Last modified 01/24/2024

When is the International friends day :

The affectionate relationship between two human beings with no family ties and which goes beyond basic politeness and etiquette is called FRIENDSHIP. As this relationship gets stronger and becomes more important, friendship grows and lasts a lifetime.

Why is friendship so important for every human being? Friendship is a social objective for every individual, and nobody can die before establishing this type of affectionate relationship. Some people, unlike others, make friends very easily. In fact, friendship is a feeling not only in real life, but it is also a recurrent topic in many literature and film fiction stories.

In literature, for instance, friendship been conveyed in its highest level in the book “The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha”. through the relationship between noble gentleman Alonso Quijano and the fat and ignorant peasant called Sancho Panza. This magnificent book was published in 1605 by author Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, who later decided to continue the story and publish it again in 1615. The main characters in this story lead and adventure which lets them demonstrate the true value of friendship when facing common objectives, such as fulfilling their duties.

Another great writer to deal with friendship topics was Alexandre Dumas (France), who in 1844 published his beautiful novel “The Three Musketeers”., a novel that tells the adventures of three young soldiers (Athos, Aramis and Porthos) with the King´s Musketeer Company.

These three young men meet another noble young man called D’Artagnan, and all of them create the famous phrase “One for all, all for one”., which is used even nowadays because it is the highest friendship symbol. It is worth mentioning that this is the only friendship in literature that continued in two more books: “Twenty Years After”. and “The Vicomte of Bragelonne: Ten Years Later”.

But if we go back in time, we realize that friendship had been conveyed before, for instance in the “Epic of Gilgamesh”. Have you heard about this beautiful poem? It is the earliest tale in history (27th century before Christ) and tells the story of two friends, King Gilgamesh and wild Enkidu, who go in search of glory but find death and later discover immortality.

But in real life lasting friendships happen not only between people, of the same or different sexes, but also between humans and animals. The best known one is between man and dog, which has been called “man’s best friend”. But there is also friendship between animals, and we are surprised to see them playing together.

Friendship is so important for human beings that many countries have set “Friends Day”. So we must describe this festivity briefly.
In countries like Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay, Spain and the United States it is celebrated every July 20, remembering the day a group of astronauts first arrived to the moon in 1969.

But the first Latin American country to officially celebrate it was Paraguay. Since 1958 and every July 30, this country celebrates this date nationally and with one of its customs, “Secret Friend”. In Bolivia, this celebration takes place every July 23. Mexico, Ecuador and the Dominican Republic celebrate friendship’s day together with love’s day, February 14.

In other Latin American countries there is not a defined date to celebrate friend’s day, but thanks to an initiative from some companies and institutions, it is becoming usual to celebrate it the first Friday in October (Chile), the third Saturday in September (Colombia) or the first Saturday in July (Peru).

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