Mountains are something that most people don’t think a whole lot about. When people think about mountains, they think of them as only large piles of rocks that add a bit of majesty to the landscape. People don’t usually think about their cultural impact or the wide range of activities that they can offer them. Mountains offer humans something special. Fortunately, there’s a holiday that does celebrate mountains and it was first created in May of 2014 in Japan. A holiday that falls on August 11th annually. The purpose of this holiday is to encourage people to recognize the blessings they receive from mountains and to make themselves more familiar with them.
The History Of Mountain Day
Mountain Day was initially conceived as a holiday back in May of 2014, but it wouldn’t be officially celebrated as a holiday until 2016. Early supporters of this holiday included the Japanese Alpine Club and legislator Seishiro Eto.
Although this holiday is usually celebrated on August 11th, changes can be made to it to accommodate certain events. For example, the date of the holiday was moved in 2020 to August 10th to accommodate the 2020 Summer Olympics. When the Olympics were called off until 2021 because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the holiday was left on the 10th. The Japanese government then made additional accommodations for the Olympics in 2021 by moving the holiday to August 9th.
Cool Facts About Mountains
Since not everyone is a mountain expert, and some people have never even been on one, we’ve decided to list some of the facts that we found interesting and listed these factoids below.
- Mount Everest has the highest elevation above sea level. It’s approximately 29,028-feet high.
- There are five types of mountains including folded mountains, volcanic mountains, fault-block mountains, dome mountains, and plateau mountains.
- The Himalayas are a good example of folded mountains that started 55 million years ago when parts of the Earth’s crust ran into each other.
- Mountain Ranges are usually 1,000-miles or more long.
- Hawaii is the top of a volcanic mountain in the Pacific. More than half of that mountain is below the ocean waves.
- The highest mountain in the solar system is Olympus Mons. It’s three times higher than Mount Everest.
- About 80% of the world’s freshwater starts in the mountains.
- All of the world’s rivers are fed using water from mountain sources.
- Over 1,200 people make the attempt to climb Mount Everest. Only half of them finish the trek to the summit.
- Approximately thirty of the world’s highest mountains are found in the Himalayas.
Observing Mountain Day
The stated purpose of this holiday is simple. Everyone in Japan who can make it to a mountain should take the time to do so. Japanese citizens should also take the time to think about the importance of mountains in their culture as well as in the history of humanity. Of course, people who aren’t in Japan can also celebrate this holiday by heading to a mountain near them. While they do so, they can use the hashtag #MountainDay on their social media accounts-if they have cell service.
When is Mountain Day? |
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| This year (2023) | August 11 (Friday) |
| Next year (2024) | August 11 (Sunday) |
| Last year (2022) | August 11 (Thursday) |