We thought it might be a helpful thing to our readers to have a “Calendar Page” here. We will include any dates throughout the year which a) raise awareness of child advocacy-related issues in RED b) are days on which fun or traditional events can be planned with children in BLUE.
Please let us know if you think we have left out any important ones from your country or culture, then we can add them and build up a comprehensive, international list.
Hopefully this will also help people be aware of these days as they arise, so they can be searched for on “The Forever Years” and other sites, to help with planning events.
January (whole month) Human Trafficking Awareness Month
Jan. 1st New Year’s Day (Georgian Calendar)
Jan 27th International Holocaust Remembrance Day
Jan. 31st Street Children’s Day/ Jugend Eine Welt (Austria)
Street Children’s Day, Austria
Feb- March Chinese/ Lunar New Year (“Tet” in Vietnam)
Feb 6th International Day of Zero Tolerance to Female Genital Mutilation
Feb 6th Waitangi/ New Zealand Day (NZ)
Feb 8th International Safer Internet Day
Feb. 12th Red Hand Day (to draw attention to the plight of child soldiers)
“Red Hand Day” logo
Feb 14th Valentine’s Day
15th Feb. International Childhood Cancer Day
22nd Feb. International Scouts Day (Founders Day)
29th Feb. Leap Day every 4 years…2016, 2020, 2024, 2028, 2032….
March 3rd Girls’ Day/ 雛祭り Hina-matsuri (Japan)
March 8th lnternational Women’s Day
Second Friday in March “Orange Friday” (NZ) Against Domestic Violence
March 17th St. Patrick’s Day (Ireland and round the world)
March 21st Single Parents’ Day
March 21st World Down Syndrome Day
A Poster for World Down Syndrome Day
March 22nd World Water Day
March- April Easter (Christian Faith)
April 2nd World Autism Awareness Day
April 13th Undiagnosed Children’s Awareness Day
April 13th Youth Homelessness Matters Day (Australia)
April 22nd Earth Day
April 25th ANZAC Day (Australia and NZ)
A 9 year old girl, from Titirangi in Auckland, with ANZAC Day poppies
Last week of April World Immunization Week
May (First Sunday) Mothers’ Day
May 5th Boys’ Day/ Tango no Sekku (端午の節句) (Japan)
Boys with kites on “Boys’ Day” in Japan (Source: Getty images)
May 25th International Missing Children’s Day
Late May- Early June Matariki (NZ)
Early June (varies according to Lunar Calendar) Ramadan/ رمضان (Muslim Faith)
June 1st International Day for Protection of Children, observed in many countries as Children’s Day
Children’s day (Día del Niño) in Ecuador
June 12th World Day Against Child Labour
Week including June 17th Gifted Awareness Week (NZ)
First week of July Māori Language Week (NZ)
Aug. 12th International Youth Day
Sept. (First Sunday) Fathers’ Day
Sept. 10th World Suicide Prevention Day
Sept- Oct. “Tet Trung Thu”/ Mid Autumn Festival, a child-centred festival (Vietnam, China, Hong Kong, Korea)
Vietnamese children enjoying “Tet Trung Thu”, their Mid-Autumn Festival
Whole Month of October Spina Bifida Awareness Month
Second Monday in October Thanksgiving (Canada)
Oct. 11th International Day of the Girl Child
Oct. 31st Halloween
Children in costumes for Halloween
First Week in Nov. Multiple Birth awareness Week (NZ)
Triplets! Multiple Birth Awareness Week
Nov. 11th Armistice Day (UK, Australia, Canada, NZ)
Fourth Thursday in Nov. Thanksgiving (USA)
Whole Month of Nov. Adoption Awareness Month
Nov. 17th World Prematurity Day
Nov. 19th “Buddy Day” (NZ) and International Child Abuse Prevention Day
Nov. 19th lnternational Men’s Day
Nov. 20th Universal Children’s Day
Late Nov. Early Dec. Hanukkah (Jewish Faith, Festival of Lights)
A Jewish Family light the menorah (8 candles) for Hanukkah
1st Dec. World AIDS Day
10th Dec. Human Rights Day
Dec. 21st Children’s Day (Buddhist Faith)
Dec. 25th Christmas Day (Christian Faith, Birth Day of Jesus Christ)
Children performing a Christmas Nativity Play
The Forever Years 