World Vegetarian Day
| World Vegetarian Day | |
|---|---|
| Official name | World Vegetarian Day |
| Observed by | Vegetarians across the planet |
| Significance | First day of Vegetarian Awareness Month (month of October) |
| Celebrations | Local, regional, and national groups organize events to promote the desirability and benefits of vegetarian practices. |
| Begins | October 1 |
| Ends | October 1 |
| Date | October 1 |
| Next time | 1 October 2015 |
| Frequency | annual |
| Related to | Vegetarian Awareness Month, World Farm Animals Day, International Vegetarian Week, International Vegan Day aka World Vegan Day, International Vegetarian Day |
World Vegetarian Day is observed annually on October 1. It is a day of celebration established by the North American Vegetarian Society in 1977 and endorsed by the International Vegetarian Union in 1978, "To promote the joy, compassion and life-enhancing possibilities of vegetarianism."[1] It brings awareness to the ethical, environmental, health and humanitarian benefits of a vegetarian lifestyle.
World Vegetarian Day initiates the month of October as Vegetarian Awareness Month, which ends with November 1, World Vegan Day, as the end of that month of celebration. Vegetarian Awareness Month has been known variously as Reverence for Life month, Month of Vegetarian Food, and more.
Additional days
Several additional days of vegetarian significance are included in Vegetarian Awareness Month:
- September 27 – "Hug a Vegan/Vegetarian Day"
- October 1 – World Vegetarian Day
- October 2 – World Farm Animals Day (WFAD)[2] or World Day for Farm(ed) Animals, birthday of Mohandas K. Gandhi
- October 4 – The Feast Day of St. Francis of Assisi
- October 4 – "Hug a Non-Meat Eater Day"
- October 1-7 – International Vegetarian Week - in several nations across the planet (but especially in Europe), many public educational and celebratory events are organized to promote the vegetarian lifestyle.
- First full week + additional 'straggler' days (in order to include as many weekends as possible for church, mosque, and temple involvement – World Week of Prayer for Animals[3](always includes The Feast Day of St. Francis of Assisi). This may have been initiated by the now-defunct INRA, International Network for Religion an Animals, founded in 1985 by the late Virginia Bouraquardez (aka Ginnie Bee).
- October 16 – United Nations World Food Day (often a time of global reckoning with issues of human food security) – the date of the founding of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations in 1945.
- November 1 – International Vegan Day aka World Vegan Day – a vegan holiday celebrated since 1994 on November 1 – the anniversary of the creation of The Vegan Society
Additional Global 'Vegetarian Days'
- March 20 – Great American Meatout[4] – developed and sponsored every year by FARM, aka Farm Animal Rights Movement [5]
- The last Friday of September- International 'Hug a Vegetarian' Day [6]
- October 4 – "Hug a Non-Meat Eater Day"
- November 1 – International Vegan Day aka World Vegan Day – a vegan holiday celebrated since 1994 on November 1 – the anniversary of the creation of The Vegan Society
- November 25 – International Vegetarian Day[7] aka SAK Meatless Day[8] – the birthday of Sadhu T. L. Vaswani][9] (largely celebrated in India and throughout the Asian Pacific Rim nations, but known in Western nations among many vegetarians of Indian and Southeast Asian descent)
US-based 'Vegetarian Days'
- Meatless Monday – Every Week, go totally meatless on Monday – an international campaign that encourages people to cut out (not eat) meat on Mondays to improve their health and the health of the planet. Reducing meat consumption by 15% (the equivalent of one day a week) lessens the risk of chronic preventable illness and has a strong positive impact on the environment (strongly reduces ecological damages from the activities involved with meat production and transport or distribution). Meatless Monday offers weekly meat-free recipes, articles, tips and news.[10] Meatless Monday is a non-profit initiative of The Monday Campaigns Inc. in association with the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. The program follows the nutrition guidelines developed by the USDA.[11]
Meatless Monday is part of the Healthy Monday initiative.[12] Healthy Monday encourages Americans to make healthier decisions at the start of every week. Other Healthy Monday campaigns include: Do The Monday 2000, Quit and Stay Quit Monday, Move it Monday, Monday Mile and others.
Graphics
Various graphic and artistic representations are used; there is no one logo to represented World Vegetarian Day. Some of the other dates within Vegetarian Awareness Month have their own logos, or a series of logo representations, if they are sponsored in part or totally by identifiable organizations.[13]
Chinese society vegetarian days
There is a common practice for some Chinese people to be vegetarian twice a lunar month. The first day and the 15th day of each lunar month. (初一)﹑(十五). The 15th day of each lunar month is the day/night with full moon.
Local vegetarian restaurants are particularly busy on those 2 days.
The origin of such practice is related to religious beliefs.
See also
References
- ↑ http://www.navs-online.org/about/index.php
- ↑ World Day for Farm(ed) Animals website
- ↑ http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=993&dat=20040929&id=DDkWAAAAIBAJ&sjid=PBoEAAAAIBAJ&pg=4064,2172425
- ↑ http://www.meatout.org
- ↑ http://www.FARMUSA.org
- ↑ http://www.peta2.com/feat/hug/
- ↑ http://www.meatlessday.com/
- ↑ http://www.sakmeatlessday.com/
- ↑ http://www.sadhuvaswani.org
- ↑ http://www.meatlessmonday.com MeatlessMonday.com
- ↑ http://www.mypyramid.gov/
- ↑ http://www.healthymonday.org/
- ↑ Google search for "World Vegetarian Day" logo