Happy International Friendship Day!

On May 3, 2011, after the proposal made by the Republic of Paraguay, the United Nations General Assembly declared July 30 as the official “International Day of Friendship” affirming that friendship can contribute to the efforts of the international community… towards the promotion of dialogue among civilizations, solidarity, mutual understanding, and reconciliation”. In Paraguay, Friendship Day was born in 1958, between a group of friends in Puerto Pinasco city that decided to celebrate it every July 30 to promote the values of solidarity, understanding, and reconciliation and make of friendship a lifestyle in Paraguay society. Ramón Artemio Bracho, one of the members of that group, later founded the “World Friendship Crusade” to lobby for the designation of this day as World Friendship Day.
In Paraguay, traditionally one week before that day, the “Invisible Friend” game is played. In this game, the names of everybody in a group (school or work) are written on little pieces of paper and then each member withdraws one and keeps it a secret until July 30, when a gift is given to the person whose name was written on the withdrawn paper and until then did not know who his “invisible friend” was. Let´s celebrate this important day along with all our international friends! Happy International Friendship Day!