One of the first organizers of the Arborist Day in the United States of America, which is currently held on the last Friday of April, says J. Sterling Morton, administrator of Nebraska in the northern United States, who later served as Secretary of Agriculture. It is said that he adopted and developed this custom from the Aztec tribe, who plant trees on the birthday of their children.
In 1874, on the first Forest Day, more than 12 million trees were planted in Nebraska at Morton's initiative. Two decades later, 350 million seedlings were already growing there.
The tree planting festival, or Tree Planting Day, then spread to the neighboring states of Iowa, Kansas, Michigan and Ohio, and after some time covered the entire country.
The Tree Conservation Union was organized among schoolchildren. They began to organize spring holidays for public schools, first on different days, and then stopped on the last Friday of April.
Children's organizations and the New York Society of Kindergartens and House Plants are joining the Tree Plant Festival. Its leaders distribute flower seedlings to the children on Forest Day, and then in the fall they reward those who grew the best flower.
The purpose of the holiday — is to promote tree planting, afforestation and decoration of native places.
By the beginning of the 20th century, Forest Day began to be actively held in other countries: Germany, India, China, Korea, Yugoslavia and others.
Oak — is the national tree of the USA (Photo: Mario Savoia, licensed from Shutterstock.com)
To this day, this holiday is celebrated by some on the last Friday of April, others — on Mother Earth Day — on April 22.
Interesting fact: The Spring Tree Festival Foundation conducted a survey in America via the Internet about which tree should be recognized as national. Trees that have already been declared «state» in different states of the country were put up for competition, and they exist in almost all 50 states.
The competition was won by the oak — symbol of six states and the Federal District of Columbia, home to the capital Washington.