndrome Awareness Day[79]
April 7	Day of Remembrance of the Victims of the Rwanda Genocide	UN[10][80]
April 7	World Health Day[61]	UN, WHO[10][81]
April 8	International Romani Day
April 10	World Homeopathy Day
April 10	Siblings Day (some countries)
April 11	International Louie Louie Day
April 12	Equal Pay Day
April 12	Cosmonautics Day
April 13	FND Awareness Day[82]	functional neurological disorder and conversion disorder. FND Hope; since adopted by other groups and medical professionals worldwide.[83][84][85]
April 14	Black Day (South Korea)
April 14	Pohela Boishakh (Bangla New Year's Day)
April 15	Day of Dialogue
April 15	World Bleeding Disorders Awareness Day	Supported by the World Federation of Hemophilia
April 16	National Healthcare Decisions Day (US)[86]
April 16	Foursquare Day
April 16	World Voice Day
April 17	World Haemophilia Day
April 18	International Day For Monuments and Sites
April 18	Youth Homelessness Matters Day	National Youth Coalition for Housing, Australia
April 19	Bicycle Day
April 20	420: international day for cannabis-related protests and events	Global cannabis culture[87][88][89]
April 21	Day of Silence
April 21	National Tea Day
April 22	Earth Day
April 22	International Mother Earth Day	UN[10][90]
April 22 (UK)	Administrative Professionals' Day
April 23	World Book and Copyright Day	UN, UNESCO[10][91]
April 23	English Language Day[10]
April 24	Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day
April 24	World Meningitis Day[92]
April 24	Fashion Revolution Day
April 24	International Sculpture Day
April 24	World Day for Laboratory Animals
April 25	DNA day
April 25	World Malaria Day[61]	UN, WHO[10][93]
April 25	Parental Alienation Awareness Day
April 25	ANZAC Day
April 25	Liberation Day (Italy)
April 26	World Intellectual Property Day
April 27	King's Day (The Netherlands)
April 27	Freedom Day (South Africa)
April 28	World Day for Safety and Health at Work	UN, ILO[10][94]
April 29	Day of Remembrance for all Victims of Chemical Warfare	UN[10][95]
April 29	International Dance Day	UNESCO[96]
April 30	International Jazz Day	UN[10][97]
April (North America: Wednesday of last full week)	Administrative Professionals' Day
Third Thursday of April	National High Five Day (USA)
April (19th, 18th and 17th have been used)	Record Store Day

May[edit]

Day	Name	Established/recognized by
May 1	May Day
May 1	International Workers' Day
May 3	World Press Freedom Day	UN[10][98]
May 4	International Firefighters' Day
May 4	Star Wars Day
May 5	International Midwives Day
May 5	Cinco de Mayo
May 6	International No Diet Day
May 7	World Password Day[99]
May 7	National Masturbation Day
May 8	World Red Cross and Red Crescent Day
May 8–9	Time of Remembrance and Reconciliation for Those Who Lost Their Lives during the Second World War	UN[10][100]
May 9	Europe Day
May 10	International Migratory Bird Day	North America
May 10	Asian American Pacific Islander Mental Health Awareness Day[101]
May 12	International Nurses Day
May 15	International Day of Families	UN[10][102]
May 16	International Day of Light	UNESCO
May 17	Shades Day	Family Holiday Association
May 17	International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia	UN[10]
May 17	World Telecommunication and Information Society Day	ITU[103]
May 18	World AIDS Vaccine Day
May 18	International AIDS Candlelight Memorial
May 18	International Museum Day
May 20	World Metrology Day	BIPM, OIML[104]
May 20	World Bee Day	UN, FAO[105]
May 20	Blue Cone Monochromacy International Awareness Day[106]
May 21	World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development	UN[10][107]
May 22	International Day for Biological Diversity	UN[10][108]
May 23	World Turtle Day
May 24	World Schizophrenia Day 2018
May 25	Geek Pride Day
May 25	Towel Day
May 26	National Paper Airplane Day (USA)
May 29	International Day of UN Peacekeepers	UN[109]
May 31	World No-Tobacco Day[61]	UN, WHO[10][110]
1st Tuesday of May	World Asthma Day
1st Sunday in May	World Laughter Day
2nd Saturday in May	World Fair Trade Day
2nd Sunday in May	Mother's Day
3rd Thursday in May	Global Accessibility Awareness Day
Full moon in May	Vesak[10]
A weekend in May	World Migratory Bird Day	UN, UNEP[10][111]
May (Saturday of third full week)	International Heritage Breeds Day[112][113] (USA)

·         Greenery Day – May 4

·         Remembrance of the Dead – May 4

·         World Wide Day of Genital Autonomy – May 7

·         Teacher's Day – May 8

·         Victory in Europe Day – May 8

·         Military Spouse Day – May 11

·         Mother's Day – May 13

·         International Day of Families – May 15

·         Norwegian Constitution Day – May 17

·         World Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) Day - May 19^[114]

·         Labour Day (Jamaica) – May 23

·         World Orienteering Day – May 24^[115]

·         African Liberation Day – May 25

·         International Missing Children's Day – May 25

·         World Multiple Sclerosis Day – May 25^[116]

·         Menstrual Hygiene Day – May 28

·         Memorial Day – last Monday of May

June[edit]

Day	Name	Established/recognized by
June (First Friday)	National Donut Day (USA)
June 1	Global Day of Parents	UN[10][117]
June 1	International Children's Day
June 1	World Milk Day
June 2	International Whores' Day
June 3	World Bicycle Day	UN[118]
June 4	International Day of Innocent Children Victims of Aggression	UN[10][119]
June 5	World Environment Day	UN, UNEP[10][120]
June 6	D-Day
June 6	World Pest Day	CEPA, NPMA[121]
June 6	National Day of Sweden
June 8	World Oceans Day	UN[10][122]
June 10	Portugal Day	Portugal
June 12	Anne Frank Day[123]	Anne Frank Centre
June 12	International Shia Day[124]
June 12	World Day Against Child Labour[10][125]
June 13	International Albinism Awareness Day	UN[126][127]
June 14	World Blood Donor Day[61]	UN, WHO[10][128]
June 15	Global Wind Day
June 16	Youth Day (South Africa)
June 16	International Day of the African Child	AU (OAU)
June 16	Bloomsday
June 17	World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought	UN[10][129]
June 17	Icelandic National Day
June 18	Autistic Pride Day
June 19	World Sickle Cell Day	United Nations General Assembly (63rd session)
June 20	World Refugee Day	UN[10][130]
June 20–21 (Solstice)	International Surfing Day
June 21	World Humanist Day
June 21	Go Skateboarding Day
June 21	International Yoga Day
June 21	World Music Day, International Day of Yoga, International Day of Purpose, National Indigenous Day (Canada)	UN,[131] Day of Purpose[132]
June 22	World Kidney Cancer Q&A Day[133]
June 23	International Widow's Day	UN[10][134]
June 24	Take Your Dog to Work Day
June 25	World Vitiligo Day	VITSAF[135][136]
June 26	International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking	UN[10][137]
June 26	United Nations International Day in Support of Victims of Torture	UN[10][138]
June 27	National PTSD Awareness Day
June 28 (Also October 22)	CAPS LOCK DAY
June 30	United Nations International Asteroid Day raises public awareness of the asteroid impact hazard	UN[10][139]
3rd Sun in Jun	Father's Day in some countries
June (Last Saturday)	Bundle Day (Switzerland)