Holidays and Observances:
1: International Children's Day (1 day off for children under 14).
1: World Milk Day, proposed by FAO (the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations) to provide an opportunity to focus attention on milk and to publicize activities connected with milk and the milk industry. June 1 was chosen because a number of countries were already celebrating a national milk day on or around this time.
4: Sheep and Horse Festival, celebrated by Miao people with grand gatherings on the days of sheep or horse around the 26th day of the 4th lunar month. Legend has it that during a war at the end of Ming Dynasty (1368–1644), the Miao people used sheep and horses to mislead the enemy and finally won victory. The festival is held to show their reverence for these animals.
5: World Environment Day, commemorated each year on June 5, is one of the principal vehicles through which the United Nations stimulates worldwide awareness of the environment and enhances political attention and action. It was established by the United Nations General Assembly in 1972 to mark the opening of the Stockholm Conference on the Human Environment. Another resolution, adopted by the General Assembly the same day, led to the creation of UNEP.
6: National Eye Health Day.
12: Dragon Boat Festival (5th day of the 5th lunar month). Celebrated in memory of poet and minister of the State of Chu Qu Yuan (340–278 BC). Celebrated by eating zongzi, pyramid-shaped glutinous rice dumplings wrapped in reed or bamboo leaves, and holding dragon boat races; 1 day off.
12: World Day Against Child Labor. The International Labor Organization (ILO) launched the first World Day Against Child Labor in 2002 as a way to highlight the plight of hundreds of millions of girls and boys throughout the world who are engaged in work that deprives them of adequate education, health, leisure and basic freedoms, violating their rights. The day, which is observed annually on June 12, is intended to serve as a catalyst for the growing worldwide movement against child labor, reflected in the huge number of ratifications of ILO Convention No. 182 on the worst forms of child labor and ILO Convention No. 138 on the minimum age for employment.
16: Father's Day, observed annually on the third Sunday in June.
16: Day of the African Child. In Soweto, South Africa, thousands of black school children took to the streets in 1976 to protest the inferior quality of their education and to demand their right to be taught in their own language. Hundreds of children were shot down. To honor the memory of those killed and the courage of all those who marched, the Day of the African Child has been celebrated on June 16 every year since 1991, when it was first initiated by the Organization of African Unity.
17: World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought. Observed world-wide, this day marks the anniversary of the adoption of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification.
20: World Refugee Day.
23: Olympic Day. In January 1948 at the 42nd IOC Session in St Moritz, Switzerland, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) approved the idea of Olympic Day. This celebration would be used to commemorate the creation of the IOC on June 23, 1894 in Paris.
24: Erlang Mountain Singsong Gathering, a social activity held on the 17th day of the 5th lunar month by Han and Hui Chinese in Minxian County, Gansu Province.
25: National Land Day.
26: International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking. In 1987, the UN General Assembly decided to observe June 26 as the International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking as an expression of its determination to strengthen action and cooperation to achieve the goal of an international society free of drug abuse. |
