10 April marks National Siblings Day, a day where we can celebrate the bond we share with our brothers and sisters.
Siblings are often the first friends we make from the youngest age. They share our childhood memories, family traditions and can have a more intimate understanding of the way we think from those shared experiences. They are constant companions, shoulders of support and confidential sounding boards. They are often the ones who know us best and can understand us on a level no one else can.
Roots of celebrating siblings can be traced back to 400 BC with the Hindu tradition of Raksha Bandhan, which celebrates the bond between brothers and sisters. In Raksha Bandhan, Hindu women tie a band around their brothers’ wrist, symbolising that they will protect their brother and in return the brothers give a gift, both performing this act as acknowledgement that they agree to protect and care for each other. The festival has ancient origins but is still popular to this day.
The modern ‘official’ National Siblings Day was started in 1995 by a paralegal, Claudia Evart, who started the tradition to commemorate and remember her younger sister whom she had sadly lost; 10 April being significant as it would have been her sister’s birthday.
Sibling dynamics can shift over time, but love or hate, they are part of our family. Older, younger, half, full, adopted, step-siblings – they can be celebrated as people close to us. National Sibling day can also be a day to take steps to repair or reconfirm a relationship between siblings that may not be as strong as it once was as near, far, wherever they are, they are there in your heart and there will always be a familiar bond with someone you shared an upbringing with.