Arbor Day

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Aston on Clun

The small village of Aston on Clun, near Craven Arms in South Shropshire, England, hosts an annual Arbor Day celebration each year on the last Sunday in May.

The events start at lunchtime and include the formal Dressing of the Arbor Tree in the village, a Children’s Wedding Procession and a traditional Village Fête on the Village Green.

Arbor Day is celebrated on the last Friday in April in the United States to encourage the planting and care of trees. It originated in Nebraska, but has spread across the US and even to other parts of the world.

Outside the US there are many holidays with a similar theme to Arbor Day, not all with the same name (and some of those that do celebrate Arbour Day spell it the UK-English way).

The original idea for Arbor Day was proposed by J. Sterling Morton, a journalist in Nebraska who promoted the settlement of the Nebraska Territory and realized that although the prairie landscape was ideal for farming, timber for buildings and wood for fires was extremely important. Arbor Day was proposed as a tree-planting competition between counties and individuals – and it is said that over 1 million trees were planted in Nebraska on that first day. Morton’s home in Nebraska City is now a museum and arboretum with extensive landscaped grounds.

Arbor Day and related celebrations around the world

Arbor Day is celebrated in People's Republic of China on 12th March; Every able-bodied citizen between the ages of 11 and 60 is required to volunteer their labor to plant 3-5 trees each year. Other countries celebrate Arbor Day as follows: Egypt on 15th January, Germany on 25th April, New Zealand on June 5th, Niger on 3rd August as part of the Independence celebrations, The Philippines on 25th June, Portugal on 21st March (mainly for schools), South Korea on 5th April. South Africa devotes the whole week 1st-7th September to National Arbor Week, and Aston on Clun in the United Kingdom on the last Sunday in May.

National or International Tree Day or Tree Planting Day is celebrated in Algeria on 25th October, Australia on 28th July for schools and 30th July for everybody else, Flanders, Belgium on 21st March, Cambodia on 1st June, Central African Republic on 22nd July, Iran on 5th March, Kenya on 21st April, Lesotho on 21st March, Malawi on the second Monday in December, Sri Lanka on 15th October, Tanzania on 1st January and Uganda on 24th March.

Israel celebrates Tu b'Shvat (the new year for trees) on 15 Shvat, Japan celebrates Greenery Day on 29th April and Venezuela celebrates Día del Arbol on the last Sunday in May.

See also International Earth Day and Earth Day.