Over 300 Vietnamese celebrate Int’l Free Hugs Day in Vietnam metropolis
Tuesday, July 22, 2014, 22:10 GMT+7
Over 300 Vietnamese youths gathered Sunday morning at Tao Dan Park in Ho Chi Minh City’s District 1 to celebrate International Free Hugs Day, which encourages people to hug not only friends and family but also strangers in public spaces.
At 8:00 am, hundreds of students divided into small groups and walked from Tao Dan Park to other popular destinations such as Notre Dame Cathedral, Ben Thanh market, and the Reunification Palace to offer hugs to people they met along the way.
The event successfully brought joy and smiles to both local and foreign youths and elders including travelers, office workers, students, lottery ticket sellers, and security guards who all wanted to share in the happiness despite their fundamental differences in terms of job, age and nationality.
The “free hugs” concept first began in 2004 when an Australian man, Juan Mann, felt alone and decided to ask for hugs from strangers to cheer him up.
Mann held a sign reading “Free Hugs” while standing on a crowded street in Sydney and waited for someone to approach him. The first stranger who showed interest was an elderly woman who told him about the death of her dog and daughter. Juan gave her a hug.
For months after, Juan gave out free hugs to strangers, irrespective of their age or gender.
Mann and his free hugs concept became famous internationally in September 2006 after the Australian band Sick Puppies featured him in a music video on YouTube which was viewed over 74 million times up to October 2013.
The first International Free Hugs Day took place on July 7, 2007 and attracted the participation of people from more than 80 countries including Australia, Canada, the U.S., England, and Vietnam.
International Free Hugs Day, which has been celebrated in Vietnam for three years, is held annually on the third Sunday of July in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.
This year, the event expanded to the central city of Nha Trang and is expected to take place later this month.
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