13 January: what is celebrated today

World Day for Fighting Depression

Depression does not always manifest itself as obvious sadness; it often appears disguised as silence, tiredness or disconnection. This disorder, which affects millions of people around the world, is a persistent shadow that alters the way people feel, think and relate to life. The World Health Organization recognises it as one of the leading causes of disability worldwide, a condition that distinguishes neither age nor place and which in many cases remains hidden behind routine gestures.

Commemorating this day means breaking that silence. It is an invitation to recognise that depression is neither weakness nor a lack of willpower, but a complex illness that requires medical care and a strong network of affection. Its causes range from genetic and hormonal components to traumatic experiences, social pressures, bereavement or previous illnesses. Understanding it requires listening to those who go through it, without minimising their experience or enclosing it in clichés.

The fight against depression is also a collective exercise. It involves creating environments where asking for help is not intimidating, where conversations about mental health flow with respect and where accompanying someone is not an obligation but an act of humanity. This day reminds us that hope is everyday work, that no person should face their pain alone and that access to treatment, information and support can save lives.

World Chewing Gum Day

It is curious that, on the same day when emotional fragility is reflected upon, a sweet as light as chewing gum is also celebrated. A small piece of gum that for more than a century has accompanied walks, exams, office breaks and boring afternoons. Its history begins with the sap of the chicozapote tree in Mesoamerica, and continues today in elaborate mixtures of polymers, sugars, flavourings and colours.

Chewing gum is an almost automatic gesture, but it is not insignificant for that reason. It helps concentration, releases tension and even lets one play with time while a bubble grows and bursts. There is also a nostalgic aspect: a few seconds are enough to recall childhood, the first attempt to make a perfect bubble or the excitement of opening a new wrapper. Chewing gum belongs to that small inventory of everyday pleasures that sustain spirits without great fanfare.

But this celebration also has its curious side: records for giant bubbles, alleyways covered with stuck chewing gum as an unintended mural, and laws as severe as the total ban in Singapore. Chewing gum, as simple as it seems, has left surprising traces in popular culture. Celebrating it pays tribute to everyday imagination.

Sticker Day

Stickers, those adhesive figures that decorate notebooks, lampposts, laptops and diaries, have their own day thanks to the birth of inventor Ray Stanton Avery in 1907. He conceived the first self-adhesive labels and laid the foundations for a visual universe that today forms part of both school culture and urban art. One need only look around any city to see walls, traffic lights or shop windows turned into small spontaneous galleries.

Beyond their practical dimension, stickers are a direct and democratic form of expression. Some carry political messages, others humour, others simple graphic games. Sticker Art — that branch of street art that combines design, slogans and provocation — turned these small stickers into a language of its own, capable of condensing an idea into a few square centimetres. It is pocket-sized, ephemeral and cross-cutting art.

Celebrating this day means defending accessible creativity: the possibility of intervening in the world with a minimal gesture. A sticker is, after all, a way of saying “I was here” without raising one's voice. And on a day also devoted to fighting depression, it is revealing: sometimes a small message, a colour on a wall or an unexpected figure is enough to remind us that we remain connected to others.