National Hugging Day

National Hugging Day is an annual event dedicated to hugging. It was created by Kevin Zaborney[1][2] and occurs annually on January 21st. The day was first celebrated on January 21, 1986 in Clio, Michigan, USA.[3] The holiday is also observed in many other countries.[4][5] The idea of National Hug Day is to encourage everyone to hug family and friends more often.[1] Zaborney cautions to ask first if one is unsure of the response as respecting the personal space of others is always important and some people are not huggers.

National Hugging Day TM
Also calledNational Hug Day, International Hug Day
Observed byUnited States, United Kingdom
TypeSecular
CelebrationsOffer hugs to others
Date21 January
Next time21 January 2022 (2022-01-21)
FrequencyAnnual

History

Kevin Zaborney is credited with coming up with the idea of National Hugging Day in 1986. It was included in Chase's Calendar of Events; Zaborney's friend at the time was the granddaughter of the proprietors of the publication. He chose January 21st as it fell between the Christmas and New Year's Holidays and Valentine's Day and birthdays when he found people are generally in low spirits.[1] Zaborney considered that "American society is embarrassed to show feelings in public" and hoped that a National Hugging Day would change that,[1] although he thought that his idea would fail.[2]

References
  1. "Kevin Zaborney creates National Hug Day". People.com. Retrieved 13 April 2011.
  2. "National Hugging Day – One Pastor's Ingenious Idea". christianpost.com. Retrieved 27 April 2011.
  3. Zaborney, Kevin. "Official National Hug Day Website". nationalhuggingday.com. Retrieved 20 April 2011.
  4. Woods, Tyler. "Today Is National Hug Day Which Means Good Health". emaxhealth.com. Retrieved 20 April 2011.
  5. "What is National Hug Day?". ibtimes.com. Retrieved 27 April 2011.
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