In celebrating for the first time the InternationalDay of Happiness on March 20, Vietnam has chosen the theme of the day as“Love and Sharing”, in connection with the 2013 Family Year of“Connecting Love”.
Deputy Head of the FamilyDepartment under the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism Tran HuongDuong said activities organised on this occasion all aimed to encouragecitizens to join hands in developing welfare and building warm andprogressive families.
The annual celebration wasfounded in June 2012 by the United Nations General Assembly. As many as193 member countries, including Vietnam, have pledged to jointlybuild a merrier world.
Happiness is celebrated onMarch 20 as each year on this date a universal phenomenon occurs: Thesun is on the same plane as the earth’s equator so that day and nightare of equal length, creating balance in the earth’s celestialcoordinate systems.
The UN wants to spread the message that balance and harmony are the keys to happiness.
In 2012, Vietnam was ranked as the world’s second happiest countryby the UK’s New Economic Foundation, behind Costa Rica .
Vietnamese were ranked the 63rd merriest people on the planet,according to a 156-nation survey published by Colombia University’s Earth Institute in 2013.-VNA