There are no end of "month of," "week of" and "day of" observances on
the annual U.S. calendar. For example, there's "Secretary's Day."
There's "Take Your Dog to Work Day." April is "Prevention of Animal
Cruelty Month" (at least the ASPCA says it is). But how do these come
about? Are some dates official and some not? Is there a specific
government agency that grants organizations permission to publicize
their cause on specific dates? If so, what agency is that, and what
are the terms of the agreements they make? Where can one find a
complete list of days/weeks/months that are already subscribed?

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Request for Question Clarification by pafalafa-ga on 06 Feb 2006 18:40 PST

Most of these are proclamations by Congress (at least the US
observances), and they come about because some interest group asks
their Congressperson to introduce such-and-such a day in a bill, and
no one ever opposes it.

Generally, there is no significance to the observance, other than the
right to then declare National Take-Your-Mom-to-the-Ballgame
Day/Week/Month.


Here's a list of events in September:


http://www.guestfinder.com/sept.htm


including:  

Latino Heritage Month 
National Honey Month 
National Literary Month 
National Piano Month 
National Rice month 
Organic Harvest Month 
National Courtesy Month 
National School Success Month 

and many others, some (but not all) which were brought into being by Congress.

What additional information do you need to make for a complete answer
to your question?

pafalafa-ga

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Clarification of Question by animalwelfareauthor-ga on 07 Feb 2006 07:17 PST

Dear pafalafa.ga

I would love to know if Congress proclaimed that April is Animal
Cruelty Prevention Month, and when. If it were possible to know which
member of Congress introduced the bill, that would be icing on the
cake.

Thanks so much!

---

Request for Question Clarification by pafalafa-ga on 11 Feb 2006 08:24 PST

I think this is as close as Congress has come:


http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c107:S.RES.70.ATS:


with this resolution honoring the ASPCA, and recognizing their
celebration of April as Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Month.


The resolution was introduced by Dick Durbin of Illinois (one of my
favorite Senators!), and Sen. Smith of New Hampshire.


Hope that helps,

paf

---

Request for Question Clarification by pafalafa-ga on 14 Feb 2006 11:28 PST

The link I gave you isn't working...try this one, instead:


http://snipurl.com/mk05

---

Clarification of Question by animalwelfareauthor-ga on 15 Feb 2006 11:19 PST

Thanks so much. This answers my question fully.

Thanks so much...hope we'll see you back here at Google Answers one day soon.


paf

I didn't get the specific information that I'd hoped for, but I'm
satisfied that it probably doesn't exist. So I'm fully satisfied with
the work of my researcher

Google as follows:

"week celebrations" and proclamations.

You'll get numerous hits on designated weeks and months celebrating or
otherwise designed to raise awareness about everything under the sun.
They all have one thing in common: They are the result of executive
proclamations at the local, state, or federal level, and, as such,
they are presented to the public bearing the imprimatur of government.
The special interest groups who concoct such celebratory weeks or
months presumably derive some benefit from the government "stamp,"
perhaps as an aid to fund raising, if that's part of the campaign, or
simply to convey an aura of legitimacy and worth to the period so
designated. Mayoral proclamations may endorse a Yard Beautification
Week, gubanatorial proclamations a Protect the Manatee Month,
presidential proclamations a Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and so
forth. Since no federal holidays are part and parcel of such
"awareness weeks/months," there would seem no reason to be concerned
about their proliferation.

I'm declaring February Google Answers Month!

Hooray!

Oh, fine.  Pick the shortest month!

D'oh!