Mountain Day
refers to three different and unrelated events: (1) Mountain Day, a student celebration in some colleges in the United States in which classes are cancelled without prior notice, and the student body heads to the mountains or a park, (2) International Mountain Day, held each year on 11 December, which was established by the UN General Assembly in 2003 to encourage
sustainable development
in mountains, and (3) Mountain Day, a national holiday in Japan as of 2016.
In May 2014, it was announced that Mountain Day will be celebrated as a public holiday every August 11, beginning in 2016. Supporters of the holiday included legislator
Seishiro Eto
and the Japanese Alpine Club.
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The legislation states that the holiday is to provide "opportunities to get familiar with mountains and appreciate blessings from mountains."
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As special arrangement for the
2020 Summer Olympics
, the 2020 date for Mountain Day was moved to August 10. With the Olympics and Paralympics
postponed until 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic
, the government left this change in place for 2020 and passed an amendment to the Olympic and Paralympic Special Measures Act to make a corresponding change to the holiday in 2021, moving it to August 9.
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In connection with the UN's International Mountain Day,
Armenia
has dedicated 9 October as "Day of the Mountains."
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