What is the real date of Children's Day?

Has Children's Day always been celebrated on October 12th? Find out more about the real date of Children's Day.

We have just passed one of the most traditional holidays of the year: Children's Day.

The date – which is used to celebrate the lives of children – is celebrated on October 12th and, together with the Day of Our Lady of Aparecida, is one of the most traditional holidays here in Brazil.

But has this always been the day this date has been celebrated? Or has there already been another Children's Day that most of us are unaware of?

That’s what we’re going to discover together throughout today’s text! 

In the material we have prepared for you, we will discover the real date of Children's Day and understand a little more about the historical events that led to the date changing.

Before we know what the real date of Children's Day is, let's find out the origin of the date.

In case you missed it, we already talked a little about the origin of Children's Day here.

But for those who are not yet familiar with the subject, we will provide some context. And to do so, we will go back almost 100 years, to 1923.

In October 1923, the city of Rio de Janeiro was hosting an event called the South American Children's Congress.

At that time, Rio de Janeiro was chosen as the host city for the event because it was the country's federal capital.

It was at this event – which focused on childhood – that Children's Day began to take its first steps towards becoming what we know today.

One of the people most responsible for this feat was a politician from Nova Friburgo called Galdino do Valle Filho. 

Initially, Galdino instituted the law in Brazil, creating the national day in celebration of children.

But, noticing the impact of the congress and all the discussions that the law created was causing, Galdino do Valle Filho – who had just been elected federal deputy – proposed an official law about the day.

At the time, the President of the Republic was Arthur Bernardes, and he was responsible for sanctioning Decree 4,867, making the date official.

And it was in 1924 that Children's Day came into effect here.

But it is still not Children's Day as we know it today.

This is because, at that time, the day was not celebrated by Brazilian families and ended up going unnoticed by the vast majority of the population.

What is the real date of Children's Day?

After this brief contextualization about Children's Day, you might be thinking that the day has always remained the same, right?

After all, the congress mentioned here was held in October, precisely the month in which we celebrate this very traditional date.

But that's where you're wrong!

As you probably already know, everything that involves politics in Brazil ends up taking longer than it should. And this issue of officializing an exclusive day to celebrate Children's Day would be no different.

As already mentioned here, Children's Day – which was known as Children's Party Day – only came into effect in 1924. 

But it was in 1940 that then-president Getúlio Vargas created the date by decree. And in this decree in question, the date was very different from what we know today: March 25th.

Have you ever imagined Children's Day being celebrated right next to Easter and just before Mother's Day?

What ended up not making much difference in changing the dates is that, until the 1950s, both dates were not so well remembered. 

This meant that they went unnoticed by most Brazilian parents.

It was only from the 1950s onwards that the date began to gain more strength commercially speaking because of toy manufacturers and the date became part of the annual calendar of Brazilian events. 

Why did Children's Day change its date?

The most accepted theory behind this change of Children's Day from March 25th to October 12th is solely and exclusively a commercial strategy.

This is because there was a gap in the commercial dates calendar in the second half of the year.

Let's analyze together the main commercial dates throughout the year at that time: in March and April there was Easter; in May, Mother's Day and in June, Valentine's Day.

In the second half of the year, we had Father's Day in August and then Christmas in December. There was a gap of more than three months between these two dates.

The solution found to help liven up the period and give a boost to commerce in general was to move Children's Day from March 25th to October 12th.

This way, the dates would be better distributed and, as a bonus, it would also help to benefit trade in general.

And that's how October 12th became Children's Day, which we all know and celebrate to this day.

Conclusion 

As you can see throughout the text, Children's Day was very different from what we know today, right? 

And as much as this change motivated solely and exclusively by the good of commerce may seem strange, this type of resource is far from being an isolated event.

So much so that other dates as important as this one – such as Father's Day and even Valentine's Day – were created for purely commercial purposes.

In fact, we have already created special content here on the website talking a little more about the origin of Father's Day. If you are curious to know more about the date, we advise you to look for this material here on the website,

Finally, it is very interesting to know a little more about how historical facts end up shaping our events and, consequently, our calendar.

Did you like the content we prepared today? Then take the opportunity to read it too What toy should I give a 3 year old boy?