Global Family Day 2023: Every year on January 1st, Global Family Day is observed. The day creates a sense of unity, community and brotherhood across nations and cultures through the idea of families. This day is observed to combat unwarranted animosity toward other cultures and countries, which can generate hatred, promote social alienation, and lead in violence. The day highlights the need for all nations to exist in harmony, regardless of cultural or religious differences. The day highlights the importance of family and urges the extension of the idea to a universal scale.
January 2023 Current Affairs Quiz
Global Family Day: History
- Two books served as the inspiration for Global Family Day. The first was a children’s book published in 1996 by American authors Steve Diamond and Robert Alan Silverstein titled “One Day in Peace, January 1, 2000.” The story imagines an ideal scenario where the entire world decides to work together to create a peaceful and prosperous planet Earth.
- The other book was American peace activist and author Linda Grover’s 1998 utopian novel ‘Tree Island: A Novel for the New Millennium.’ Grover, in particular, spent over a decade to establish January 1 as a global day of peace. On February 10, 2010, she died.
- January 1 was chosen by Linda Grover as it was the date mentioned in Diamond and Silverstein’s ‘One day in peace’ book, as the day on which the entire world joins hands together to co-exist in harmony.
- According to the book “One Day in Peace,” the United Nations was invited to host a commemoration of Global Family Day on January 1 in 1999. While the annual celebrations of Global Family Day did not begin on January 1, 2000, as mentioned in Silverstein’s novel, it began a year later and has continued ever since.
- Global Family Day also coincides with the World Day of Peace. The latter was established in 1967 and is celebrated annually by the Catholic Church.