Dia del Amigo From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Dia del Amigo (Spanish, Friend's Day) is a celebration of friendship,
held annually on July 20th, mainly in Argentina (where it originated) and
in other countries, mostly in Latin America.
The idea for Friend's Day goes back to Argentine teacher, musician, and
dentist Enrique Febbraro, who lobbied to turn the anniversary of the
first moon landing (1969-07-20) into an international day of friendship.
He argued that on this particular day, the whole world had been friends
of the three astronauts. The first official recognition of the day came
with decree No. 235/79 by the government of the province of Buenos Aires,
which authorized the celebration and gave it official nature.
In Argentina, Friend's Day is often a good excuse for a common friendly
gathering, though people also employ the day to get in contact with old
and seldom-met friends and greet them. Since it is not a public holiday
in Argentina, the gatherings tend to happen during the evening.
Though Friend's Day has always been respected, in recent years it has
turned into a very popular mass phenomenon. In 2005, too many well-
wishing friends led to a temporary breakdown of the mobile phone network
in the cities of Buenos Aires, Cordoba and Rosario, comparable to the one
experienced in 2004 on Christmas and New Year's Day. In the case of
Rosario, La Capital newspaper reported that seats in most restaurants,
bars and other establishments were already booked completely a week
before the celebration.