Important Events of March – 20
International Day of Happiness
- The International Day of Happiness is celebrated worldwide every March 20
- The day was created by a special advisor to the United Nations named Jayme Illien to inspire, mobilize, and advance the global happiness movement.
- Jayme first brought up the idea of creating a new day to celebrate happiness to senior United Nations officials back in 2011.
- The first International Day of Happiness was held, on March 20, 2013 at the TedXTeen conference in New York,
- The event is celebrated in 193 countries, 2 observer states and in 11 territories.
2018 theme
This year’s theme is “Share Happiness – focusing on the importance of relationships, kindness and helping each other.”World Sparrow Day
- World Sparrow Day is a day designated to raise awareness of the house sparrow and then other common birds to urban environments, and of threats to their populations, observed on 20 March.
- World Sparrow Day is an international initiative started by Nature Forever Society (NFS) in India to raise awareness about the house sparrow and other such birds. The Nature Forever Society works in the collaboration with Eco-Sys Action Foundation from France.
- Mohammed Dilawar, an Indian conservationist who founded the Nature Forever Society was working for several years to raise awareness about the importance of conservation of the house sparrow.
- The first World Sparrow Day was observed on date 20 March 2010
Theme of World Sparrow Day 2018
- The theme for World Sparrow Day 2018 is “I LOVE Sparrows”
Holi (Festival of Colours)
- Holi is one of the major festivals of Hindus.
- The festival celebrated by Hindus every year is observed on the day of Purnima, the full moon,in the month of Falgun over two consecutive days — the first day known as Chhoti Holi or Holika Dahan and the second as Rangwali Holi, Dhuleti, Dhulandi or Dhulivandan.
- 2018 Holi falls on March 1-2.
- It is celebrated in South Asian countries, especially in India and Nepal.
- Holi is the festival of colours.
- The festival is celebrated for two days.
- People pour colored water on each other and cook many types of sweets and other food.
- Holi is celebrated in the spring season because it is welcoming spring. Hindus believe that spring is full of colours so they throw coloured water on each other.
Significance of Holi
- The story of Hiranyakashyap, who was a demon king and wanted to be immortal. While he wanted everyone to worship him as god, his son Prahlada was a devotee of Vishnu.
- Offended by his son’s disobedience, he asked his sister, Holika, to kill his son by sitting down in a burning furnace with Prahlada.
- Holika had a divine gift that fire could not burn her and so she did as her brother told her to. However, Prahlada’s devotion evoked Vishnu’s compassion and he saved the boy from the fire while Holika was burned to death.
- Vishnu, thereafter defeated and killed Hiranyakashyap as well, marking the victory of good over evil.
Festival of Colours
- Holi is most prominently associated with the colours used on that day and it is rightly called the “Festival of Colours”.
- However, the colours used on this day because it was believed that Krishna used to celebrate the festival with colours at Vrindavan and Gokul.
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