Monkey Day

Monkey Day is an unofficial international holiday celebrated on December 14. The holiday was created and popularized in 2000¹ by artists Casey Sorrow and Eric Millikin when they were art students at Michigan State University. Monkey Day celebrates monkeys and "all things simian", including other non-human primates such as apes, tarsiers, and lemurs. Monkey Day is celebrated worldwide and often also known as World Monkey Day and International Monkey Day.

Monkey Day is an unofficial international holiday celebrated on December 14. The holiday was created and popularized in 2000 by artists Casey Sorrow and Eric Millikin when they were art students at Michigan State University. Monkey Day celebrates monkeys and "all things simian", including other non-human primates such as apes, tarsiers, and lemurs. Monkey Day is celebrated worldwide and often also known as World Monkey Day and International Monkey Day.

Origins and history

Monkey Day was created and popularized by artists Casey Sorrow (an internationally published illustrator and printmaker) and Eric Millikin (a Pulitzer Prize winning occult and artificial intelligence artist), beginning in 2000 when they were both art students at Michigan State University. Sorrow jokingly scribbled Monkey Day on a friend's calendar, and then they first celebrated the holiday with other MSU art students, creating monkey artwork, wearing monkey costumes and imitating monkey behavior. The holiday continued to gain notoriety every year as Sorrow and Millikin included Monkey Day in their artwork and alternative comics that they published online and exhibited internationally along with other artists. Since then, Monkey Day has been widely celebrated across countries such as the United States, Canada, Italy, India, Pakistan, Estonia, the United Kingdom, Colombia, Thailand, and Turkey. Hallmark Cards describes the holiday as a "day when monkey business is actually encouraged." The Washington Post describes Monkey Day as a day to "learn something about these adorable and highly intelligent primates. Or you could use this day to act like a monkey." Monkey Day is particularly popular among animal rights and environmental activists, and visual artists and arts institutions. Monkey Day's celebrants and supporters include Jane Goodall, Greenpeace, National Geographic, the National Portrait Gallery in London, the Louvre Museum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Smithsonian Institution.

Traditional celebrations

See also

International Primate Day World Animal Day World Wildlife Day

References

Text derived from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1376887925 under CC BY-SA 4.0; modifications have been made.