Happy Children’s Day — Introduction to Children’s Day

tlwdotcom-The Land World
8 min readJun 1, 2022

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International Children’s Day is held on June 1 every year. To mourn the Lidice massacre on June 10, 1942 and all the children who died in wars around the world, to oppose the killing and poisoning of children, and to protect children’s rights. This day is a festival for children all over the world. It is a festival set up to protect children’s rights to survival, health care, education, and custody in all countries of the world, to improve children’s lives, and to oppose child abuse and poisoning. Many countries in the world have designated June 1 as a children’s day. Do you know the origin of this festival?

The origin of International Children’s Day

The establishment of International Children’s Day is related to the Lidice massacre, a massacre that occurred during World War II. On June 10, 1942, the German fascists shot and killed more than 140 male citizens over the age of 16 and all infants in the Czech village of Lidice, and sent women and 90 children to a concentration camp. The houses and buildings in the village were burned down, and a good village was destroyed by the German fascists like this.

After the end of the Second World War, the economy around the world was depressed, and thousands of workers were unemployed and living a life of hunger and cold. The situation of children is even worse, some contracted infectious diseases and died in batches; others were forced to work as child laborers, suffering torment, and their lives and lives could not be guaranteed. In order to mourn the Lidice massacre and all the children who died in wars in the world, to oppose the killing and poisoning of children, and to protect the rights of children, in November 1949, the International Federation of Democratic Women held a council meeting in Moscow, and representatives of various countries angrily exposed the The crime of murdering and poisoning children by imperialists and reactionaries of various countries.

In order to protect children’s rights to survival, health care and education, and to improve children’s lives, the meeting decided to make June 1st every year the International Children’s Day. Many countries at that time agreed, especially the socialist countries.

Many countries in the world have designated June 1 as a holiday for children, especially in socialist countries. In European and American countries, the dates of Children’s Day vary, and there are often few public celebrations. Therefore, some people misunderstand that only the socialist countries have designated June 1 as International Children’s Day. In order to protect the rights and interests of children all over the world, in November 1949, the Executive Committee of the International Federation of Democratic Women held in Moscow decided to make June 1st every year as International Children’s Day.

Celebration customs around the world

Japan

Japan is the country that celebrates Children’s Day the most in the world. They celebrate Children’s Day three times a year, and the way of celebration is very interesting and full of strong Japanese style.

March 3 Girls’ Day: This festival is specially set up for little girls. On this day, parents with daughters will set up a display stand at home, and put beautiful female dolls in Japanese kimonos on it as gifts. A holiday gift for my daughter.

May 5th Boys’ Day: On the day of the festival, families with sons hang “carp banners” in front of their doors, which means carp jumping over the dragon gate. Carp streamers, cut from cloth or satin into “hollow carp”, are divided into three colors: black, red and cyan. Black represents father; red represents mother; cyan represents the boy himself. There are several boys in the house, and there are several blue and blue flags hanging at the door. The more blue and blue flags, the more buddies in this family. In Japanese minds, carp symbolizes strength and courage.

November 15 “Seven-Five-Three” Children’s Day: In Japanese customs, three years old, five years old and seven years old are the three especially lucky ages for children, so on this day every year, children of these three years will be celebrated lively some time. On this day, children will wear the best traditional kimonos and carry a small paper bag with pictures of pine trees, turtles or cranes on their backs, filled with sweets and toys bought by their parents. After getting dressed, parents will take their children to the shrine to pray and thank the gods for bringing health and happiness to the children.

Korea

Children’s Day in Korea evolved from “Boys Day” in 1923. It is also a public holiday in Korea, on May 5 every year. On this day, children can enjoy themselves to the fullest, and parents prepare the gifts they most want for their children. Many children will also wear Hanbok on this day to experience traditional Korean culture.

Colombia

In Colombia, July 4th is designated as Children’s Day. During this festival, all kinds of lively celebrations are held in schools across the country. Children often wear various masks and play in the streets as clowns. They are very happy.

Brazil

Brazil’s Children’s Day falls on August 15, which also happens to be Brazil’s “National Epidemic Prevention Day”. Therefore, on this day, doctors from all over the country have to see a doctor for children, and also give children under the age of 5 the vaccine against polio, which shows that the government is very concerned about the health of children. In addition, Brazil’s “Appearance of Our Lady” on October 12 is also often used as Children’s Day, with some celebrations.

Sweden

Sweden also divides Children’s Day into a more detailed way. Every August 7th is “Boy’s Day”, also known as “Lobster Festival”, which means to encourage young boys across the country to learn the brave spirit of lobster. On this day, the children will dress up as lobsters and perform some very lively and lovely shows.

December 13th is Sweden’s “Girl’s Day”, also known as “Lucia Goddess Day”. Lucia is the goddess who protects girls in Swedish legends. Every time on this festival, girls dress up as goddesses and do good deeds for other children.

Russia

Children’s Day in Russia and the international are completely “in sync”, on June 1st. When Children’s Day comes, children from all over Russia will happily celebrate their festivals, and they will also perform some folk songs and dances, and there will be celebrations in schools.

In fact, when it comes to the origin of Children’s Day, it has an important relationship with Russia. In November 1949, the International Federation of Democratic Women held a council meeting in Moscow. In order to protect the rights to survival, health care and education of children all over the world, and to improve the lives of children, the meeting decided to use June 1st every year as International Children’s Day.

Spain

Children’s Day in Spain is on January 5th. In fact, this is a religious holiday, which translates from Spanish as “the day of the magic king”. Legend has it that a long time ago, three kings came from the east — the black-faced king, the yellow-faced king and the white-faced king to Spain, and these three kings brought happiness and joy to the people. They are also “imperial ministers” who specialize in giving gifts to children. The gift-giving time is set on January 5 every year, so this festival is linked to children.

To celebrate this festival, on the evening of January 5th and the morning of the 6th, there are parades of floats all over Spain. The “Three Kings” on the float kept throwing out all kinds of candy to condolence to the children. When the procession arrives at the gate of the city hall or district government, any child who can sit on the king’s lap will receive a beautiful gift, and the child who receives the gift must also assure the king that he will study hard.

UK

In August 1925, representatives of 54 countries held the “International Conference on the Happiness of Children” in Geneva, Switzerland, and adopted the “Geneva Declaration on Safeguarding Children”. The Declaration made a fervent appeal for the enjoyment of children’s spirit, relief for poor children, and access to livelihood opportunities for children. After the conference, governments of various countries have successively established their own “Children’s Day” to encourage children, make them feel great, happy and joyful, and make people in the society value and love children. The British government has designated July 14 each year as British Children’s Day.

Germany

During the Cold War, East and West Germany approached Children’s Day very differently. First, the dates are different: in East Germany on June 1, in West Germany on September 20; the names are also different: in East Germany it is called “Internationaler Kindertag” (Internationaler Kindertag), in West Germany it is called “World Children’s Day” Children’s Day” (Weltkindertag). In addition, there are differences in the traditions of festivals.

In the GDR (East Germany), Children’s Day began in 1950, and every year since then, this day is the happiest day of the year for children. There are often blessings and gifts from parents, and special celebrations such as outings are held in the school. In the Federal Republic of Germany, Children’s Day has no special meaning, and many people don’t even know it exists.

With the reunification of Germany in 1990, the dates and names of children’s festivals in West Germany became the official uniform standard throughout Germany. However, in many parts of East Germany, people still cannot change old habits and names. Therefore, on June 1 every year, many parents still celebrate the arrival of Children’s Day with their children.

Singapore

The first article of Singapore’s holiday regulations stipulates that on October 1, Children’s Day is not only a holiday for children, but also a holiday for all adults. The reason is that if only children are given a holiday, the adults will all go to work, and no one will play with the children. The poor children can only watch TV at home on Children’s Day. In addition, Singapore is a country with particularly high welfare, but it has a small population. This regulation on Children’s Day is also beneficial to promote young couples who love vacations to get more vacations by having more children.

What’s more interesting is that Singapore’s largest national playground has also formulated a special rule for Children’s Day. On Children’s Day, children must buy full tickets, while adults must buy half tickets. In this way, not only children can happily experience the feeling of being a little adult, but also adults can rediscover the long-lost childhood time. Moreover, because of this special regulation, there was an anecdote that made Singaporeans laugh out loud.

Islamic country

Most Islamic countries designate the 14th day after Ramadan as “Candy Day”, children, this is also the happiest Children’s Day.

Africa country

Most countries in West Africa have special “Children’s Carnivals”, which usually last for one month. Africans can sing and dance, “Children’s Carnival”, although people’s living conditions are different, all children will be happy and lively.

Children are the future of the country and the hope of the nation. It has always been the goal of all countries in the world to create a good family, social and learning environment for all children and let them grow up healthily, happily and happily. “Children’s Day” is a festival specially set up for children.

Originally published at https://www.tlw.com.

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