Monkey Day is an unofficial international animal holiday celebrated annually on December 14. The day celebrates all things primate and simian species. Here’s wishing you all a very Happy Monkey Day!
When is Monkey Day?
Monkey Day in is celebrated on, 14 December. This annual holiday will honor monkeys and raise awareness among the young generation about non-human primates.
Monkey Day: What is it all about?
Monkey Day is an animal-holiday dedicated to honoring monkeys, simians, and other primates such as the gorilla, apes, baboons, and chimpanzees.
Celebrated every year on December 14, this unofficial international holiday encourages people to love monkeys, treat them with care, And raises awareness among their importance as living beings in society.
Monkey Day is often also known as World Monkey Day, Day of the Monkey, National Monkey and International Monkey Day.
Monkey Day History: Who created this day?
Monkey Day was invented by two artists named Casey Sorrow and Eric Millikin, starting in the year 2000 when both were art students at Michigan State University in the USA.
One day, Casey Sorrow jokingly marked December 14 as Monkey Day on his friend’s calendar, and then they actually celebrated the holiday with other art class fellows of Michigan University.
Celebrated for the first time on December 14, 2000 – the holiday gained popularity when Casey Sorrow and Eric Millikin started including Monkey Day in their artwork and comics that they published online and promoted globally alongside other artists.
Since then, Monkey Day has become a popular holiday in many countries worldwide. The countries where this day is widely celebrated across include the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Thailand, Germany, Turkey, Scotland, Pakistan, India, Estonia, and Colombia.
The day has also been endorsed by various organizations and magazine publications like Greenpeace, National Geographic, and the Washington Post.
Monkey Day Celebrations: How’s this holiday celebrated?
Monkey Day is mostly celebrated by school children who attend special events related to the theme: “Monkeys”, dress themselves like monkeys, and get an interesting insight into the lifestyle of monkeys by their school teachers. Here’s how Monkey Day is celebrated:
Monkey Day Events in Zoos and Schools
In most places, there are World Monkey Day events organized for students in schools or local zoos. On December 14, the students either go on a trip to a nearby zoo with their teachers or attend the event in their school.
These Monkey Day events are focused on educating children about Monkeys and other simian species. To get into the festivity, students wear monkey masks, read essays about monkeys, take part in monkey-drawing art competitions, and wear monkey costumes. In some schools, special performances are held to highlight the threats monkeys are facings in the present world as well as monkey evolution.
Monkey Day Art Exhibitions
Since Monkey Day gained popularity due to Casey and Eric ‘s paintings and comic works, International Monkey Day is incomplete without monkey-themed artwork. Students create portraits of monkeys, and the best artist is awarded a prize. 3D Monkey artworks are also in trends these days.
Fundraising on Monkey Day
Monkey Day artwork by famous artists is auctioned and the money earned is used for the betterment of primate habitat. There are annual Monkey Day art sales, where you get a free banana with each purchase of monkey-day’s painting. The funds raised are submitted to wildlife NGOs or local zoos.
Attending Monkey Day Parties & Watching Movies
The occasion is also observed with costume parties proposed to help attract the attention regarding issues identified with simians, including medicinal research, monkey rights, and evolution. There are competitions to see who has the best outfits, who can act like a monkey the longest or play out the most interesting impression of one, or speed sewing of monkey dolls.
Listening to Monkey-themed songs such as “The Monkey Time” and “Monkey Man”, And watching Monkey-themed movies like King Kong, Planet of the Apes, and Lady Iron Monkey – are also part of the Monkey Day celebrations.
Monkey Day Quotes
- People go to the zoo and they like the lion because it’s scary. And the bear because it’s intense, but the monkey makes people laugh ― Lorne Michaels.
- Monkeys are superior to men in this: when a monkey looks into a mirror, he sees a monkey ― Malcolm de Chazal.
- Without pain, without sacrifice, we would have nothing. Like the first monkey shot into space ― Chuck Palahniuk, Fight Club
- I am a monkey fan.
- Let us act like monkeys and have fun because it’s World Monkey Day.